History of Chinese Martial Arts, Types of Martial Arts Styles

A brief history of Chinese martial arts and the different types of martial arts and styles involved.

The history of Chinese martial arts is rooted in a great deal of myth and conjecture.

The reason for this is much of the historical documentation on the origins of the early development of the arts was lost when the Shaolin Temple was burned down many centuries ago by warlords.

However, there is a great deal of oral history and it has been preserved. It eventually found its way into modern publications that have promoted a certain history that most concur is the correct one.

Here is a look at that history.

The origins and history of Chinese martial arts are believed to actually have started in India. India had a long and storied history of wrestling, pugilism, and weapons arts.

India had a warrior culture and it preserved its martial arts and combat sports well. It was also home to Buddhist theories and sought to export such beliefs to other parts of the world.

Bodhidharma is believed to be the Buddhist Priest that traveled to the Shaolin Temple of China only to discover the monks were in terrible physical condition. So, he introduced the fighting styles of India into their practice for the purpose of health, fitness, and exercise.

In time, the Shaolin Temple modeled fighting styles based on Five Animals: Snake, Crane, Dragon, Tiger, and Leopard. All of these systems involve punching, kicking, locking, and throwing.

Students could study individual arts, modify them, and combine them as they saw fit. This set in motion the development of thousands of "kung fu" systems over the next several centuries.

Kung Fu, a colloquialism for the good effort, became the common name used for the study of Chinese martial arts.

Such an origin is not completely accurate.

The Shaolin Temple was the birthplace of many Chinese martial arts and scores of subset arts derive from it. However, the Chinese military had long since been practicing weapons and empty hand fighting for thousands of years prior to the Shaolin Temple.

The military origin of Chinese martial arts is overlooked a great deal and much of the lineage of these arts has been morphed into the lineages of the Shaolin Temple as well.

Martial arts in China would eventually be taught in secret since the ruling class of China frowned on civilians learning how to fight. Arts became closed door systems taught in secrecy to friends and family. Even over the years when it became possible to teach martial arts openly, the systems were taught in a highly secretive nature where forms and sets needed to be pondered upon to figure out their true meaning.

Throughout the history of chinese martial arts popularity has increased. The arts survived for centuries and saw many different masters develop all manner of different martial arts.

To a great extent, the arts may have different styles, approaches, and training methods but they never really move away from the standard mode of punching, kicking, locking, and throwing.

And yes, traces of the Five Animal systems are all found in all modern arts.

Return to Types of Martial Arts Styles Homepage