What is Wushu (武术) and Kungfu (功夫)?

Wushu is a traditional Chinese sport in which both internal and external training are equally important. Wushu is based on martial techniques, and the most important disciplines for practice are routines (taolu) and sparring (sanshou).

"Wushu" is Chinese and the literal translation is "martial skill". There are hundreds of different styles of wushu in China. These include various empty hand techniques, such as shaolinquan, changquan, nanquan, taijiquan, xingyiquan, baguazhang etc, and styles which utilise weapons, such as the straight sword, the broadsword, the spear, the staff etc.

In ancient China wushu was practised not only for fighting and keeping fit, but since the Tang dynasty (c600 AD) was also essential for those hoping to become soldiers as tests of wushu abilities formed part of the selection procedure. The first wushu competitions were organised as early as the Song dynasty (960-1276). In the West wushu is better known by the name "kungfu" (gongfu). However, this is not the name of any wushu style, but is a phrase which refers to skill and the time devoted to acquiring that skill. As learning martial arts necessitated much skill and time, westerners have wrongly interpreted kungfu as referring to the martial arts themselves.

Nowadays wushu is still practised for its martial applications and health benefits, but is also a popular competition sport. After the formation of the People's Republic of China, wushu became on the the country's official sports. Today there are thousands of professional athletes in China, as well as coaches and researchers. Each province has its own professional team, which participates in the annual national wushu championships. International wushu competitions have been held since the 1980s. Wushu became part of Asian competitions in 1990, and it is also part of the Asian Olympics. The International Wushu Federation (IWuF) was established in 1990. Since 1991 the wushu world championships have been held every other year, the first being held in Beijing. The European Wushu Federation (EWuF) was set up in 1985, and the first European championships were held in Belgium in 1986. The European championships are also held every other year. The Finnish Wushu Federation was set up in 1991. The Federation is a member of both IWuF and EWuF. Since its first year, the Federation has participated with great success in the European and World championships. Members of the Finnish national squad have won European gold (1994, 1998, 2002 & 2006), silver (1996, 2000 & 2006) and bronze (2000 & 2006) medals, as well as achieving 8th place in the 1997 world championships.

In wushu competitions the styles are divided into two groups: routines and sparring. Taijiquan, one of the routine disciplines, has always been one of the most highly contested disciplines.