Explainer | What is wushu? How Jet Li studied it and made it famous in Hong Kong martial arts movies
- Wushu was introduced by the Chinese communist government as a way to teach kung fu
- Led by Jet Li and Donnie Yen, wushu hit the big screen during the 1990s Hong Kong martial arts film revival
Wushu comes up a lot in the context of martial arts films, but what does it mean? A literal translation is “military arts”. Today, though, wushu is generally taken to mean the sport version of martial arts that was established in mainland China after the communists took power in 1949.
Martial arts had been encouraged in China during the early Republican era, as a way of showing national pride and as a form of self-defence. After 1949, the Communist Party discouraged kung fu, and brought it under the umbrella of the state in 1958.
Martial arts were reorganised as non-contact sports in which martial artists were judged on their skill at showing the forms, rather than fighting. A type of sparring, called sanda, did return to wushu over the years, but that is a modern fighting style which is sometimes compared to Muay Thai.
Wushu stylists – they are often called stylists rather than fighters – learn elements of many traditional martial arts styles. The emphasis is on northern martial arts rather than southern kung fu, and styles include Long Fist, Eagle Claw (a popular style for villains in Hong Kong films), and tai chi.