Chinese Martial Arts

Kung Fu (Gong Fu, or Gung Fu)

Derived from the Shaolin Temple, most kung fu today still bears strong resemblances to the more traditional Shaolin kung fu style.) Bei Shaolin ("Northern Shaolin") may have been the first branch of a Chinese martial art to branch off from the ShaolinTemple. What resulted from such spin-offs is a nearlly endless series of styles with all their different forms, movements, teachniques and ideas about defense and fighting strategies.) At the root of all these myriad styles, however, is the original Shaolin Temple Kung Fu (this is the style taught at our school).

Kung Fu is surprisingly still little understood in the US. While many schools exist, primarily asian students abound in them. It would be a worthwhile venture for any martial arts student to-be to investigate kung fu along with the other arts he or she is thinking about taking. Chinese marketing skills are not as notorious in the West as Korean and Japanese have been, and this hides a great many treasures, such as the beautiful and incredibly powerful and practical martial art of Shaolin Kung Fu and other kung fu styles that have since emerged.

Wu Shu (or Wushu)
The Shoalin Temple has either created or influenced all asian martial arts, and more directly influenced all CHinese martial Arts. Modern-day Wushu is a flashy interpretation of Shaolin kung fu meant for demonstrations and competitions. Most wushu stances, however, are notably low, like Shaolin kung fu itself, and is an art that employs similarly fast martial-styled movements, with less emphasis on actual impact power and self-defense applications. Modern-day Wushu has been called both dance and martial art in one. Wushu in its original form, however, was simply what we now would tend to kow as kung fu.

Taiji (or Tai Chi)
Generally Taiji was designed with Taoist principles in mind around 300 years ago in , though it originated though the kung fu atmosphere that the Temple made possible, and from a kung fu practitioner who's training came from Temple kung Fu. Taiji can be both hard and soft, as well as both internaland external, though it is usually considered as a mostly soft, internal martial art.

Lion Dance

More dance than martial art, still Lion Dance embodies a martial spirit and accompanies martial arts demonstrations given by most contempoary Chinese martial arts schools today.

Some Martial Arts with Chinese Influences

Karate

Karate is a Japanese simplified adaptation of Chinese Kung Fu, with more emphasis on short, choppy, rigid motions, less circular, less flowing movements, and more reliance on the idea of physical strength. Actually, Karate places a high emphasis on concentration, self-mastery and conscious awareness of motion, but there is little or even less power in comparison to Shaolin Kung Fu, which does not emphasize trying to apply physical force so much as trying to have perfect form and applying it with lightning speed and precision. The analogies of Bruce Lee or Jet Li to a Chuck Norris somewhat captures the difference between Kung Fu and Karate.

Tae Kwon Do

Tae Kwon Do is a Korean form of Karate, and thus is influenced and originated from Chinese Kung Fu sources. Taw Kwon Do relies heavily on spectacular kicks and strong punching. Competitions and schools for Tae Kown Do thrive in the US and there are usually many TKD schools in most bigger cities in the US. Tae Kwon Do, highly organized from Seoul Korea for Korean WTF schools (World Tae Kwon DO Federation), is known for disicpline and self-mastery and character-building in children and adults (even in non-Korean schools). Tae Kwon Do gained it's ascendncy in terms of popularity in the 80's and has been going strong ever since. Organization from Korea's well-managed WTF powerhouse origanization.

Judo

Judo is a Japanese interpretation of Chinna, Chinese grappling. Judo is more simplified, like Karate, and unlike Chinna, relies muchmore heavily on the wearing of a heavy "gi" cloth uniform or grabbing of the clothes.