Promoting the Chinese martial arts internationally: Is it ‘Kung Fu’ or ‘Wushu’?

IF 2.5 3区教育学 Q2 HOSPITALITY, LEISURE, SPORT & TOURISM

International Review for the Sociology of Sport Pub Date : 2022-08-08 DOI:10.1177/10126902221117973

Qing-song Han, M. Theeboom, Dong-ping Zhu, I. Derom

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Abstract

The term ‘Kung Fu’ is used internationally more often than its official name ‘Wushu’ to depict the Chinese martial arts. Yet the latter term has been promoted by the Chinese government for nearly 50 years and also used by the International Wushu Federation (IWUF) during the past three decades. This paper examines the distinction in the meaning between both terms through Stuart Hall's Representation Theory, based on 20 in-depth interviews with international expert witnesses. Findings suggest that the term ‘Kung Fu’ is mostly associated with traditional Chinese martial arts, Kung Fu cinema, Oriental imagination, and fighting practicability. For expert witnesses, Kung Fu represents an identity of traditional Chinese martial arts and a way to experience ‘Chineseness’. By contrast, although the IWUF has made efforts to package Wushu as the term representing Chinese martial arts, ‘Wushu’ is regarded as a competitive sport, shaped significantly by IWUF's Olympic ambition. Also, three key aspects regarding the representation of the Chinese martial arts in relation to both terms are discussed.

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在国际上推广中国武术：是“功夫”还是“武术”？

“功夫”一词在国际上比其官方名称“武术”更常用于描述中国武术。然而，后一个术语已经被中国政府推广了近50年，在过去的30年里，国际武术联合会(IWUF)也在使用它。本文基于对20位国际专家证人的深度访谈，通过斯图尔特·霍尔的代表理论来考察这两个术语之间的意义区别。研究结果表明，“功夫”一词主要与中国传统武术、功夫电影、东方想象力和实战性联系在一起。对于专家证人来说，功夫代表了中国传统武术的一种身份，也是一种体验“中国性”的方式。相比之下，尽管国际武联努力将武术包装成代表中国武术的术语，但“武术”被视为一项竞技运动，这在很大程度上受到国际武联奥运雄心的影响。此外，三个关键方面，有关中国武术的代表性与这两个术语进行了讨论。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

International Review for the Sociology of Sport Multiple-

CiteScore

5.90

自引率

13.00%

发文量

期刊介绍： The International Review for the Sociology of Sport is a peer reviewed academic journal that is indexed on ISI. Eight issues are now published each year. The main purpose of the IRSS is to disseminate research and scholarship on sport throughout the international academic community. The journal publishes research articles of varying lengths, from standard length research papers to shorter reports and commentary, as well as book and media reviews. The International Review for the Sociology of Sport is not restricted to any theoretical or methodological perspective and brings together contributions from anthropology, cultural studies, geography, gender studies, media studies, history, political economy, semiotics, sociology, as well as interdisciplinary research.