Wushu (sport)

This article is about the modern sport Wushu. For information on other types of Chinese martial arts, see Chinese martial arts. For the meaning of the word, see wushu (term). Wushu, also known as modern wushu or contemporary wushu, is both an exhibition and a full-contact sport derived from traditional Chinese martial arts. It was created in the People's Republic of China after 1949, in an attempt to nationalize the practice of traditional Chinese martial arts. Most of the modern competition forms (套路 taolu) were formed from their parent arts (see list below) by government-appointed committee. Some authors have surmised that the creation of sport wushu and its subsequent disassociation from self-defense and the traditional closed system of family lineages was an attempt to suppress what the PRC felt was potentially subversive aspects of Chinese martial arts. In contemporary times, wushu has become a truly international sport through the International Wushu Federation (IWUF), which holds the World Wushu Championships every two years; the first World Championships were held in 1991 in Beijing and won by Clark Zhang.
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