WUSHU

Contemporary Wushu, or simplyWushu, is China’s most popular sport. It is a contact sport in which the formsor routines executed are derived from traditional Chinese martial arts.However, unlike other contact sports which emphasize force and power, Wushu isperformed with grace. People practice Wushu for self-defense and as a form ofexercise

The word “Wushu” consists oftwo Chinese characters: Wu means military, and Shu means art ormethod. Wu is also derived from the characters Zhi, for stop, and Ge,for war or violence. Thus, Wushu is also known as “the art of stoppingviolence.”

Wushu started off as amartial art used in military training during the Shang and Zhou dynasties(1600-256 B.C.). Soldiers and students were taught hand-to-hand combat, swordand spear- handling, and also staff-sparring. As time passed, more peoplepracticed Wushu. Local Wushu organizations began to emerge, and during the Mingand Qing dynasties (1368-1911), the practice of Wushu was at its peak. When theChinese revolutionary, Sun Yat-sen, rose to power as President of the new ChinaRepublic, he started to promote Wushu as a sport. In line with this, theCentral Wushu Institute was established to standardize the martial artform and to create rules that could be used in competitions.

The promotion of Wushu as asport was the birth of contemporary Wushu, wherein practitioners continue touse hand-to-hand combat and traditional weapons, but in a non-violent manner.