Wushu History

Wushu (/ˌwuːˈʃuː/) is a martial art and a full-contact sport. It was developed in China after 1949, in
an effort to standardize the practice of traditional Chinese martial arts, although attempts to structure
the various decentralized martial arts traditions date back earlier, when the Central Guoshu
Institute was established at Nanking in 1928.
"Wushu" is the Chinese term for "martial arts" (武 "Wu" = military or martial, 術 "Shu" = art). In
contemporary times, Wushu has become an international sport through the International Wushu
Federation (IWUF), which holds the World Wushu Championships every two years; the first World
Championships were held in 1991 in Beijing.
Competitive Wushu is composed of two disciplines: taolu (套路; form) and sanda (散打; sparring).
Taolu involves martial art patterns, acrobatic movements and techniques for which competitors are
judged and given points according to specific rules. The forms comprise basic movements (stances,
kicks, punches, balances, jumps, sweeps, and throws) based on aggregate categories of traditional
Chinese martial art styles, and can be changed for competitions to highlight one's strengths.
Competitive forms have time limits that can range from 1 minute, 20 seconds for some external
styles, to over five minutes for internal styles.
Sanda (sometimes called sanshou) is a modern fighting method and a full contact sport. Sanda
contains boxing and kicks (kickboxing) and wrestling. It has all the combat aspects of wushu. Sanda
appears much like Kickboxing, MMA, or Muay Thai but includes many more grappling techniques.
Sanda fighting competitions are often held alongside taolu.
In 1958, the government established the All-China Wushu Association as an umbrella organization
to regulate martial arts training. The Chinese State Commission for Physical Culture and Sports took
the lead in creating standardized forms for most of the major arts. During this period, a national
Wushu system that included standard forms, teaching curriculum, and instructor grading was
established. Wushu was introduced at both the high school and university level. This new system
seeks to incorporate common elements from all styles and forms as well as the general ideas
associated with Chinese martial arts. Stylistic concepts such as hard, soft, internal, external, as well
as classifications based on schools such as Shaolin, Taiji, Wudang and others were all integrated
into one system. Wushu became the government sponsored standard for the training in martial arts
in China.