Chinese martial arts
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"Kung fu" redirects here. For other uses, see Kung fu (disambiguation).
Part of the series on
Chinese martial arts
List of Chinese martial arts
Terms
Kung fu
Wushu
Historical places
Shaolin Temple
Wudang Mountains
Historical people
Bodhidharma
Dong Haichuan
Huo Yuanjia
Wong Fei Hung
Wu Ch'uan-yu
Yang Lu-ch'an
Related
Hong Kong action cinema
Wushu (sport)
Wuxia
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Kung fu and wushu are popular terms that have become synonymous with Chinese martial arts. However the Chinese terms kung fu (Chinese: ?? pinyin: gongfu) and wushu (traditional Chinese: ??; simplified Chinese: ??; pinyin: wush?) have very different meanings. Wushu can describe greatly varying martial arts traditions. Kung fu can be used in a context without any martial arts whatsoever. Colloquially, kung fu (or gung fu) alludes to any individual accomplishment or cultivated skill obtained by long and hard work. In contrast, wushu is a more precise term that refers to general martial activities. The term wushu has also become the name for a modern sport similar to gymnastics involving the performance of adapted Chinese bare-handed and weapons forms (t?ol? ??) judged to a set of contemporary aesthetic criteria for points.
