Styles
China has one of the longest histories of continuously recorded martial arts tradition of any
society in the world, and with hundreds of styles probably the most varied. Over the past two to four thousand years, many distinctive styles have been developed, each with its own set of techniques and ideas. There are also common themes to the different styles, which are often classified by "families" (家, jiā), "sects" (派, pai) or "schools" (門, men) of martial art styles. There are styles that mimic movements from animals and others that gather inspiration from various Chinese philosophies, myths and legends. Some styles put most of their focus into the harnessing of qi energy, while others concentrate solely on competition and exhibition. Each style offers a different approach to the common problems of self-defense, health and self-cultivation.
Chinese martial arts can be split into various categories to differentiate them: For example,
external (外家拳) and internal (内家拳). Chinese martial arts can also be categorized by location, as in northern (北拳) and southern (南拳) as well, referring to what part of China the styles originated from, separated by the Yangtze River (Chang Jiang); Chinese martial arts may even be classified according to their province or city. The main perceived difference about northern and southern styles is that the northern styles tend to emphasize fast and powerful kicks, high jumps and generally fluid and rapid movement, while the southern styles focus more on strong arm and hand techniques, and stable, immovable stances and fast footwork. Examples of the northern styles include Changquan and Xingyiquan. Examples of the southern styles include Bak Mei and Wing Chun. Chinese martial arts can also be divided according to religion, imitative-styles (象形拳), and more. There are distinctive differences in the training between different groups of the Chinese martial arts regardless of the type of classification.
Training
Chinese martial arts training consists of the following components: basics, forms, applications and weapons. Each style has its own unique training system with varying emphasis on each of those components. In addition, philosophy, ethics and even medical practice are highly regarded by most Chinese martial arts. A complete training system should also provide insight into Chinese attitudes and culture.
Basics
Basics (基本功) are a vital part of the training, as a student cannot progress to the more advanced stages without them; without strong and flexible muscles including the management of the concept of "Chi" (breath, or energy) and proper body mechanics, many movements of Chinese martial arts are simply impossible to perform correctly. Basics training may involve a series of simple movements that are performed repeatedly over a short interval; examples of these basics training include stretching, stance work, rudimentary conditioning, meditation and
basic kicking and punching techniques.
A common saying concerning basic training in Chinese martial arts is as follows:
内外相合，外重手眼身法步，内修心神意气力。
Which can be translated as
Train both Internal and External.
External training includes the hands, the eyes, the body and stances.
Internal training includes the heart, the spirit, the mind, breathing and strength.
Stances
Stances (steps or 步法) are structural postures employed in Chinese martial arts training.
They represent the foundation and exaggerated form of a fighter's base. Each style has different names and variations for each stance. Stances may be differentiated by foot position, weight distribution, body alignment, etc. Stance training can be practiced statically, the goal of which is to maintain the structure of the stance through a set time period, or dynamically, in which case a series of movements is performed repeatedly. The horse riding stance (骑马步，马步 qí mǎ bù,mǎ bù) and the bow stance are examples of stances found in many styles of Chinese martial arts.
Meditation
In many Chinese Martial Art systems, meditation is considered to be an important component of basic training. Meditation can be used to develop focus, mental clarity and can act as a basis for qigong training.
Forms
Forms or taolu (Chinese: 套路; pinyin: tào lù) in Chinese are series of predetermined movements combined so they can be practiced as one linear set of movements. Forms were originally intended to preserve the lineage of a particular style branch, and were often taught to advanced students who were selected to preserve the art's lineage. Forms were designed to contain both literal, representative and exercise-oriented forms of applicable techniques which would be extracted, tested and trained by students through sparring sessions.
Many believe that a Kung Fu form needs to be both practical, usable, and applicable as well as promoting flow, meditation, flexibility, balance and coordination. Often kung fu teachers are heard to say "train your form as if you were sparring and spar as if it were a form."
Types
There are two general types of forms in Chinese Martial Arts. Most common are "solo forms" which are performed by a single student. There are also "sparring" forms, which are choreographed fighting sets performed by two or more people. Sparring forms were designed both to acquaint beginning fighters with basic measures and concepts of combat, and to serve as performance pieces for the school. Sparring forms which utilize weapons are especially useful for teaching students the extension, range and technique required to manage a weapon. Today many styles of Kung Fu, as well as styles of Wushu, consider forms to be one of the most important practices in Chinese Martial Arts. Traditionally, forms played a smaller role in training combat application, and were eclipsed by sparring, drilling and conditioning. Forms gradually build up a practitioner's flexibility, internal and external strength, speed and stamina, and teach balance and coordination. Many styles contain forms using a wide range of weapons of various length and type, utilizing one or two hands. There are also styles which focus on a certain type of weapon.
Modern forms
Wushu
As forms have grown in complexity and quantity over the years, and many forms alone could be practiced for a lifetime, styles of modern Chinese martial arts have developed that concentrate solely on forms, and do not practice application at all. These styles are primarily aimed at exhibition and competition, and often include more acrobatic jumps and movements added for enhanced visual effect compared to the traditional styles. Those who generally prefer to practice traditional styles, focused less on exhibition, are often referred to as traditionalists. Many traditionalists consider the evolution of today's Chinese martial arts as undesirable, saying that much of its original value is lost.
Controversy of modern form work
Even though forms in Chinese martial arts are intended to depict realistic martial techniques, the movements are not always identical to how techniques would be applied in combat. Many forms have been elaborated upon, on the one hand to provide better combat preparedness, and on the other hand to look more aesthetically pleasing. One manifestation of this tendency toward elaboration which goes beyond combat application is the use of lower stances and higher, stretching kicks. These two maneuvers are unrealistic in combat and are utilized in forms for exercise purposes. Many modern schools have replaced practical defense or offense movements with acrobatic feats that are more spectacular to watch, thereby gaining favor during exhibitions and competitions. This has led to criticisms by traditionalists for endorsing the more acrobatic, show-oriented Wushu competition, even though appearance has always been important in many traditional forms as well. Historically forms were often performed for entertainment purposes long before the advent of modern Wushu as practitioners have looked for supplementary income by performing on the streets or in theaters.
Many traditional Chinese Martial Artists, as well as practitioners of modern sport combat, have become critical of the perception that forms work is more relevant to the art than sparring and drill application, while most continue to see traditional forms practice within the traditional context--as vital to both proper combat execution, the Shaolin aesthetic as art form, as well as upholding the meditative function of the physical artform.
Another reason why the martial techniques often appear different in forms when contrasted with sparring application is thought by some to come from the concealment of the actual functions of the techniques from outsiders.
Application
Application training refers to the training of putting the martial techniques to use. Chinese martial arts usually contain a large arsenal of techniques and make use of the whole body; efficiency and effectiveness is what the techniques are based on.[50][51][52] When and how applications are taught varies from style to style; in the early stages of a student's training, most styles focus on drills in which each student knows what range of combat is being practiced and what attack to expect. Gradually, fewer and fewer rules are applied, and the students learn how to react and utilize technique. 'Sparring' refers to the major aspect of application training, which simulates a combat situation but usually includes rules and regulations to reduce the chance of serious injury to the students.
The subject of application training is a controversial one, and is the subject of a raging debate between the Neo-Traditional Martial Artists and Sports and traditional martial artists. In the neo-traditionalist view, martial arts training should eventually lead to and be proven by actual combat as well as being governed by a moral philosophy; neo-traditionalists often believe sparring to test techniques is either irrelevant because of their disbelief in the validity of a regulated test setting, or because the system's techniques are supposedly too dangerous to use outside of a real combat situation. In contrast, the sport-competition and traditionalist view suggests that all of the techniques in Chinese Martial Arts should be repeatedly time-tested through sparring to insure their effectiveness.
An example of this approach in the Chinese Martial Arts is the tradition of Lei tai (擂臺/擂台, raised platform fighting) and Sanda (散打) or sǎnshǒu (散手). Lèitái represents public challenge matches that first appeared in the Song Dynasty. The objective for those contests was to knock the opponent from a raised platform by any means necessary. San Shou and Sanda represents the modern development of Lei Tai contests, but with rules in place to reduce the chance of serious injury. Many Chinese martial arts schools teach or work within the rulesets of San Shou and Sanda, working to incorporate the movements, characteristics, and theory of their style.
Weapons training
Most Chinese styles also make use of training the broad arsenal of Chinese weapons for conditioning the body as well as coordination and strategy drills.[56] Weapons training (qìxiè 器械) are generally carried out after the student is proficient in the basics, forms and applications training. The basic theory for weapons training is to consider the weapon as an extension of your body. The same requirements for footwork and body coordination is required The process of weapon training proceed with forms, forms with partners and then applications. Most systems have training methods for each of the Eighteen Arms of Wushu (shíbābānbīngqì 十八般兵器) in addition to specialized instruments specific to the system.
Martial arts and morality
Traditional Chinese schools of martial arts, such as the famed Shaolin monks, often dealt with the study of martial arts not just as a means of self-defense or mental training, but as a system of ethics.[58][59] Wude (武 德) can be translated as "martial morality" and is constructed from two Chinese characters, "wu" (武) which means martial and "de" (德) which means morality. Wude (武德) deals with two aspects; "morality of deed" and "morality of mind". Morality of deed concerns social relations; morality of mind is meant to cultivate the inner harmony between the emotional mind (Xin, 心) and the wisdom mind (Hui, 慧). The ultimate goal is reaching no extremity (Wuji, 無 極) (closely related to the Taoist concept of wu wei), where both wisdom and emotions are in harmony with each other.
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