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| Traditional vs Modern Chinese Martial Art |
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| Chinese martial arts can be divided into two rpincipal groups: traditional and modern Chinese martial arts. All Chinese styles that have been founded recently (mostly during 1970s should be considered as modern martial arts. Modern Chinese martial arts are mostly characterised by their large and open movements. At the beginning, the objective is focused on the beauty (in the sense of their 'creators', not necessarily in the sense of traditional martial arts) of the movements, so that competitions could be done by comparing the perfection of the movements executed in a sequence (or set), just like in the competition of artistic ice-skating. In the contrary, traditional martial arts are besed mainly on their efficiency in the application and self cultivation (physically and mentally). The movements found in these category of martial arts are not necessarily beatiful to an uninitiated, but a connaisseur will recognise the quality at a glance. The internal quality (gong di) is the most important element. There are of course many other important elements in the traditional martial arts. You can find out in this web page and through other links as well. Nevertheless, those who are trained in modern styles have found that the sole objective of beauty can no longer fulfil the demand of many martial artists today. Hence, the 'decision making group' (mainly come from China, directly or indirectly controlled by the government) have started to specialised the different methods trained in traditional Chinese martial arts, such as sparring, Tao Lu (set) performing, ......etc. Each group of people 'specialised' in one or two subclasses. Therefore, it is hard for an outsider to distinguish between the traditional and modern Chinese martial arts. However, a connasseur will tell at once which one belong to which category. Another way to see the differnces between the two is to consult the historical context of a style. |