WHAT’S WUSHU?
Wushu, a time-honoured sport in China, traces back to as early as the time of the clan communes in primitive societies. At that time, there appeared the “Xi” (sport) of Jiaodi (wrestling) and the “Wu” (dance or exercise) of Ganqi (axe and shield). These were the earliest embryos of wushu, which served as a menu to build up health, cure diseases, prolong life, temper the fighting will and train military skills for the members of these societies. During the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, the applications of fighting techniques in the battlefield were emphasized. During the Qin and Han dynasties dancing sports similar to routine exercise such as broadsword-play, dagger-axe-play, swordplay, and double-halberdplay appeared successively. Activities of bare-hand fighting, competitive wrestling and sword fighting were recorded in Annals of Arts/Han Book, Biography of Emperor Wu/Han Book and Preface: On Allusion. During the Tang and Sung dynasties many civil wushu organizations came into existence. There also appeared street performers called Luqi men, making a living by performing “Exercise of Fists”, “Kicking”, “Exercise of Cudgel”, “Play of Cudgel”, “Dance with Saber and Spear”, “Sword Dance”, “Spear vs Shield” and “Sword vs Shield” in the streets. As bare-hand fighting and sumo were popular, the kind of contest on Leitai (an open ring for challenge) appeared. The Ming and Qing dynasties were the flourishing era for wushu with various schools and different styles. During the Qing dynasty, with the development of pugilism and weapon-play, various schools, such as Taijiquan, Xingyiquan (form and will pugilism), Baguazhan (8 diagram palm) formed gradually. Wrestling systems came into being and bare-hand fighting was also developed.
During the Republic of China, (1912-1949), many organizations appeared in forms of pugilistic societies such as the Martial Artists’ Society and Physical Culture Society. The Jingwu Sports Society was set up in Shanghai in 1910, and the Chinese Martial Artists’ Society and Zhirou Pugilistic Society were successively set up. These wushu parties played an important role in spreading and developing wushu. In 1928 the Central Wushu Institute was established in Nanjing by the Republic Government. After its establishment, local wushu institutes were established in provinces, cities and counties. Two National Wushu Meets were held by the Central Wushu Institute in 1928 and 1933 in Nanjing. In 1936 the Chinese Wushu Delegation was organized to visit Southeast Asia. In the same year the Chinese Wushu Team gave a demonstration in Berlin at the XI Olympic Games. Since the founding of the People’s Republic of China, wushu has become a component of the socialist culture and the people’s physical education and sports, and has developed spectacularly. In 1953 the Nation-wide Traditional Sports Demonstration and Competition was held in Tianjin, at which wushu was the major content. Wushu was listed as a formal course in local sports institutes and their physical education departments. In 1956 the Chinese Wushu Association was set up in Beijing, and wushu thus became an official competition event. The first draft of Wushu Competition Rules was compiled by the State Physical Culture and Sports Commission in 1958. Under the guidance of the Chinese State Physical
Culture and Sports Commission and the Chinese Wushu Association, wushu associations, wushu schools, wushu societies, research societies, wushu teams of amateur sports schools and teaching centres were set up in many counties in all provinces, cities and autonomous regions, forming a vast network for wushu activities of the masses and a wide path for the development of wushu. All schools have made wushu part of the programme of physical education. Wushu societies and teams were set up in some colleges and universities. Wushu specialty has been established in some Physical Education Institutes and Normal Institutes to bring up undergraduates and postgraduates of wushu. A Wushu Master’s degree was set up by the State Council in 1984. Approved by the Chinese government, the Chinese Wushu Research Institute was set up in 1986 as a high standard body for conducting academic and technical research on wushu. To develop this precious cultural legacy, a nation wide investigation was carried out, which uncovered the situation of wushu in China. The work of collecting and collating this information has been fruitful. The experimental competition in free sparring started in 1979 and it became a competition event in 1989. Central and local governments sent wushu delegations, teams, instructors and experts abroad to give performances and lectures on many occasions. In 1987 the First Asian Wushu Championships was held in Yokohama, Japan. In 1988 the China International Wushu Festival, International Routine Competition and International Wushu Free Sparring Challenge Tournament were held in Hangzhou and Shenzhen. This ensured that sanshou formally stepped into the international wushu arena. At the 1990 XI Asian Games in Beijing wushu was introduced as an official competition event. The International Wushu Federation was formally established in the same year. New Zealand was a founding member. There are now 102 member countries and since 1991 there have been seven bi-annual World Wushu Championships, (modern wushu), the first being held in Beijing. This year the 8th World Wushu Championships will be held in Hanoi, Vietnam. In 2004 the First World Traditional Wushu Festival was celebrated in Zhengzhou, China. Wushu was born in China but now belongs to the world.
武术术语
武术中十二种运动方式的定型，即动、静、起、落、站、立（单腿）、转、折、快、缓、轻、重。
1.动如涛；活动之势，要使运动气势象江海的浪涛那样激”荡，滔滔不绝，在万马奔腾中仍有明朗感和稳定感，做到；“动要有韵”，“动中有静”。
2.静如岳：静止之势，要象大山那样巍峨，似乎任何强大的力量都推它不动似的。
3.起于猿：跳起之势，要有猿猴纵身时的那种机灵、矫健、敏捷的意味。
4.落如鹊：落降之势，要象喜鹊落到树枝上时的那样轻稳。
5.立如鸡：单腿独立之势，特别是从活动性动作转入到静止性的独立动作时，要象鸡在奔走中突然听到了什么，立刻停步卷曲起一只脚来那样，。显示出动作的安定稳固。
6.站如松：两脚站立之势，要象苍松那样巍巍地刚健、挺拔，在静止中傲然富有生气，使静和动密切联系在一起，即所谓“静中有动”。
7.转如轮：旋转之势，要象车轮绕着轴心那样转动，善于创造和掌握运动的轴心，这样才能达到“圆”的要求。
8.折如弓:折叠之势，是指扭身拧腰等转折的动作。要象弓那样越折越有力，含有一股反弹劲，不是折得极柔软而没有劲力。只有在折叠之势中做出反弹劲，才能突出动作的变化。
9.轻如叶：轻飘之势，要象树叶那样轻，才能达到“飘”的要求。
10.重如铁：沉重之势，要象钢铁砸下那样沉重有力，但“重而忌狠”，不能咬牙切齿。
11.缓如鹰：缓慢之势，要象鹰在空中盘旋那样精神贯注，慢中有快，但’缓而忌温”。慢易生懈"，要防止动作产生松懈现象。
12.快如风：快速之势，要象一阵疾风那样迅速，但"快而。忌毛"。"快易生爆"，火爆可以藏拙，但毕竟会使动作产生不准确的错误，务须快而不毛。
武德:即功夫品德,是指对习武者行为规范需求的总和。包含从事功夫活动的人在社会活动中所应遵从的品德规范和所应具有的品德品质。首要表现为“仁、义、礼、信、勇”等方面。
抱拳礼意义:右手握拳,涵义尚武;左手掩拳,涵义崇德,以武会友;左掌四指并拢,涵义四海武林团结奋进;屈左拇指,涵义谦虚请教,永不自负;两臂屈圆,涵义天下武林是一家。
少林功夫:是以技击动作为首要内容,以功法、套路和奋斗为运动方式,注重表里兼修的中国传统体育项目。实质是技击。
少林功法运动:是以单个动作为主进行操练,以到达健体或增强某方面体能的运动。首要为功夫套路和功防搏斗效劳。
抱拳礼意义:右手握拳,涵义尚武;左手掩拳,涵义崇德,以武会友;左掌四指并拢,涵义四海武林团结奋进;屈左拇指,涵义谦虚请教,永不自负;两臂屈圆,涵义天下武林是一家。
抱拳礼的具体涵义是:
①左掌表示德、智、体、美“四育”齐备，象征高尚情操。屈指表示不自大，不骄傲，不以“老大”自居。右拳表示勇猛习武。左掌掩右拳相抱，表示“勇不滋乱”，“武不
犯禁”“止戈为武”，以此来约束、节制勇武的意思。
②左掌右拳拢屈，两臂屈圆，表示五湖四海（左手掌五个手指指五湖，击左掌的右手四个手指四海），天下武林是一家，谦虚团结，以武会友。
③左掌为文，右拳为武，文武兼学，虚心、渴望求知，恭候师友、前辈指教。
