In the Ming Guo era (before Liberation) martial arts
was also referred to as Guo Shu, but the advent of
communism saw a return to the term Wu Shu (though in
some places, such as Taiwan, the term Guo Shu is still
used). If there was a golden era of Wu Shu it was during
the Qing and Ming dynasty which saw a flowering of the
Chinese martial arts. This era saw a perfection of forms
in the combination of songs and skills. During this Wu
Shu renaissance, three famous styles of Wu Shu came to
the fore, those being: 32 Long Fist Form, 6 Stance
Boxing Style Form and Monkey Form. The Ming Dynasty also
saw a separation of the internal and external styles,
with such famous styles asTai Chi, Bagua Zhang and Hsing-I
invented and refined during this time.
Wu Shu saw a major change in the 20th century with the
advent of communism. Gymnastics was introduced into Wu
Shu forms, paving the foundation for what would become
modern Wu Shu competition. In 1909 the Jin Wu Sports
Assocation was founded in Shanghai and included
gymnastic training as part of their curriculum. This led
to the establishment of several other sports
associations that included gymnastics training as part
of their curriculum.
In 1927 the government in Nan Jing founded the Jung Yung
(government Wu Shu school). Twenty-four provinces
followed in this idea and soon nearly 300 schools were
operational. In 1936 the Chinese martial arts team went
to Berlin for the 11th Olympic Games to do a
demonstration. In 1958 the forms became generally the
same in appearance. The Southern styles, Tai Chi Chuan
and Long fist became standardized. In 1983 full contact
fighting and Tai Chi pushing hands became single
divisions in competitions. By now China had properly
come to the West and started to form a strong
relationship with the Western people to give the Chinese
culture a better understanding in the West.
The first international Wu Shu competition was held in
1985 in Shi-an. During the same year the Wu Shu
Federation was founded and set up branches across the
world. In 1991 the first World Wu Shu competition was
held in Beijing and marked the beginning of the Wu Shu
world championships, which is held every two years. The
second World championship was held in Malaysia and the
third in America. By now Wu Shu had been properly
introduced to the world.
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