Martial Arts

Something that has really interested me personally has always been the Arts, and in China specifically, martial arts. I've taken martial arts since I was 11, and the wide variety of styles and intense disciplinary training that exists in China is basically overwhelming.

Chinese martial arts is commonly known as kung fu, or gōngfu (功夫). A more accurate term is wǔshù (武术) which is defined as both martial arts as an art, and martial arts as a sport. In the latter sense, there are many teams worldwide that work to compete in tournaments held in China-- these teams focus on forms that include performance of one's body as well as weapons.

There are many, many styles of wushu. These are some of the more notable styles:

• Bāguàzhǎng - "Eight Trigrams Palm" which focuses on smooth movement and flow
  
• Wu3Xing2 (五形) - "Five Animals" Southern martial arts composed of a series of techniques and styles based off of the following animals: tiger, crane, leopard, snake and dragon.
• Jeet Kune Do (截拳道) - The style/philosophy set by Bruce Lee (Lǐ Xiăolóng) which incorporates very straightforward and direct fighting techniques, sacrificing the natural flow and fanciness observed in many other styles.
  
• Tai Chi Chuan (太极拳) - This style focuses almost entirely on one's inner energy, or qi. The concept results in this slow-paced, graceful form takes patience and control to perform correctly, letalone master.

Personally, I've taken Tai Chi for a number of years, and really wanted to learn Bagua or any form of contemporary wushu, which is generally taught for show, and is commonly used in tournaments.