Kung Fu or Wushu?

In the west we are used to Chinese martial arts being called kung fu, but with the growing popularity of the sport of Wushu around the world there is some confusion as to what these terms actually mean.

In actual fact the confusion is more fundamental than most people would realise, as there is really no martial arts called either kung fu or wushu. The use of the term kung fu in the west is a generic name for all Chinese martial arts, and not one particular martial art such as Karate or Jujitsu (both of which are Japanese). There are many different schools of kung fu, commonly known as styles, each of which has its own history, tradition, system, philosophy and set of techniques. So although all kung fu styles have some common elements, and are generally recognisable as being kung fu, when you talk about Wing Chun Kung Fu, or White Crane Kung Fu, it is the Wing Chun and White Crane parts that are actual martial arts, and the kung fu part just indicates that they come from China.

To further add to the confusion kung fu doesn't actually mean martial art, or even Chinese martial arts. Kung fu can be used to describe anything which takes discipline and extensive practice to master. So actually calligraphy, tennis, or higher mathematics could all just as well be called kung fu. It seems likely that this name was popularised in the west by Chinese masters wishing to emphasise the importance of discipline, hard work and the repetitive practice of forms and techniques in their classes.

Wushu is a much closer translation of the English term 'martial art', and is generally used in China to refer to all Chinese martial arts in the same way that we use the term 'kung fu'. So on the face of it both our usage of kung fu, and the the Chinese usage of Wushu, have the same meaning, but changes in the way martial arts are practicecd in China have created a distinction. Most Kung Fu school in the west are run by, or can be traced back to, Chinese masters who emmigrated in the mid to late twentieth century. Since that time there has been a huge growth in China of Wushu competitions, where martial artists are scored on solo performances of their skills. This has become so pervasive that many martial arts schools in Chia today do not teach fighting or self-defense skills, but only a kind of performance art. This obviously has a substantial effect on the development of what is practiced.

Paradoxically Kung Fu in the west has remained much closer to traditional Chinese martial arts. Although wushu can still be used in China today to mean all kinds of martial arts, including self-defense and so on, when it is used in the west wushu refers to the modern sport and to Chinese martial arts practiced primarily for performance. Kung Fu, on the other hand, refers to the traditional martial art with its combat and self-defense skills, upon which modern wushu is built.