What Kind of Sport Is Wushu, and Why It Is Not One Single Chinese Style

I want to start with the characters. The explanation Chinese people quote most comes from the Zuo Zhuan, where King Zhuang of Chu says "止戈为武": stopping (止) the halberd (戈) makes 武. It is a fine moral teaching, but it is not how the character was formed. In oracle-bone script 止 is a foot, so 武 meant marching with a weapon, as the National Palace Museum explains. 术 means method and skill. Together, 武术 means martial arts in general, not the name of any one style.

This is where I see people go wrong most often. Some think wushu is one kind of Chinese boxing, separate from tai chi or kung fu styles. In fact 武术 and gongfu, which Thai people call kung fu, sit under the same umbrella. The difference is that kung fu is the everyday word, while wushu is the term the Chinese authorities use systematically, in education, competition and rank grading.

What I want to stress is that there are many real styles under the word wushu. China's nationwide survey of styles from 1982 to 1986 recognised 129 of them, using the test that each must have a clear lineage, clear principles, a distinct character and a system of its own. That is the evidence that wushu is an umbrella term, not the name of one style. I always compare it for my students to Muay Thai in the broad sense, which includes Muay Chaiya, Muay Lopburi and Muay Tha Sao, each with its own strengths but all under the same umbrella.

The history of wushu did not begin in a competition hall but in hunting, self-defence and war. Ancient texts show it clearly from the Yueling chapter of the Book of Rites, which records that at the start of winter the ruler ordered his generals to practise archery, charioteering and "角力" (jiaoli, wrestling), so fighting was already a military subject trained systematically.

I especially like the Han dynasty, because that is when physical training began to be tied to health. Hua Tuo's biography in the Book of the Later Han records that the physician had an exercise called "五禽之戏" (wuqinxi, the Five Animals: tiger, deer, bear, monkey and bird). The idea of training inside and outside together is still part of wushu today, and it matches how I teach at the dojo: good martial arts should not wear down the practitioner's body over the long run but strengthen it as you go.

Wushu as the competitive sport we see today came after 1949. According to the Encyclopedia of China, wushu was part of the national folk sports performance and competition in Tianjin in November 1953, became a national competition sport in 1957, the Chinese Wushu Association was founded in 1958, and the first competition rules came in 1959. The International Wushu Federation (IWUF) was then founded in Beijing on 3 October 1990. So I disagree with the explanation that the wushu sport was created only to repair its image after viral challenge-match clips, because the timeline shows it was organised as a sport decades before social media.

Taolu: the art of forms

Taolu (套路) is competition in forms. Basic techniques such as kicks, punches, throws, locks, cuts and thrusts are linked into a set. The three main empty-hand events are changquan (长拳, long fist, with extended movements and high spinning jumps), nanquan (南拳, southern fist, with a stable low base, hip power and a shout to drive the force; see southern fists and northern kicks) and taijiquan (太极拳, tai chi, soft, slow and continuous). There are also weapon events such as the broadsword, straight sword, staff and spear.

Under the IWUF Taolu Competition Rules 2024, the maximum score of 10 splits into three groups: group A judges quality of movements for 5 points, group B judges overall performance, including power, rhythm and spirit, for 3 points, and group C judges degree of difficulty for 2 points, for example a 540-degree tornado kick landing in a horse stance. I often tell my students that calling taolu "dancing" makes people underestimate how hard the training is, because behind the flow on stage is the same movement repeated countless times until the body remembers it to the degree.

Sanda: full-contact fighting

Sanda (散打, formerly sanshou 散手) is full-contact fighting distilled from the real techniques of Chinese boxing, with dangerous techniques removed and protective gear added. Bouts take place on a raised platform without ropes called the leitai (擂台), 8 by 8 metres, 80 centimetres high and surrounded by 2-metre mats. Under the IWUF Sanda Competition Rules 2024, adult athletes wear gloves, headgear, a gum shield, a chest protector and a groin guard; shin guards are only for children and juniors. A bout is the best of three 2-minute rounds with 1 minute of rest, and punches, kicks and throws all score. The back of the head, the neck and the crotch are off limits, and so are the head, elbows, knees and joint locks. I think sanda is the clearest proof that wushu is not only about beauty, because it is Chinese boxing tested against an opponent who will not cooperate.

I compare sanda with training at my own dojo: a beautiful movement in practice and the reality on the platform are two different things. A taolu athlete who trains hard cannot necessarily step onto a sanda platform straight away, because sanda needs reading an opponent's rhythm, absorbing impact and a different kind of stamina. The reverse is also true: a sanda fighter does not need beautiful taolu. My children saw this difference for themselves when they trained in wushu at the Sports Authority of Thailand in early 2011. So when someone says they want to learn wushu, I always ask which branch, because the two give very different results.

A question I get just as often is whether wushu and tai chi are the same thing. The answer is that taijiquan (太极拳) is one of the styles under the wushu umbrella, like changquan and nanquan, not a separate system. Tai chi simply emphasises softness, slowness and continuity, and has a clearer health dimension than other styles, so people know it on its own without realising it is one of the three main empty-hand events of taolu. In our family, Khru Rain trained in Chen-family taijiquan to direct-line master level and has competed in both taiji and wushu.

Kung fu comes from the Chinese word 功夫 (gongfu), which originally meant skill gained through sustained practice. Making tea, calligraphy or boxing could all be said to show gongfu. As the word spread with the films, it became tied to Chinese martial arts, while wushu became the term the Chinese authorities use systematically. The Chinese martial art IMAC Dojo teaches as a course, Wing Chun in our Wing Chun Sambo course, sits under the same umbrella.

So I always explain to my students that in a formal or competitive context you should say wushu, because it has a system, rules and clear governing bodies. In everyday conversation, saying kung fu is not wrong, as long as you understand it is informal and much broader.

Another thing few Thai people know is that wushu has a ranking system similar to black belts, called the duanwei system (段位制). The General Administration of Sport of China says it has been in use since 1998, in three tiers: junior (duan 1 to 3), intermediate (duan 4 to 6) and senior (duan 7 to 9), nine duan in all, much like the dan systems of Japanese and Korean martial arts. It has been revised several times; the current edition took effect on 1 December 2022 and adds grades below duan for beginners.

I think the duanwei system matters a great deal for wushu's credibility internationally, because it lets practitioners from different places compare their level systematically, no differently from the black-belt system in the Shinkyokushin karate I use at my dojo. A clear standard gives both teachers and learners goals they can reach, instead of training on without knowing where they stand.

I made this table so you can see on one page how different the two sides of wushu are: not just in uniform or stage, but from the goal of training to the scoring system. At the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games, where wushu is a medal sport for the first time in an Olympic event, only taolu is contested. If parents want their child to gain discipline, flexibility and confidence in performing, taolu may suit them better; if they want self-defence skills tested in real contact, sanda is worth considering.

To be honest, IMAC Dojo does not teach wushu as a public course. But the ideas behind wushu, training inside and outside, putting fundamentals first, and measuring skill systematically, are the same principles we use to teach Shinkyokushin karate and judo at the dojo. Anyone interested in wushu itself should look for a school that specialises in it.

Coming back to the first question, what is wushu, I hope it is now clear that it is not the name of one Chinese style, but a term that covers a long history, the 129 styles China recognises, and competition split clearly into taolu and sanda. What I want to leave you with, from about 20 years of my family's time in Chinese martial arts, is that whether it is wushu, karate, judo or any other art, the heart of good training is not the name of the school or the beauty of the movements, but correct fundamentals, discipline and honesty about what you actually train. If you are interested in training that puts fundamentals, safety and each person's own potential first, see the courses for children and adults on IMAC Dojo's schedule and pricing page.