Development of Modern Chinese Wushu
After the founding of the People’s Republic of China, wushu became one of the important sports of the people, and has witnessed great advancement.
In October 1949, All-China Sports Federation was established with the approval of the State Council. In 1950, the All-China Sports Federation held a symposium on wushu in Beijing, advocating the development of wushu, and putting wushu development on the national sports agenda. In 1978, Deng Xiaoping also wrote the “good shadow-boxing” banner and donated it to Japanese friend. This inscription is not only praise for the Chinese wushu, but also a great inspiration to the world’s wushu enthusiasts.
Established in 1952, the National Sports Commission listed wushu as a key event, and set up National Sports Research Society, responsible for mining, sorting, inheriting, and promoting wushu and other forms of national sports according to the guideline of “absorbing the essence and rejecting the dross,” “all flowers blooms together,” and “weeding through the old to bring forth the new.” In 1955, based on actual work needs, the Wushu Division was set up under the sports department of the National Sports Commission. Later the division was upgraded to the Wushu Section, responsible for national wushu policy and guideline implementation, and the popularity, enhancement, and competition of wushu. In order to promote wushu development, the Wushu Research Institute of the National Sports Commission was established with the approval of the State Council. In September 1987, Wushu Section was incorporated into the Wushu Research Institute of the National Sports Commission. In May 1994, the Wushu Administration Center of the National Sports Commission was established with the overall function of the administration of wushu events.
In September 1958, the Chinese Wushu Association was established. It is the national organization of Chinese wushu, and one of the single event associations under the All-China Sports Federation. The Chinese Wushu Association has extensive exchanges and cooperation with other wushu associations around the world. Since the 1970s, the Chinese wushu delegation has toured five continents, and witnessed frequent foreign exchanges of wushu in recent years. Meanwhile, in order to promote wushu sports more extensively, the Chinese Wushu Association also provides free assistance to such developing countries in Africa, Asia and the Americas to implement wushu activities, which has been widely praised.
Modern Wushu Centers (schools)
Wushu centers (schools) are the important media of modern wushu development. With the country’s vigorous support, wushu centers have gained unprecedented development after the reform and opening-up by using traditional folk wushu resources. Currently, on the Chinese mainland, there are more than 12,000 wushu centers, and those in Henan, Shandong, Hebei, Anhui, and Fujian are the largest and the most influential. Henan, a great province in wushu, is the home to more than 600 wushu centers, concentrated mainly around Dengfeng Shaolin Temple and the Wenxian Chenjiagou area, known as the Holy place of Taiji.
At present, there are two major categories of wushu centers:
(I) Wushu schools relying on geographical and traditional wushu cultural advantages, integrating modern culture, science and technology education, and developing on the large scale and systematically in the group-oriented direction.
Shaolin Tagou Education Group is undoubtedly a representative around the country.
The group is located at the foot of Songshan Mountain, including Shaolin Tagou Wushu School, Songshan Shaolin Wushu Profession Institute, Shaolin Wushu International Teaching Center, Dengfeng Shaolin Secondary Vocational School, and Shaolin Middle School.
The group has evolved on the basis of the Shaoling Tagou Wushu School, which was established by Mr. Liu Baoshan in 1978. The wushu teaching majors include routines, freeboxing, boxing, taekwondo, and wushu performance with more than 400 classes. Culture teaching covers a complete education and teaching system ranging from nursery programs, primary school, junior high school, senior high school, secondary school to university education and teaching, with more than 28,000 students at school.
Over the years, the group has been upholding the mission of “equal emphasis on cultural and wushu teaching as well as morality and skills, spreading authentic shaolin kungfu, and fostering new professionals.” It attaches great importance to the all-round development of students. So far, its participants have won the title of champion at domestic and foreign competitions on many occasions.
In order for better development and dissemination of Shaolin Wushu, the Wushu performance team of the group has been invited to give wushu teaching and performances in more than 60 countries and regions around the world. At the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games and Paralympic Games, the group’s performance team presented splendid wushu performances for the audiences from all over the world.
(II) Small-sized family-based and master/apprentice-based family wushu centers generally teach the kungfu of a single school of wushu.