About wushu

What is the wushu pattern?

The wushu pattern consists of fist and weapon patterns. The fist pattern has been the main content of wushu since ancient times. The fist pattern comprises of Shaolinquan, Tajiquan, Changquan, Nanquan, Xingyiquan and Baguazhang.

Shaolinquan consists of both quick and changing positions and solid and powerful movements. The characterisitcs of Tajiquan are subduing the active by the calm, subduing the vigorous by the soft, and avoiding the "solid" and attacking the "solid". The research of the school on Changquan, Chaquan, Huaquan, Paoquan, Hongquan, Fanziquan, chuaojue, Baji, Shuihuquan, 36 styles Songjiangquan, 72 styles Yanquing Wuxingquan, Sunbinguai and so on are very fruitful. The school also made great contributions to the development of them. Their stability in position and lightness and quickness in movement greatly impressed the world.

Wushu weapons evolved from ancient Chinese military weapons. Besides the sabre, spear, rapier and cudgel, there are bow, arrow, slingshot, Ge, halberd, hook, Guai, shield, dagger, whip, Biangan, Quan, axe and many more.

For weapons that we use in VJC, please see here.

History of wushu

Since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, wushu has been developing both as a martial art and as an official competition sport. Experts gathered and compiled all the wushu basics, as well as the best training systems and routines, combining the competitive principles of modern sports with the skills and theories of traditional wushu

Wushu in competitions

The kind that VJC wushu is teaching is the performance or traditional kind. You will be taught certain routines - as a group, or individually with particular weapons or just with fists. In short, in competitions, you will be tested on the smoothness of your routine, how well you execute your moves (speed, flexibility etc) and your overall confidence.

In the 14th Asian Games, you may have come across Sanshou (also called Sanda) under the Wushu category and wondered how it is related to the traditional one, since it looks so different. Certainly, the moves have been developed from the traditional ones, but into a real combat discipline. To find out more about Sanshou, please look into this excellent website which explains it very clearly.