Chinese Martial ['mɑ:ʃəl]Arts 中国武术

The origin of Chinese Martial arts 中国武术的起源  Wushu in China goes back to ancient times, originating from productive laboring of the ancient ancestry 祖先. In the primitive society, being out-numbered 数目超过by animals, facilitated with only simple tools and inferior差的[in'fiəriə productive forces, people had to survive by gathering in groups. They lived on hunting with rocks and sticks. Hitting 打with their hands, kicking with their feet and cutting, chopping 砍 or stabbing 刺with simple weapons, they performed all kinds of movements, which displayed certain skills of defense or attacking. These performances made up the substantial background of Wushu. In the clan[klæn]部落society, there often occurred battles between the tribes. Armed forces became the means of plundering['plʌndə]掠夺. Bows, arrows, casting stones and other rocky items appeared as weapons, being improved gradually according to the needs of fight. When having a rest, especially when celebrating their triumphs['traiəmf, -ʌmf]胜利, people danced to the imitations of defending and attacking movements, stabbing, blowing and kicking. After prolonged[prəu'lɔŋd,持久的 accumulation, the experiences began to be raised to the level of consciousness, hence Wushu came into being.  Brief introduction of Chinese Martial Arts武术简介  Chinese Wushu, with a history of several millennia千年, has become a traditional Chinese culture. In feudal society, it was banned and suppressed 镇压by rulers, but it thrived among the common people instead of dying out. This evinces表明that the strong attraction and vitality of Wushu in China. Wushu is characterized not only by exterior beauty, found in postures, movements and techniques, but also deep interior beauty, emphasizing “ life essence, vital energy, and spirit.” 武术不仅以外在的形体美著称，如架势，动作以及技巧，而且其内在美更为独特，被称为“生活之本，力量之源”. The essence of Wushu rests on the theories of Yin and Yang, the five elements and eight diagrams['daiəɡræm].武术的本质是阴阳学说、五行学说和八卦理论. Styles of Chinese martial arts can be categorized as the Northern style and the Southern style according to the geographical regions divided by the Huanghe River. The practice of Wushu is a hard task, it takes time and requires arduous['ɑ:djuəs]费力的 efforts. With the development of modern science and technology, Wushu movies and TV dramas have become very popular. The present different schools and style of Wushu embodies the wisdom and culture of all the ethnic groups in China. Taiji Boxing 太极拳  Taiji Boxing is characterized by the unification of mind, breath and motions (body). It requires concentration of mind and calmness of motions. “ Mind works as a commander and body a soldier;” “ When in motion all of the body moves. When at rest, all of the body rests.” “ Calmness is required for motion.” Simple force is not preferred. Force is like a wheel and waist is its axis. The motions are continuous as a circle. The breath is deep and controlled by the diaphragm. Be concentrated, gentle and natural. Be stable as a mountain when not moving, and be flowing as a river when moving. The moves are characterized by roundness, softness, slowness, stability and evenness. They are extended but very well coordinated协调, and all are an antithetical 对立的unity of Yin and Yang ( negative and positive).   Chinese Gongfu is a very important and unique form of Chinese culture. It can be viewed as both a popular and a classical art: today it is very common and widespread; on the other hand, it has had a very long developed history. Not only did it not decline and disappear as many other facets of pre-modern Chinese culture, it even seems to be gaining much recognition, both in its actual practice and in its relative literature, thetics, philosophy, psychology, etc. are more and more intriguing[in'tri:ɡiŋ]有趣的.   Chinese Gongfu possesses an important and extensive cross-cultural跨文化的 significance. Western culture has, of course, a great influence on the path of Chinese modernization.   Meanwhile Chinese culture is also making an impact on Western culture; the popularity of Chinese Gongfu, including Taijiquan, Qigong, etc., is not limited to China but has become a worldwide phenomenon; it thus is a typical example of this reverse impact. As it includes different aspects such as fighting exercise['eksəsaiz]  and health care, daily life and academic study学术研究, natural state and social scope, research on Gongfu could shed a wholly['həuli] new light on these interrelated phenomena in an intercultural context. think that, if the research sets out出发 from aesthetics[i:s'θetiks] 美学 perspective, people can more easily comprehend理解 the characters of the popularity and fashion of Gongfu as "art"; and if Gongfu research starts with the aesthetic method, namely "perceptually comprehensive method", the profoundness深奥 namely multi-gradation and multi-orientation of its intercultural significance can be explained in a correspondingly simply way;  thus the research on Gongfu will more effectively oppose the "cultural centered views", so as to raise a new subject and  even open up a new path for modern international academia. [,ækə'di:miə]学术界   1.Beauty of form of Wushu and Chinese Art   Many westerners find the action and routines of Chinese Wushu (Martial Art) to be quite spectacular, but also ask if a real  Gongfu fight would look so impressive. This really involves a  very interesting problem: Chinese Gongfu has not only   practical goals, but also embodies the pursuit and  appreciation of beauty.   2.Beauty of mood of Qigong and the wisdom of Taoist School and Chan sect禅宗  Chinese Gongfu includes both Wushu and Qigong. In fact, the higher level of most of Wushu (martial arts) is Qigong. Qigong exercise has created aesthetic miracles 奇迹of life and culture, which modern sports cannot hope to reach.     3. Being beauty of Gongfu and Tao-ontological aesthetics   Gongfu-aesthetics studies both the outside beauty of form and the inner beauty of spirit. Moreover, it may involve ontology [ɔn'tɔlədʒi] 本体论，存在论 (being philosophy) of beauty of life.   Chinese martial arts, known in Mandarin ['mændərin]国语 as wushu (武术) and popularly as kungfu (Chinese: 功夫 ), consist of a number of fighting styles that were developed over the centuries. Those fighting styles can be classified according to common themes that are identified as "families" (家), "sects" (派) or "schools" (门) of martial arts. Example of themes are physical exercises that mimic ['mimik]模仿 movements from animals or a history and training method that gather inspiration from various Chinese philosophies, myths and legends. Some styles focus on the harnessing of qi（运气） and are labeled internal (内 家 拳), while others concentrate on improving muscle and cardiovascular [,kɑ:diəu'væskjulə]  fitness心血管健康 and are labeled external (外 家 拳). Geographical association, as in northern (北 拳) and southern (南 拳), is another popular method of categorization. Each fighting style offers a different approach to the common problems of self-defense, health, and self-cultivation修养 from a Chinese perspective.观点    Kung fu or gongfu or gung fu (

功夫, Pinyin: gōngfu) is a Chinese term often used by speakers of the English language to refer to Chinese martial arts. Its original meaning is somewhat different, referring to one's expertise [,ekspə:'ti:z] 专门技术 in any skill, not necessarily martial. The Chinese literal equivalent of "Chinese martial art" would be 中國武術 zhōngguó wǔshù.  In its original meaning, kung fu can refer to any skill. Gōngfu (功夫) is a compound of two words, combining 功 (gōng) meaning "achievement" or "merit" ['merit]优点, and 夫 (fū) which translates into "man", so that a literal rendering翻译 would be "human achievement". Its connotation [,kɔnəu'teiʃən]内涵 is that of an accomplishment arrived at by great effort.  In Mandarin, when two "first tone" words such as gōng and fū are combined, the second word often takes a neutral ['nju:trəl] 中性的 tone, in this case forming gōngfu.  Originally, to practice kung fu did not just mean to practice Chinese martial arts. Instead, it referred to the process of one's training - the strengthening of the body and the mind, the learning and the perfection of one's skills - rather than to what was being trained. It refers to excellence achieved through long practice in any endeavor [in'devə]努力. You can say that a person's kung fu is good in cooking, or that someone has kung fu in calligraphy [kə'liɡrəfi]书法; saying that a person possesses kung fu in an area implies skill in that area, which they have worked hard to develop. Someone with "bad kung fu" simply has not put enough time and effort into training, or seems to lack the motivation积极性 to do so. Kung fu is also a name used for the elaborate精心制作的 Fujian tea ceremony (Kung-fu cha).  The term kung fu was not popularly used in the sense of "Chinese martial art" until the 20th century, thus the word would be seldom found in any ancient texts.[citation needed] The term was first known to have been reported by the French Jesuit missionary ['miʃənəri] 传教士 Jean Joseph Marie Amiot, in the 18th century. The term was uncommon in the mainstream主流 English language until the late 1960s, when it became popular due to Hong Kong films, Bruce Lee李小龙, and later the television series Kung Fu. Before the 1960s Kung Fu was referred to primarily as "Chinese boxing".  In contemporary当代的 hacker ['hækə]黑客 culture the fu has been generalized to a suffix后缀, implying that the thing suffixed involves great skill or effort. For example, one may talk of "script-fu" to refer to complicated scripting. It is unknown whether this was consciously based on the original, broader meaning of the term or whether it was a simple wordplay on the less general Western notion of "kung fu".   It is well known that Chinese gongfu is the Chinese traditional cultures and crystallization of the Chinese wisdom, it is the main carrier of national culture that accumulate the deep thoughts. As fast as I know, Chinese culture is also making an impact on Western culture; the popularity of Chinese Gongfu, including sanda Taijiquan, 咏春，and so on, is not limited to China and become more and more popular in the world. I don’t know why I am so infatuated with the gongfu, maybe I am influenced by the gongfu star, such as Bruce Lee李小龙，and his master叶问,Bruce Lee is the master martial generation in my mind, also carry forward the Chinese culture hero. (And he was famous for his kungfu movies). Otherwises, I worship 叶问because of the spirit of his self-reliance and never give up, no matter how tough the life is. Even in the worst circumstances, he is also still pleasure in helping others at the same time. Many years passed by, the spirit of them still encouraged people to work hard for the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.  Martial arts can strengthen body, make us more strong in the spirit, it comes from China, and belongs to the world. As a Chinese, we are all proud of it.