Chinese Martial Arts: Kung Fu

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Chinese martial arts, also called Kung Fu, Kungfu or Gongfu, are various styles of martial sports created by the Chinese people during their long history.

Kung Fu pursues the effect of wrestling, boxing and exercises with the use of one’s arms, legs and diverse cold weapons, such as Chinese swords.

The origin of Chinese marital arts can be traced back to the primitive society when human beings fought wild animals with some tools, such as clubs, as their weapons, and thus acquired some experience on defense and attack.

In the Shang Dynasty (1760 BC - 1046 BC), field hunting was regarded as an important way of martial art training. During this time and Zhou Dynasty, martial arts were also a form of dancing. Martial dance was used to train the soldiers on both their fighting skills and morale.

It is also said that the Five Animals Play first created by Hua Tuo is the origin of Chinese Kung Fu. With the constant development of Kung Fu, many styles and divisions were formed, among which are famous Shadowboxing, Long-style Boxing, Wudang Sword, and Shaolin Boxing.

Chinese martial arts have been romanced by modern technologies in films and TV shows, such as Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, starring Chow Yun-fat and Zhang Ziyi. Return of the Condor Heroes, based on Jin Yong's novel, starring Crystal Liu and Huang Xiaoming. They may make the audience spell-bound. In the movie Enter the Matrix, Keanu Reeves also uses Kung Fu to fight his enemy.

During its development in the thousands of years of Chinese history, Kung Fu has always attached great importance on morality and etiquette. Fierce attacks and defense tactics are integrated into life moral concepts, such as fighting against tyranny and helping people.