Differences between traditional and modern martial arts
In actual fact there is no division of Chinese kungfu into traditional and modern. Since the 20th century, the direction of martial arts development has started to change, the emphasis of its function has changed from the arts of attack & defense to fitness and artistic expression (performance). Therefore, previous martial arts, which are composed mainly of attack & defense, and the martial arts which are developed according to the original direction, are usually called traditional martial arts (its most representative figure is Bruce Lee). Correspondingly, competitive Wushu (performed by Shaolin temple warriors), which features artistic expression and aims for the development of “high, difficult, beautiful, new”, and the boxing exercise developed in the 1980s, Chinese Sanda, are often referred to as modern martial arts.
The differences in the theoretical basis
The theoretical basis of traditional martial arts is Chinese traditional culture which has a long history of several thousand years. Confucianism, Buddhism, Taoism, medical science, philosophy, military science and aesthetics are, in various degree, reflected in the traditional martial arts. However, the training theories of modern competitive Wushu absorb only a part of the theories from traditional martial arts and largely replacing them with modern competitive sports theories based on physiological and biochemical knowledge.
The differences in combat
From the perspective of combat, traditional martial arts accumulates the Chinese people’s fighting experience over the millennia and naturally it has developed a distinctive quality. It includes not only holding and throwing methods, but also kicking and striking methods; close-in and compact combat techniques excelling at short-distance attack and also larger sweeping techniques specializing in long-distance attack; external martial arts focusing on hardness and also internal martial arts focusing on softness (including the special techniques of “using softness to overcome hardness” as well as “striking late but overwhelming the opponent”). The combat techniques it contains are extremely profound. Compared to it, modern Sanda is only a relatively low-level applied technique. The combat performances of both Xingyi expert Guo Yunshen (1822 - 1898), who was unbeatable with Bengquan, and Taiji grandmaster Yang Luchan (1799-1872 known as “Yang the Invincible”) reflects the excellence of Chinese traditional martial arts.
Compared to most sports, modern competitive Wushu is a new development and it is a great contribution from China to competitive sports. Modern combat emphasizes power, speed and practical methods. However, compared to traditional martial arts, it is a deformed development because it breaks away from tradition and completely separates forms from combat, thus running in the opposite direction from the basic ideas of Chinese martial arts. Because it pursues the stunning visual effects of “high, difficult, beautiful, new, fast, strong”, its combative ability is very weak. As to Sanda, although it’s easy to learn quickly within a short period, which is in accord with the goals of “efficiency comes first in a commercial, economic society”, it is, after all, only a combat technique on a particular level. When it develops to a certain degree, it cannot break through the fact that moves are too onefold and the techniques too simple.
The differences in body-building and health-preserving
From the perspective of body-building (note: body-building from a Chinese perspective implies improving the body, not enlarging muscles) and health-preserving, many connotations of traditional martial arts go beyond the general concept of sports. Traditional Chinese martial arts not only pays attention to external appearance: “hands(shou), eyes(yan), body(shen), application(fa), step(bu)” but also stress the internal: “jing, shen, qi, li, gong” (no direct translation available but these are abstract concepts for internal energy). Its object of study is organic and living human beings, like traditional Chinese medicine; it regards human beings as an open and complex system and emphasizes the harmony between human, nature and the universe; it is consistent with oriental psychology, physiology and cultural background; it is beneficial to all ages. Therefore, many traditional people and kungfu practitioners consider traditional martial arts as a high-level science as well as a sport.
Modern martial arts are aesthetic and highly difficult. Their priorities are ordered: aesthetics, mechanics then theories. They are more based upon western medicine and anatomy, and they emphasize human’s external behavior. The extreme stresses exacted by these highly demanding but relatively short term training schedules mean many practitioners have pains in their body, especially when they are at an old age and the discomfort in the body becomes clearer. As a result, they all give up modern martial arts and instead practice Taiji fist to ease their pains. Modern boxing is to stimulate spectators’ desire. As a result of a great amount of training and many auxiliary methods, modern boxers have strong stamina and hit-resistive ability, and naturally they will have lots of injuries in the future. Modern competitive Wushu is the product of competitive modernization of Chinese martial arts. Similar to western competitive sports, it stresses human’s external behavior and puts the external and internal cultivation of martial arts as well as the internal movements of “jing, qi, shen” to a very low priority. Hence, years for practising modern competitive Wushu are relatively decreased, and only those between twenty and fifty can practice it.
From the perspective of arts, traditional martial arts reflect the elegant and chaste style of Chinese martial arts. The movements are well-knit, flexible and practical, fully showing the inner beauty of martial arts.
In contrast, modern competitive wushu forms reflect the outer beauty of martial arts---magnificent, passionate, extended and casual. Modern wushu has extremely high artistic appeal and sports competitiveness, being easier for judgements. It is a new sports item as a result of competitiveness of traditional martial arts.
The differences in training method and purpose
Actual combat has always been the main focus of traditional Kungfu. In traditional Martial Arts, forms are recordings of movements extracted from thousands of years of experience in combat. Traditionally these forms were used for teaching, as a memory-aid and for training. The end result of this training is a mixture of practicality and real combat techniques and thus, the traditional methods are very practical and are designed to be used seriously in real-life situations. Therefore, traditional form training teaches the basics of attacking and defending and resistance training. It also includes processes and methods for improving the techniques of both attack and defense. The traditional Martial Arts training process puts more emphasis on focus and technique rather than power. It requires you to lower your Qi to your Dantian, open your meridans and increase your blood circulation. The Qi runs through your entire body and cultivated internally and externally. The focus is not solely on training but also on health-keeping. Traditional Kungfu also helps to coordinate the mind and body, and exemplary morals and high virtue are especially important. Traditional Kungfu fist forms require the practitioner to emphasize inner movements. The forms are rhythmic and the subtle movements differ from person to person.
Modern Martial Arts places a much greater emphasis on forms. The methods of training to achieve a high degree of competency in modern wushu are completely different to those employed by traditional Martial Artists. The forms of modern competitive wushu place much greater emphasis on standard posture and have a strict rhythm. It has much more in common with gymnastics, diving and other display sports. The aesthetic quality of the movements is much more important than any combat practicality they may have. Practitioners are graded on how high, difficult, beautiful and new their movements are as opposed to how valuable they would be in a practical sense. The sports’combat’ variant of modern wushu is more closely related to Taekwondo or western boxing, in that a point scoring system is used to determine the winner of each fight. In training, most of the time is spent on striking methods. Competitors spend many hours training with the sole purpose of winning competitions. From a sporting point of view, the training is very practical as the athletes spend a lot of time training for one single purpose, to fight within the rules and defeat their opponent in the match. The judges now use the officially recognised set of rules and regulations set out by the International Olympic Committee.