Kung Fu
功夫A collective term for the Chinese martial arts, not a single style. It includes sport wushu (taolu and sanda) and traditional schools. It has no founder, and Bodhidharma is a legend.
Quick Facts
ChinaCharacter & Origin
Training
Who It Suits
Organisation & Competition
What the style is built from
Editorial rating on a 0–3 scale, based on how much room each area gets in ordinary training.
Comparisons
Catalogs & Databases for Kung Fu
About Kung Fu
Kung Fu is not a single style but a collective term for the Chinese martial arts. The Chinese word gongfu means any skill gained through long practice and can also be said of a tea ceremony. In Chinese the martial arts are called wushu, and so is the modern sport named. In English the word kung fu in the sense of a martial art spread with the films of Bruce Lee in the seventies.
Read more
Kung Fu has no founder. The legend of the Indian monk Bodhidharma, who was supposed to have taught the monks at the Shaolin monastery to fight, rests on the Yijin Jing text written in 1624, whose oldest surviving copy is from 1827. The attribution to Bodhidharma was rejected by the historians Tang Hao, Xu Zhen and Matsuda Ryuchi, and the oldest text about Bodhidharma from 547 does not describe him as a fighter. The legend spread widely only after the publication of the novel The Travels of Lao Can in 1904 to 1907. What is documented is different: the Shaolin monastery arose in 495 and already its first Chinese monks Huiguang and Sengchou were known for their fighting ability. Thirteen Shaolin monks helped the future emperor Taizong, as a letter of thanks from 626 documents. General Qi Jiguang described sixteen fighting styles in the military manual Jixiao Xinshu of 1560 and 1561. The styles divide into northern, with high kicks and jumps, and southern, with strong hand work and stable stances, and the boundary runs roughly along the Yangtze river. The distinction between internal styles (taijiquan, xingyiquan, baguazhang) and external ones first appears in 1669 with Huang Zongxi. The organised form arose in the 20th century: Jingwu in Shanghai in 1910, the Central Guoshu Institute in Nanjing in 1928 and from 1958 sport wushu in the PRC. The international federation IWUF arose in 1990 and has two disciplines: taolu, that is judged routines with hands and with weapons, and sanda, a full-contact fight. Wushu is not an Olympic sport. The Chinese Wushu Association awards nine duan grades, but we have not found a uniform system of grades for all schools.
History
Kung-fu has no founder and no year of origin, as it is an umbrella term for Chinese martial arts. The Chinese gongfu means any skill acquired through practice, and martial arts are called wushu in Chinese. The Shaolin monastery was built in 495, and its first Chinese monks Huiguang and Sengchou were known for their fighting abilities. Thirteen Shaolin monks helped the future emperor Taizong, as a letter of thanks from 626 documents. General Qi Jiguang described sixteen fighting styles in the military manual Jixiao Xinshu (1560–1561). The legend of Bodhidharma as the teacher of the monks, based on the Yijin Jing text of 1624, was rejected by the historians Tang Hao, Xu Zhen and Matsuda Ryuchi. The organized form arose in the 20th century: Jingwu in Shanghai in 1910 with Huo Yuanjia as its public face, the Central Guoshu Institute in Nanjing in 1928, the All-China Wushu Association in 1958 and the IWUF in 1990 in Beijing. During the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976) traditional arts were suppressed, and instead of independent schools and family lineages the state promoted regulated competitive wushu. After 1998 the government supports both traditional styles and modern wushu.
Technique
The styles are traditionally divided into northern, which stress fast powerful kicks, high jumps and fluid movement, and southern, with strong arm work, stable stances and fast footwork. The boundary runs roughly along the Yangtze river, and the differences have largely blurred. The second division is into internal styles (neijia), which build on a relaxed lever of the body guided by the mind, and external (waijia), with fast explosive movement and strength. Sun Lutang classed taijiquan, xingyiquan and baguazhang as internal, and baguazhang is practised by walking in a circle in low stances. Locks on joints and muscles, qinna, are contained to some extent in all styles, in the southern more than in the northern. Shuai jiao specialises in throws.
Training
Training rests on taolu routines, duilian exercises in pairs and group jiti, in sport wushu also with weapons. The internal styles practise pushing hands and zhan zhuang, standing in one position from two minutes to two hours, during which beginners may experience strong muscle fatigue and trembling. The duanwei syllabus of the Chinese Wushu Association adds elements by level: strike, kick, grab, position, fighting and finally everything together, and each level has its own form. Full resistance is documented in sanda, the full-contact IWUF fighting discipline, which is described separately under Sanda. We have not been able to document the structure of a lesson or the frequency of training.
Ranks and progression
We have not found a uniform belt system of Kung Fu, and the ranks of instructors are a source of disputes. In the PRC the duanwei grades are assessed by the Chinese Wushu Association: nine duan grades (basic 1–3, intermediate 4–6, higher 7–9) and a preliminary grade of three levels. Ethics, theory, technique and skills are assessed, and for the higher grades also the contribution to the development of wushu. The syllabus of the courses was validated by the CWA assessment committee in July 2008. Whether schools outside the CWA recognise duanwei grades, we have not found.
Who it suits
The competition age is set by the IWUF rules for taolu (2019): children up to 11 years, youth 12–14, juniors 15–17 and adults from 18 years. A changquan or nanquan routine lasts at least 1:20 for adults and at least 1:10 for juniors and children. We have not found the age of admission to traditional schools. A randomised study by Tsang et al. (J Sports Sci Med 2009) assigned 20 non-athletic adolescents with overweight or obesity (mean 13.3 years, 60% girls) for 6 months to Kung Fu or tai chi, and the groups did not differ in fat mass. Changizi and Rahnama (2017) found in 51 elite wushu athletes (mean 16.3 years) 6.85 injuries per 1,000 hours, 47.6% in the lower limbs, and they do not state the discipline. We found a study in seniors only for taijiquan, and we have not found programmes for women.
Competition
The international federation IWUF has two disciplines: taolu, judged routines with hands and with weapons, and sanda, a full-contact fight with punches, kicks and throws, which is described separately under Sanda. It has organised the World Championships every two years since 1991. In taolu under the 2019 rules the judges assess the quality of movements (5 points), the overall impression (3) and the difficulty (2), and for duilian and jiti without difficulty, quality and impression at 5 points each. The difficulty component was added by the revision of the rules of 2003. Wushu is not an Olympic sport. The tournament in Beijing 2008 was held alongside the Games and its medals were not counted, and the IOC recognised the IWUF in 2002.
Gear
We have not been able to document the clothing of traditional schools or the competition uniform for taolu. The weapons for taolu are standardised by the IWUF rules (2019): the dao sabre and the jian sword held vertically must reach with the tip at least the upper edge of the ear, the gun staff at least the height of the competitor, and the qiang spear from the floor to the tip of the middle finger of the raised arm, and its tassel must be at least 20 cm. The competition equipment of sanda, that is gloves, a head guard, chest protector and mouthguard, and for juniors instep guards, is described separately under Sanda.
Philosophy
The ethical system of the Chinese martial arts is called wude, martial morality. The distinction between internal and external arts first appears in 1669 in the Epitaph for Wang Zhengnan by Huang Zongxi, and his son Huang Baijia compiled in 1676 the manual of the internal arts Neijia Quanfa. According to Henning it was a classification more political than technical, and some practitioners reject the distinction. The internal styles focus on working with qi, the external on muscular and cardiovascular fitness. The xia code from the wuxia genre, to right wrongs and punish oppressors, belongs to fiction, not to traditional schools.
Styles and schools
Kung-fu is not a single style but a collective term for many Chinese schools. Many bear the name of a family or a master, others imitate animals: the techniques of xingyiquan are based on twelve animal forms.
Read more
Among the internal styles is taijiquan. According to the UNESCO nomination, it arose in the middle of the 17th century in Wenxian County in Henan Province and developed into several schools named after a family or a master. Britannica places its codification and naming at the beginning of the Qing dynasty. The International Wushu Federation IWUF lists five styles for it: Chen, Yang, Wu, Sun and Wu (Hao). Depending on the school, the forms have from 24 to 108 or more movements, and all of them are based on one of three stances, with the weight forward, backward or in a riding stance. Since 2020 taijiquan has been on the UNESCO list of intangible cultural heritage, and it is traditionally passed on in a family lineage or by a master-student relationship confirmed by the baishi ceremony. The southern style Choy Li Fut was founded in 1836 by Chan Heung from Xinhui County in Guangdong Province. The name commemorates his teachers Choy Fook and Lee Yau San, and the word fut means Buddha in Cantonese and refers to the Shaolin origin of the teachers. In 2008 the style was placed on China's national list of intangible heritage. Choy Li Fut and several lineages of Wing Chun are also on Hong Kong's list of intangible cultural heritage. The sport form is governed by IWUF. At the world championships, taolu is contested in fifteen disciplines, among them changquan, nanquan, taijiquan, baguazhang and xingyiquan, with weapons (daoshu, jianshu, gunshu, qiangshu, nandao, nangun) and in the paired forms duilian.
Today
Kung Fu spread to the West after 1949, when masters left the PRC for Taiwan, Hong Kong and elsewhere. The word kung fu first appeared in print in English in the magazine Punch in 1966, and a wave of interest in the seventies was brought by the films of Bruce Lee. Hong Kong action film dominated the genre from 1971 until the mid-nineties, and Shaolin Temple (1982) with Jet Li revived interest in martial arts in China and tourism to the monastery. Jet Li was four times PRC all-around wushu champion in 1975–1979. The character of Wong Fei-hung, a teacher of Hung Gar, has appeared since 1949 in more than 100 films and series. We have not found an umbrella organisation of the traditional schools, and sport wushu is governed by the IWUF with continental federations.
In culture
The film Enter the Dragon, a co-production of the USA and Hong Kong directed by Robert Clouse, was released by Warner Bros. on 17 August 1973, roughly a month after the death of Bruce Lee at the age of 32. Lee choreographed all the fights in it. The film earned 21 million dollars in the USA, topped the box office for the first two weeks of its wide release, in 2004 the Library of Congress added it to the American National Film Registry, and in 2013 a poll by the newspapers The Guardian and The Observer voted it the best martial arts film of all time. The film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon by Ang Lee received ten nominations and four awards at the 73rd Academy Awards, for art direction, cinematography, the music of Tan Dun and foreign-language film. Jackie Chan, who began at the age of seventeen as a stuntman in Hong Kong films, received an honorary Oscar in 2016.
Did you know
The historic monuments of Dengfeng, including the Shaolin monastery complex, have been on the UNESCO World Heritage List since 2010. Ip Man was born on 1 October 1893 in Foshan and learned Wing Chun from Chan Wah Shun. In 1949 he moved to Hong Kong, where he taught Wing Chun, from 1953 Bruce Lee was his student, and he died there on 2 December 1972. Bruce Lee was expelled from La Salle College in 1956, from the age of twelve he moved in the street gangs of Kowloon, and he got to Ip Man's classes through one of their members. Wushu has never been on the Olympic Games programme. The IOC allowed a wushu tournament in Beijing during the 2008 Games, and a youth tournament was held at the 2014 Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing.
Styles & Branches
A Chinese family of internal martial art styles with slow forms and tuishou, documented from the 17th century in Henan. Zhang Sanfeng is a legend, UNESCO 2020.
A southern Chinese close-range style built on the centreline and economy of movement. The documented lineage begins in the 19th century, made famous by Ip Man and Bruce Lee.
Martial arts connected with the Shaolin monastery in Henan. The monks’ training is documented from the 16th century, and the legend of Bodhidharma does not hold up historically.
A Chinese martial art built on circle walking, with palm strikes, kicks, locks and throws. Linked with Dong Haichuan, who arrived in Beijing around 1864.
A southern Chinese close-range fighting style. The documented lineage begins with Cheung Lai Chuen, and the story of the monk Bak Mei is a legend.
A southern Chinese Kung Fu style with low stances and the symbol of the tiger and crane. The documented lineage begins in the 19th century with Wong Kei-ying and Wong Fei-hung.
A northern Chinese style from Hebei built on a single idea: get inside. Crushing close-range strikes, whole-body impact and work with elbow and shoulder.
A Chinese art of straight forward movement and explosive force with the five fists wuxing, twelve animals and traditional training beginning with the spear.
A southern Chinese style founded in 1836 by Chan Heung from Xinhui in Guangdong. The national intangible heritage list of the PRC has carried it since 2008.
A northern Chinese style from Shandong imitating the mantis's hunt. Its signature is the hooked hand that catches and pulls; the southern mantis is a separate lineage.
Southern Chinese styles from Fujian, traditionally ascribed to the legendary Fang Qiniang. Teachers documented from the 19th century, kata Sanchin shared with Goju-ryu and Uechi-ryu.
The oldest documented Chinese wrestling style, rooted in the ceremonial contest jiaodi. A throw scores higher the more cleanly the thrower stays on his feet; there is no groundwork.
A collective name for the internal arts and the art of the Wudang mountain temples. The internal-external division dates from 1669, and Zhang Sanfeng is founder only by tradition.
Northern Chinese family of styles with long reach and high kicks, not one style. Competitive changquan arose by 50s standardization, and the IWUF builds it on chaquan, huaquan and paoquan.
Northern Chinese Eagle Claw style that adds grips and levers to long strikes. On China's national heritage list since 2008.
Tiger claw kung-fu style, formerly called Hark Fu Moon. According to its schools it leads to Wong Bil Hong, and his nephew Wong Moon Toy brought it to New York.
A northern Chinese style associated with Huo Yuanjia and the Shanghai Jingwu school. It builds on unexpected changes of direction and light, open stances.
A northern Chinese style of long, fast strikes imitating a monkey's arms. The Beijing tradition has three schools and has been on the national list since 2014.
Wang Xiangzhai's style without fixed forms, built on zhanzhuang standing. It emerged from xingyiquan in the 1920s.
A northern Chinese style from Cangzhou with fast strikes of explosive power and the long saber miaodao. On the national intangible heritage list since 2008.
Northern Chinese style in the lineage of Gu Ruzhang (1894–1952), an instructor at the Central Guoshu Institute, who spread it to Canton after 1928. It has no separate heritage listing.
Southern Chinese style that by tradition arose as a synthesis of five Cantonese family styles in the Qingyun Temple. It uses fist and palm strikes and low kicks.
A full-contact discipline of wushu, an official sport in China since 1989. Fought with strikes, kicks and throws on the raised leitai platform, throwing an opponent off it also scores.
Internal style also called the water fist. Documented history begins with Wu Yihui (1887–1958), Hong Kong inventories it as intangible heritage, we did not find it on China's national list.
A hand-conditioning method that, according to English Wikipedia, many Chinese schools know. It is not a separate style. According to Wikipedia, Gu Ruzhang was known for mastering it.
Southern Chinese style from Quanzhou that combines five fists: Damo, Taizu, Luohan, the monkey fist and the white crane. On China's national heritage list since 2008.
Chinese style of falls, rolls and ground-based leg techniques. We did not find it on the national intangible heritage list, and in the 2019 IWUF rules it is just one traditional style.
Chinese style linked to Du Xinwu and his teacher known as Xu Aizi. Sources differ on which of them founded it.
Sichuan styles linked to Mount Emei, on China's national intangible heritage list since 2008. The item description gives 68 branches, the oldest treatise is on the spear (17th century).
A northern kung-fu style that Wang Chueh-Jen began teaching in Taiwan in the late nineteen forties. His students dispute the ancient origin he claimed.
Southern Chinese kung fu style publicly introduced by Ha Hon Hung in Guangzhou in 1924. It builds on a low horse stance and has thirteen sets without weapons.
Umbrella term for southern Chinese styles and a competitive wushu discipline: low firm stances, short powerful strikes with vocalization and fewer leg techniques, per the IWUF.
A modern Chinese system founded in 2007 that combines bajiquan with other styles. Practiced empty-handed and with weapons, from the dagger to the spear.
A southern Chinese family style that Nanhai's heritage list ranks among the five main styles of Guangdong. Known for its flexible footwork.
A branch of Southern Mantis tied to the Hakka community. Tradition traces it to Chu Fook-To, the Chuka Praying Mantis Kung Fu organization to Chu Nan-Chieh.
A northern Chinese style of low stances and rear kicks from Raoyang in Hebei. Since 2014 it has been on China's national list of intangible heritage.
Northern Chinese style from Gaoyang County, Hebei, on the provincial intangible heritage list. Today widely practised in Gaoyang schools and showcases, its origin attested only by tradition.
A northern Chinese style called bashanfan under the Ming dynasty. Its yingzhao fanziquan branch, the eagle claw, from Xiong county is on the national list.
Umbrella term for the martial arts of southern Chinese Hakka communities, not one school. A Hong Kong exhibition places Chow Gar mantis and Dragon Style under it, among others.
Collective name for Chinese monkey styles, attested by Qi Jiguang in the 16th century. Best described is the Hong Kong school Dasheng pigua men, Emei hou quan is part of the Emei wushu item.
Foshan branch of Choy Li Fut founded by Jeong Yim (Zhang Yan), a student of Chan Heung. Hung Sing school in Foshan since 1851, in the Hong Kong intangible heritage inventory (3.72.2).
Southern Chinese style of Jow Lung, a combination of Hung Gar and Choy Gar with Shaolin kicks. Since 2019 it has been intangible heritage of Nanhai district.
Choy Li Fut lineage from King Mui (Jingmei) village in Xinhui, birthplace of founder Chan Heung (1806–1875). On China's national intangible heritage list since 2008.
A southern Chinese family style, one of the five main styles of Guangdong. Most of today's information about it comes from British clubs.
A southern Chinese family style, one of the five famous styles of Guangdong. Sources describe its origin in different ways, and it cannot yet be confirmed.
Southern Chinese Hakka style of Lam Yiu-gwai, related to Bak Mei. It rests on sixteen basic movements and is heritage of Canton and Nanhai district.
A northern Chinese style that divides the school into a civil and a martial branch. Since 2006 it has been on China's national list of intangible heritage.
A Shanghai kung fu style of flowing, continuous movements that combine soft and hard. On China's national intangible heritage list since 2014, lineage from Meng Guangyin.
Southern Chinese family style from Guangdong with close-range hand work and many kicks. Since 2021 it has been on China's national list of intangible heritage.
Hong Kong branch of Tibetan White Crane from the Lion's Roar lineage. Circular strikes from the waist, evasions and finger strikes, in Hong Kong's heritage inventory under number 370.
A technical category in the Chinese arts: grips, locks and immobilisations in five groups defined by what is attacked.
North Chinese style from Jizhou, Hebei, on the provincial intangible heritage list (2012). Lineage from three emperors and Shaolin monks is tradition, Song Mailun of late Qing is documented.
Shandong style, also called the long-sleeve fist, hands hidden in sleeves when striking. On China's national intangible heritage list since 2011, the Sun Bin name is a later attribution.
Fujian style named for the Song dynasty founder. Attribution to the emperor is tradition, the name is attested by Qi Jiguang in the 16th century, now part of wuzuquan and Fujian heritage.
South Chinese art of eternal spring, separate from wing chun. The Hong Kong inventory of intangible heritage lists it as item no. 367.
A competitive discipline of sport wushu in which a routine is judged under IWUF rules. Standardized routines arose in the PRC from 1958, the IWUF from 1990.
Chinese fighting methods imitating a drunkard, not one school. The Eight Drunken Immortals set is attested in a Ming to Qing text, and the film Drunken Master (1978) helped make it famous.
Frequently asked questions
What is kung-fu?
Kung-fu is a collective term for Chinese martial arts, not a single style. It includes traditional schools such as taijiquan, Choy Li Fut or Wing Chun, as well as sport wushu, which is governed by the International Wushu Federation (IWUF).
What does the word kung-fu mean?
According to Britannica, the Chinese term gongfu means skill and can also refer to careful preparation for any skilled activity. The sport form of Chinese martial arts is called wushu.
What is the difference between karate and kung-fu?
Karate originated in Okinawa and was brought to Japan in the 1920s by Funakoshi Gichin. Kung-fu is a collective term for many Chinese schools. Karate was an Olympic sport only in Tokyo 2020, while wushu has never been part of the Olympic programme.
What are the best kung-fu movies?
We do not determine a ranking, but some films have a documented award. Enter the Dragon with Bruce Lee from 1973 was added to the US National Film Registry by the Library of Congress in 2004, and a poll by The Guardian and The Observer chose it as the best martial arts film of all time in 2013. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon by Ang Lee won four Oscars.
What types of kung-fu are there?
Internal styles include taijiquan, for which the International Wushu Federation lists five styles: Chen, Yang, Wu, Sun and Wu (Hao). At the IWUF World Championships, taolu is contested in fifteen disciplines, including changquan, nanquan, taijiquan, baguazhang and xingyiquan, also with weapons.
Similar styles
Selected by overlap in the style profile, not by historical lineage.