Kung fu needs to revive fighting skills ACTUALLY this event will be a chance to push kung fu practitioners to improve their combat skills. Jiji, or the art of attack, was a core part of kung fu in olden times. Ancient Chinese learned martial arts to defend themselves and to fight their enemies. With the country’s rapid economic development and social transition, the golden days of wushu are gone. In modern China, wushu is treated more as a performance art rather than fighting skills. In 1979, after the then national sports commission conducted a series of surveys, sanshou became the new competitive form of martial arts. Sanshou combines traditional kung fu and modern fighting skills but bans any lethal moves. Professional training was given to members selected for provincial wushu teams, in contrast to the various wushu schools across China where practitioners don’t have set rules to follow. Chinese sports authorities have long endeavored to make wushu a sport in the Olympic Games, but the precondition for this is that it must be competitive, rather than a performance. The debate sparked by the tai chi and MMA contest is a good chance to reflect on the real combativeness of wushu. The old fighting style of wushu should be revived. Ma Yongzhi, associate professor and wushu coach at the department of sports science and physical education of Tsinghua University Sensational reports misleading SO-CALLED contests like this arouse the public’s curiosity about whether modern boxing is superior to the traditional wushu. But the fight was sensational for business reasons and had no sporting spirit. Any sports event should follow the rule of “survival of the fittest.” As time goes by, tai chi functions more as a way to improve individuals’ fitness rather than a means of self-defense, that’s part of its attractiveness and sustainability. Nowadays, practitioners of tai chi rarely have the chance to participate in fights, so it’s natural that their fighting abilities are in decline. However, combat used to be a part of tai chi. For example, Yang Luchan, the founder of Yang-style tai chi in the 19th century, gained fame for combat abilities. The problem is, nowadays many self-proclaimed kung fu masters, who have not inherited the true skills and real values of traditional martial arts, have tarnished the reputation of traditional kung fu. People can’t judge wushu by these so-called kung fu masters. Tang Tiejun, wushu lecturer at Capital University of Physical Education and Sports and vice chairman of the Wu-style Tai Chi Research Association in Beijing (SD-Agencies) | 