For those foreigners who learn Chinese in China, they may have heard or seen much about the Chinese martial arts. Some of them may see in the real life and some of them get the knowledge from the TV plays or the films. For the purpose of gaining a deeper understanding on the martial arts to those who study Chinese in China, more background information will be explained.
The martial arts originated in China. It is an important part in Chinese culture with a long history and rich contents as well as various forms and patterns. In the long historical developing process, it has been called “wuyi” or “guoshu”. However, the most popular one for those who study Mandarin in China should be “kung fu”.
The origin of the martial arts can be dated back to the ancestors’ activities for survival and development. Foreigners who learn Chinese in China should know that the martial arts were the techniques for the army to defeat the enemy in the cold weapon stage. Besides, it is also a means for common people to defense themselves. Some of them even took it as a method to build up the body and gain pleasure to life.
Nowadays, as the rapid development of society and the progressive elaboration of the civilization, the martial arts have been separated from the military technology, becoming a basic element for hacking and defense. When foreigners study Chinese in China, they may be told that it has become the sporting event under the background of the Chinese culture.
As a sporting event, it has two sporting modes, namely the routine sport and the free-boxing sport. Westerners who study Mandarin in China may know that the routine sport is programmed by certain regular patterns. The actions are stylized and connected. In the free-boxing sport, two persons do attack and defense exercise or competition by obeying certain rules.
The martial arts games have very high values in athletics and body building. Therefore, it is loved by people from different cultural backgrounds. It is very important to cultivate the teenagers’ excellent moral quality. During the process when learners study Chinese in China, they may have seen many martial arts schools. According to the incomplete statistics, there are about ten thousand schools teaching martial arts. This condition is helpful to train excellent talents for the development of the martial arts career.
Most Chinese people like the martial arts and it is the most important sporting event for people to do physical exercise. With an extensive mass base, many westerners can see people build their body by the way of martial arts when they learn Chinese in China. Among so many forms of the martial arts, the most popular are the Taichi and some special martial arts fitness methods. There are millions of people in the whole world train the martial arts, from which they have gained much health and enjoyed much pleasure.
For some people who are greatly interested in martial arts, they even regard it as a permanent way of doing sports and life style. Many foreigners may have witnessed many great events about it when they study Mandarin in China. Let’s take the 40th anniversary ceremony of the establishment of the Chinese Martial Art Association in 1998 as an example. Many amateurs of Taichi from China or even the world performed the Taichi in the Tian’an Men Square. It was really a spectacular scene.
In China, the martial arts science research is gradually socialized. More importantly, the martial arts science research has become an important part in the martial arts career. Therefore, foreigners who learn Chinese in China can see there are many international or national martial arts researcher reporting conferences are held in China every year.
If the westerners are interested in the martial arts when they study Chinese in China, it is necessary for them to know some institutions for martial arts technology research and organization. The main institutions are as follows: the martial arts institute of the State General Administration of Sports, the martial branch of the China Sports Science Society and Chinese Martial Art Association Study Committee.
As the rapid development of the martial arts sports, many comprehensive and regional sports meeting have listed it as the competing event. We can see that the martial art has become an important part of the world sports. We should inherit and develop it in the whole world.