Kung Fu

China Hand (唐手): Forefather to Karate

Chinese martial arts have had a strong influence on the development of other Asian fighting arts. Ancient China was the cradle of Asian culture, and many of its neighbors either paid tribute or were vassal states. Daoism, Buddhism, Confucianism, the various arts and crafts, calligraphy, sword making, and martial arts all found their way to…

Why do you wear shoes in Kung Fu?

Chinese martial arts have a history that spans four millennia. They originated as rudimentary fighting skills for survival and evolved into highly sophisticated methods of combat. These methods developed in an outdoor environment, either for use on the battlefield in mass warfare or for individual combat. In both cases, some sort of footwear was necessary….

Kung Fu: Its Real Meaning

The term Kung Fu is made up of two Chinese characters: the first, kung, can mean skillful work, hard training, or endeavor. The second, fu, means time spent. The two together mean time spent at skillful work or hard training. In no way does this term express Chinese martial arts, but because training in Chinese martial arts requires a lot of time…