Have you ever thought ‘what do the words ‘Kung Fu’ actually mean? You might be surprised to know that mastering Kung Fu can actually mean mastering calligraphy, cooking or flower arranging! The words 'Kung Fu' do not mean 'martial arts' at all! They actually mean skill acquired by hard work over a long time - the result of dedicated study. Of course, martial arts is one of the most popular subjects of sustained study.

'Wu Shu' - literally 'ending conflict' - is a more popular term for martial arts in China but in the West has an implication of more modern, gymnastic 'martial' arts.

Kuo Shu - 'the national art' is an older Chinese term, less popular now.

Ironically, since the West adopted the term 'Kung Fu' to mean Chinese Martial Arts, a lot of Chinese communities have started to use it the same way!

Take a look at our video above to find out more.

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Full Video Transcript

What are the words Kung Fu actually mean?

This is a question that's often asked. People in the west tend to use the term Kung Fu to mean Chinese martial arts. But actually that's not what the original term meant at all.

Kung Fu means hard work over a long time. It implies effort, it implies study. And the result of hard work, continued effort, sustained study, over a period, so that we end up with real skill. That's Kung Fu

Kung Fu is the product of hard work and it can be applied to anything. It takes real dedication to learn calligraphy. Chinese calligraphy writing characters beautifully with a Brush

uh, Skilling calligraphy is kung fu. Cooking, if you're kind of Master Chef, then you have Kung Fu. Apparently, it can even apply to flower arranging and if you are a master of flower arranging, you're a master of kung fu. And it's, it’s an important point to keep looking back at. Never to lose sight of, Kung Fu is about hard work. Studying to, to master an art.

And through this hard work, mastering an art, we aim to master ourselves, and that's what it's really all about.

If you're interested, The words "Wu Shu", now in the modern day, tend to be used to, to mean martial art. What it actually means is stopping conflict. Ending conflict, the art of ending conflict - is a kind of literal translation of Wu Shu. Also, "Guoshu", "Kuoshu", ;goushu', means National Art. National Art - the National Art of China. And that's often combined with, "Tee Uah", and that means physical or athletic. So, Guo Shu Tee Uha - National Physical Athletic Art Association. National art, physical art, is how the old style Chinese actually referred to Kung Fu

Cause China has only ever really produced two sports. Huge country, more people than any other country in the world, and just two sports. Yeah, Kung Fu and table tennis. And you can be quite confident that the national physical art of China is not table tennis.

So, now we know what the words mean. Kung Fu, hard work over a long time. Wushu, ending conflict, the art of ending conflict is how in the modern day we often refer to Chinese martial arts. Guoshu, the old way of saying the national art, the national sport of China.

Never forget, Kung Fu, the product of hard work over a long time. There is no easy way. There is no shortcut