Brief History of Chinese Martial Arts

Many people believe that the monks from the Shaolin Temple created wushu. This of course is wrong, for although Shaolin Quan is one of China's most well-known styles of wushu, the Shaolin Temple was only built in 495 CE and the Buddhist monk Bodhidharma, the mythical father of Shaolin Quan, did not arrive until the early 6th century.

Wushu itself has a much longer history and developed alongside Chinese society. The following is a brief summary of developments in dynastic order.

During the Shang period (1600-1066 BCE) many bronze weapons were created. These weapons required a level of training and skill to wield them.

According to the Zhuangzi (book of Zhuangzi 370-286 BCE) during the Spring & Autumn and Warring States (700-221 BCE) weapons training and unarmed combat was evolving and became highly developed by the end of these periods. Even Confucius (551-479 BCE) used to practise regularly with a sword.

During the Qin dynasty (221-207 BCE) martial arts competitions became regulated with the use of referees, arenas and protective clothing.

This was followed by the Han dynasty (206 BCE - 220 CE) when quanshu developed further and many martial routines were created.

As mentioned above it was during the Six Dynasties (420-581) period that the Shaolin Monastery was built and by the end of the Sui dynasty (581-618) the outstanding skills of the Shaolin monks was well-known.

Military officers in the Tang dyansty (618-907) were selected for their posts according to their skills in wushu.

Martial Arts associations organised by ordinary people appeared in the Song dynasty (960-1279). It is during the reign of emperor Huizong (1101-1126) that Zhang Sanfeng, the mythical founder of Taijiquan, was a Daoist priest on mount Wudang. Daoist priests, like their Shaolin counterparts, were well versed in wushu.

By the Ming dynasty (1368-1644) quanshu became organised into many different schools and many books on martial art theory were printed.

The Qing dynasty (1644-1911) saw the creation of secret wushu societies.

Since the end of the Qing dynasty wushu organisation and associations both governmental and non-governmental have popularised the martial arts throughout China. Wushu is now on the physical education curriculum of most schools and colleges.