KUNG FU

Martial Art: Kung Fu
Translation: "Human Effort"
Country of Origin: China
Created: circa 520 AD

Perhaps the most important thing to say about Kung Fu is that it isn't called Kung Fu, it's called Wushu. Kung Fu really means to apply oneself to something, but that something might just as easily be breeding whippets as opposed to studying a martial art. Wushu is the Chinese term for martial arts and this is what we dopey Westerners should really be saying instead of Kung Fu. The term Kung Fu gained popularity in the 1960,s and 70's with the help of Bruce Lee movies; the series aptly named "Kung Fu" and of course that most magnificent of No.1 pop songs "Everybody was Kung Fu fighting". OK Glasshopper! Kung Fu was brought to China from India along, with Zen Buddhism, by a man named Bodhi Dharma around 520 AD. (some might argue that it was already in existence as far back as 3,000 BC.)The Shaolin temple in China was where Bodhi Dharma taught the local monks and this became the centre of martial arts development for hundreds of years. It was from the Shaolin temple that Kung Fu spread throughout Southeast Asia and branched into the Korean, Japanese, Okinawan, Thai, Vietnamese, Filipino, and Indonesian styles that we see today. Kung Fu itself has fragmented incredibly over the years and there are now as many as 1500 styles practised. Sometimes written as Gung Fu. Please see Wushu for more about this martial art.