Bruce Lee. Jacki Chan. Kung Fu. Shaolin Temple. Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon. Most likely one of these is the first thing that comes to mind upon the mention of Chinese martial arts.

Kung fu is a popular term that, thru the years, has become synonymous with Chinese martial arts; thanks to actors like Bruce Lee and Jackie and movies like Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon.

But the literal translation of "Chinese Martial Art" is zhongguo wushu.

In traditional Chinese, kung fu can be used in situations completely not related to martial arts. Kung Fu can colloquially refer to any individual accomplishment or skill cultivated through long and hard work.

On the other hand, Wushu is a more precise term for general martial activities.

Wushu literally means "martial art". It is formed from the two "wu", meaning, "martial" or "military", and "shu", which translates into "discipline", "skill" or "method."

It is said that traditional Chinese Martial Arts can be traced back to the Xia Dynasty which existed more than 4000 years ago. Their origin is attributed to self-defense needs, hunting activities and military training in ancient China.

Today, Wushu is fast becoming an international sport. In fact the International Wushu Federation holds the biennial World Wushu Championships.

Wushu events are also held during Asian Games, East Asian Games and Southeast Asian Games.

Modern Wushu is composed of two disciplines: taolu (forms) and sanda (sparring).

Taolu involve martial art patterns and maneuvers for which competitors are judged and given points according to specific rules. The forms comprise basic movements (stances, kicks, punches, balances, jumps, sweeps and throws) based on aggregate categories traditional Chinese martial art style and can be changed for competitions to highlight one's strengths.

Meanwhile, Sanda (sometimes called sanshou or Lei Tai) is a modern fighting method and sport influenced by traditional Chinese boxing, Chinese wrestling methods called Shuai Chiao and other Chinese grappling techniques such as Qin Na. It has all the combat aspects of wushu. Sanda appears much like kickboxing or Muay Thai, but includes many more grappling techniques.

Here are the different Wushu events:

Barehanded

• Changquan - Long Fist
• Nanquan - Southern Fist
• Taijiquan - Taiji Fist

Short Weapons

• Dao - Single-edged Sword
• Jian - Double-edged Sword
• Taijijian - Taiji Double-edged Sword
• Nandao - Southern Single-edged sSword

Long Weapons

• Gun - Staff
• Qiang - Spear
• Nangun - Southern Staff