If you look at the Chinese character for Wu top left horizontal bar means ONE (yi) and the character on the bottom left means STOP (ting). Literally speaking WU SHU means the art (Shu) of one person or individual stopping violence. Ask anyone who speaks Chinese if this is true and ask yourself if you have ever heard the word Wu translated correctly as it really means.

The first Chinese Settlers in America were from the Southern Part of China (Canton). They introduced Chinese martial arts as "Kung Fu". Kung Fu literally means to be proficient or skilled at something. The original term for Chinese martial arts is Wu Shu. You can have Kung-Fu in any skill you practice.

Wu Shu dates back over 2000 years. It began in the Shaolin Monastery in the Song Mountains of Henan Province, China. An Indian monk named Bodhidharma (the first ancestor of the ZEN sect of Buddhism), introduced meditation and physical exercises to strengthen very weak monks. It was after that, that the monks invented self-defense applications and forms by imitating the movements of animals.

Wu Shu is both the traditional (what we call Kung Fu) and contemporary. The contemporary is the physical challenge. It is very artistic and graceful with executions in acrobatics combined with explosive kicks, blocks, punches, sweeps, locks and grabs.

Wu Shu is the extreme when it comes to developing physical fitness from the playful exercises for children as young as four to the calm breathing exercises practiced by the elderly.

Not many people know this but Wu Shu was first seen in the Olympic Games in 1936 during Hitler's rule. The foreign athletes were shocked at the poor appetite the Chinese athletes had and yet what high energy levels they had to perform with. Look into this information, it is a beautiful story.

Wu Shu is characterized by a harmonious blend of sheer athletic prowess with aesthetic appeal.

Copyright © by American Wu Shu Society All Right Reserved.

Published on: 2002-11-11 (10288 reads)