1.
Foshan
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Foshan, formerly romanized as Fatshan, is a prefecture-level city in central Guangdong Province in southeastern China. The entire prefecture covers 3,848.49 km2 and has a population around 7.2 million. It forms part of the side of the Pearl River Delta Economic Zone. Foshan is regarded as the home of the Cantonese forms of Chinese opera, kung fu, lion dancing, fóshān is the pinyin romanization of the citys Chinese name 佛山, based on its Mandarin pronunciation. The Postal Map spelling Fatshan derives from the same names local Cantonese pronunciation, other romanizations include Fat-shan and Fat-shun. The town grew up around a monastery founded nearby that was destroyed in 1391, the towns nicknames include the Hometown of Cantonese Opera, of Lingnan Kung Fu, of Lingnan Lion Dancing, and of Lingnan Dragon Boat Racing. Foshan remained a settlement on the Fen River for most of Chinas history. It grew up around a Tang-era Buddhist monastery that was destroyed in 1391, the Foshan Ancestral Temple, a Taoist temple to the Northern God that was rebuilt in 1372, became the new focus of the community by the 15th century. By the early Ming, Foshan had grown one of the four great markets in China, primarily on the strength of its local ceramics. Under the Qing, its harbor on the Fen River was limited to ships of a thousand tons burden, by the 19th century, it was considered the Birmingham of China, with its steel industry responsible for the consumption of the majority of the provinces iron production. It was connected to Guangzhou and Sanshui by rail in the early 20th century, the Ancestral Temple was converted into the Foshan Municipal Museum upon the victory of the Communists in the Chinese Civil War in 1949. Foshan remained primarily focused on ceramic and steel production until the 1950s, on 26 June 1951 it left Nanhai County to become a separate county-level city and, in 1954, it was made the seat of the prefectural government. In 1983, Foshan was promoted to a city with its former core becoming the new Chancheng District. On 8 December 2002, Shunde and Nanhai joined its urban core as a full district, Shunde has gone on to obtain an unusual autonomous status in 2009, placing its oversight in the hands of the provincial government rather than the prefectural one. Foshan lies on the Fen River in the making up the west side of the Pearl River Delta. Guangzhou lies 25 kilometers to the northeast, Zhongshan to the southeast, Jiangmen to the south, Qingyuan to the west, Foshan experiences a humid subtropical climate. The prefecture-level city of Foshan administers five county-level divisions, all of which are districts, the five districts are, Chancheng, Nanhai, Sanshui, Gaoming and Shunde. These are further divided into 64 township-level divisions, including 37 towns and 27 subdistricts, Foshan is close to Guangzhou and considers its link with Guangzhou very important
2.
Guangdong
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Guangdong is a province on the South China Sea coast of the Peoples Republic of China. The provincial capital Guangzhou and economic hub Shenzhen are among the most populous, the population increase since the census has been modest, the province at 2014 end had 107,240,000 people. Since 1989, Guangdong has topped the total GDP rankings among all divisions, with Jiangsu and Shandong second. According to state statistics, Guangdongs GDP in 2014 reached RMB6,779 billion, or US$1.104 trillion, since 2011, Guangdong has the highest GDP among all provinces of Mainland China. The province contributes approximately 12% of the PRCs national economic output, Guangdong also hosts the largest import and export fair in China called the Canton Fair in Guangdongs capital city Guangzhou. Guǎng means expanse or vast, and has associated with the region since the creation of Guang Prefecture in AD226. Guangdong and neighbouring Guangxi literally mean expanse east and expanse west, together, Guangdong and Guangxi are called Loeng gwong. During the Song dynasty, the Two Guangs were formally separated as Guǎngnán Dōnglù and Guǎngnán Xīlù, one should note that Canton, though etymologically derived from Cantão, refers only to the provincial capital instead of the whole province, as documented by authoritative English dictionaries. The local people of the city of Guangzhou and their language are commonly referred to as Cantonese in English. Because of the prestige of Canton and its accent, Cantonese sensu lato can also be used for the phylogenetically related residents, Chinese administration and reliable historical records in the region began with the Qin dynasty. After establishing the first unified Chinese empire, the Qin expanded southwards and set up Nanhai Commandery at Panyu, the region was independent as Nanyue between the fall of Qin and the reign of Emperor Wu of Han. Under the Wu Kingdom of the Three Kingdoms period, Guangdong was made its own province, for example, internal strife in northern China following the rebellion of An Lushan resulted in a 75% increase in the population of Guangzhou prefecture between 740s–750s and 800s–810s. As more migrants arrived, the population was gradually assimilated to Han Chinese culture or displaced. Multiple women originating from the Persian Gulf lived in Guangzhous foreign quarter, together with Guangxi, Guangdong was made part of Lingnan Circuit, or Mountain-South Circuit, in 627 during the Tang dynasty. The Guangdong part of Lingnan Circuit was renamed Guangnan East Circuit guǎng nán dōng lù in 971 during the Song dynasty, Guangnan East is the source of Guangdong. As Mongols from the north engaged in their conquest of China in the 13th century, the Battle of Yamen 1279 in Guangdong marked the end of the Southern Song Dynasty. During the Mongol Yuan dynasty, large parts of current Guangdong belonged to Jiangxi and its present name, Guangdong Province was given in early Ming dynasty. Since the 16th century, Guangdong has had extensive links with the rest of the world
3.
Qing dynasty
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It was preceded by the Ming dynasty and succeeded by the Republic of China. The Qing multi-cultural empire lasted almost three centuries and formed the base for the modern Chinese state. The dynasty was founded by the Jurchen Aisin Gioro clan in Manchuria, in the late sixteenth century, Nurhaci, originally a Ming vassal, began organizing Banners, military-social units that included Jurchen, Han Chinese, and Mongol elements. Nurhaci formed the Jurchen clans into an entity, which he renamed as the Manchus. By 1636, his son Hong Taiji began driving Ming forces out of Liaodong and declared a new dynasty, in 1644, peasant rebels led by Li Zicheng conquered the Ming capital, Beijing. The Ten Great Campaigns of the Qianlong Emperor from the 1750s to the 1790s extended Qing control into Central Asia, the early rulers maintained their Manchu ways, and while their title was Emperor, they used khan to the Mongols and they were patrons of Tibetan Buddhism. They governed using Confucian styles and institutions of government and retained the imperial examinations to recruit Han Chinese to work under or in parallel with Manchus. They also adapted the ideals of the system in dealing with neighboring territories. The Qianlong reign saw the apogee and initial decline in prosperity. The population rose to some 400 million, but taxes and government revenues were fixed at a low rate, corruption set in, rebels tested government legitimacy, and ruling elites did not change their mindsets in the face of changes in the world system. Following the Opium War, European powers imposed unequal treaties, free trade, the Taiping Rebellion and the Dungan Revolt in Central Asia led to the deaths of some 20 million people, most of them due to famines caused by war. In spite of disasters, in the Tongzhi Restoration of the 1860s, Han Chinese elites rallied to the defense of the Confucian order. The initial gains in the Self-Strengthening Movement were destroyed in the First Sino-Japanese War of 1895, in which the Qing lost its influence over Korea, New Armies were organized, but the ambitious Hundred Days Reform of 1898 was turned back by Empress Dowager Cixi, a conservative leader. Sun Yat-sen and other revolutionaries competed with reformist monarchists such as Kang Youwei, after the deaths of Cixi and the Guangxu Emperor in 1908, the hardline Manchu court alienated reformers and local elites alike. The Wuchang Uprising on October 11,1911, led to the Xinhai Revolution, General Yuan Shikai negotiated the abdication of Puyi, the last emperor, on February 12,1912. Nurhaci declared himself the Bright Khan of the Later Jin state in both of the 12–13th century Jurchen Jin dynasty and of his Aisin Gioro clan. His son Hong Taiji renamed the dynasty Great Qing in 1636, there are competing explanations on the meaning of Qīng. The character Qīng is composed of water and azure, both associated with the water element and this association would justify the Qing conquest as defeat of fire by water
4.
Mong Kok
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Mong Kok is an area in the Yau Tsim Mong District, on the western part of Kowloon Peninsula in Hong Kong. The Prince Edward area occupies the part of Mong Kok. Mong Kok is one of the shopping areas in Hong Kong. The area is characterized by a mixture of old and new buildings, with shops and restaurants at street level. Major industries in Mong Kok are retail, restaurants and entertainment and it has been described and portrayed in films as an area in which triads run bars, nightclubs, and massage parlors. With its extremely high density of 130, 000/km2 or 340,000 per square mile. Until 1930, the area was called Mong Kok Tsui, the current English name is a transliteration of its older Chinese name 望角, or 芒角, which is named for its plentiful supply of ferns in the past when it was a coastal region. Its present Chinese name 旺角, means corner or crowded corner. For a period, the area was also called Argyle, the office building 旺角中心, Mong Kok Centre, which was named after the area, is known in English as Argyle Centre rather than Mong Kok Centre. Mong Kok is part of Yau Tsim Mong District and it was part of the Mong Kok District before the district was merged in 1994. The area belongs to the Kowloon West geographical constituency of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong, displays at the Chinese University of Hong Kong include antique potteries indicating that there might have been settlements in the area as early as the Jin Dynasty. The area used to be a Hakka settlement, with about 200 villagers according to Baoan records in 1819. The heart of the present-day Mong Kok is along Argyle Street near Sai Yeung Choi Street whilst the proper Mong Kok used to be to the north, near the present-day Mong Kok East Station. Mong Kok was an area of cultivated lands, bounded to the south by Argyle Street, to the west by Coronation Road, to the southeast of Mong Kok is Ho Man Tin and to the west Tai Kok Tsui. On 10 August 2008 the Cornwall Court fire broke out, more than 200 firefighters were involved in the rescue operation. Four people died, including two firefighters, Mong Kok received a lot of negative media attention for many acid attacks on Sai Yeung Choi Street from December 2008 through January 2010. The area was the site of protracted demonstrations during the 2014 Hong Kong protests, including the gau wu campaign, as such, a few of these streets in Mong Kok have acquired nicknames reflecting their own characteristics. Some interesting sites are, Tung Choi Street - This market specializes in clothing, accessories, and cosmetics
5.
Kowloon
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Kowloon is a transliteration of 九龍. Kowloon is an area in Hong Kong comprising the Kowloon Peninsula. It had a population of 2,019,533 and a density of 43. The peninsulas area is approximately 47 km2, the part of Kowloon south of Boundary Street, together with Stonecutters Island, was ceded by Qing China to the United Kingdom under the Convention of Peking of 1860. For many years the area remained undeveloped, used by the British mainly for tiger-hunting expeditions. The part of Kowloon north of Boundary Street was leased by the British as part of the New Territories under the 1898 Second Convention of Peking for 99 years. Within New Kowloon is Kowloon City, which refers to an area of Hong Kong where the Kowloon Walled City used to be located, the Kowloon Walled City itself was demolished in 1993. The same area was called Guanfuchang during the Song dynasty, statutorily, Kowloon is used to refer to the area south of Boundary Street and the Stonecutters Island. New Kowloon has also remained part of the New Territories, in modern-day culture, New Kowloon is not regarded as part of the New Territories but as an integral part of the Kowloon urban area whether north or south of Boundary Street. As a result, compared to Hong Kong Island, Kowloon has a lower skyline. The area of reclaimed land known as West Kowloon was once home to a dockyard for the Royal Navy, a 13-foot high stone wall was built in 1847 around Kowloon. The 1911 census recorded a population of 7,306, with most being Hakka, the invasion of China by Japan in 1937 caused the population of Kowloon to explode. Between 1937 and 1939,750,000 refugees arrived in Kowloon and nearby areas, as of 2011,2,108,419 people lived in Kowloon. 94. 2% of Kowloons residents are of Cantonese ethnicity, the largest ethnic minority groups are Indonesians, Filipinos, Indians, Nepalese, and Whites. 86% of Kowloons residents use Cantonese as their language, while 2. 3% use English and 1. 2% use Mandarin. Kowloon West includes Yau Tsim Mong, Sham Shui Po and Kowloon City
6.
British Hong Kong
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British Hong Kong was the period during which Hong Kong was under British Crown rule from 1841 to 1997. It was established as a Crown colony and later designated a British Dependent Territory in 1981, Hong Kong Island was ceded to Great Britain by the Qing dynasty of China after the First Anglo-Chinese War. The Kowloon Peninsula was added to the colony after the Second Anglo-Chinese War, finally, in 1898, the New Territories were added under a 99-year lease. The transfer has been credited as marking the end of the British Empire, in 1836, the Manchu Qing government undertook a major policy review of the opium trade. Lin Zexu volunteered to take on the task of suppressing opium, in March 1839, he became Special Imperial Commissioner in Canton, where he ordered the foreign traders to surrender their opium stock. He confined the British to the Canton Factories and cut off their supplies, Chief Superintendent of Trade, Charles Elliot, complied with Lins demands to secure a safe exit for the British, with the costs involved to be resolved between the two governments. When Elliot promised that the British government would pay for their stock, the merchants surrendered their 20,283 chests of opium. In September 1839, the British Cabinet decided that the Chinese should be made to pay for the destruction of British property, an expeditionary force was placed under Elliot and his cousin, Rear Admiral George Elliot, as joint plenipotentiaries in 1840. Foreign Secretary Lord Palmerston stressed to the Chinese Imperial Government that the British Government did not question Chinas right to prohibit opium, but it objected to the way this was handled. He viewed the sudden strict enforcement as laying a trap for the traders. In 1841, Elliot negotiated with Lins successor, Qishan, in the Convention of Chuenpi during the First Opium War, on 20 January, Elliot announced the conclusion of preliminary arrangements, which included the cession of Hong Kong Island and its harbour to the British Crown. On 26 January, the Union Jack was raised on Hong Kong and Commodore James Bremer, commander-in-chief of British forces in China, on 29 August 1842, the cession was formally ratified in the Treaty of Nanking, which ceded Hong Kong in perpetuity to Britain. The treaty failed to satisfy British expectations of an expansion of trade and profit. In October 1856, Chinese authorities in Canton detained the Arrow, the Consul in Canton, Harry Parkes, claimed the hauling down of the flag and arrest of the crew were an insult of very grave character. Parkes and Sir John Bowring, the 4th Governor of Hong Kong, in March 1857, Palmerston appointed Lord Elgin as Plenipotentiary with the aim of securing a new and satisfactory treaty. A French expeditionary force joined the British to avenge the execution of a French missionary in 1856, in 1860, the capture of the Taku Forts and occupation of Beijing led to the Treaty of Tientsin and Convention of Peking. In the Treaty of Tientsin, the Chinese accepted British demands to open ports, navigate the Yangtze River. During the conflict, the British occupied the Kowloon Peninsula, where the land was valuable training and resting ground
7.
Taiwan
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Taiwan, officially the Republic of China, is a state in East Asia. Neighbours include China to the west, Japan to the northeast, Taiwan is the most populous state that is not a member of the United Nations, and the one with the largest economy. The island of Taiwan, also known as Formosa, was inhabited by Taiwanese aborigines before the 17th century. After a brief rule by the Kingdom of Tungning, the island was annexed by the Qing dynasty, the Qing ceded Taiwan to Japan in 1895 after the Sino-Japanese War. While Taiwan was under Japanese rule, the Republic of China was established on the mainland in 1912 after the fall of the Qing dynasty, following the Japanese surrender to the Allies in 1945, the ROC took control of Taiwan. However, the resumption of the Chinese Civil War led to the ROCs loss of the mainland to the Communists, and the flight of the ROC government to Taiwan in 1949. As a founding member of the United Nations, the ROC continued to represent China at the United Nations until 1971, in the early 1960s, Taiwan entered a period of rapid economic growth and industrialization, creating a stable industrial economy. In the 1980s and early 1990s, it changed from a one-party military dictatorship dominated by the Kuomintang to a multi-party democracy with universal suffrage, Taiwan is the 22nd-largest economy in the world, and its high-tech industry plays a key role in the global economy. It is ranked highly in terms of freedom of the press, health care, public education, economic freedom, the PRC has consistently claimed sovereignty over Taiwan and asserted the ROC is no longer in legitimate existence. Under its One-China Policy the PRC refused diplomatic relations with any country that recognizes the ROC, the PRC has threatened the use of military force in response to any formal declaration of independence by Taiwan or if PRC leaders decide that peaceful unification is no longer possible. There are various names for the island of Taiwan in use today, the former name Formosa dates from 1542, when Portuguese sailors sighted the main island of Taiwan and named it Ilha Formosa, which means beautiful island. The name Formosa eventually replaced all others in European literature and was in use in English in the early 20th century. This name was adopted into the Chinese vernacular as the name of the sandbar. The modern word Taiwan is derived from this usage, which is seen in forms in Chinese historical records. Use of the current Chinese name was formalized as early as 1684 with the establishment of Taiwan Prefecture, through its rapid development, the entire Formosan mainland eventually became known as Taiwan. The official name of the state is the Republic of China and it was a member of the United Nations representing China until 1971, when it lost its seat to the Peoples Republic of China. Over subsequent decades, the Republic of China has become known as Taiwan. In some contexts, especially ones from the ROC government
8.
Wing Chun
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Wing Chun is a concept-based Chinese martial art and form of self-defense utilising both striking and grappling while specializing in close range combat. The earliest known mentions of Wing Chun date to the period of Red Boat Opera, the common legend as told by Yip Man involves the young woman named Yim Wing-chun during the period after the destruction by the Qing government of the Southern Shaolin and its associated temples. Having rebuffed the local warlords marriage offer, Yim Wing-Chun said shed reconsider the proposal if he could beat her in a fight. She soon crossed paths with a Buddhist nun named Ng Mui, who was one of the Shaolin Sect survivors, and asked the nun to teach her to fight. According to legend, Ng Mui taught Yim Wing-Chun a new system of art that had been inspired by the nuns observations of a confrontation between a Snake and a Crane. This then-still nameless style enabled Yim Wing-Chun to beat the warlord in a one-on-one fight, Yim Wing-Chun thereafter married Leung Bok-Chau and taught him the style, which was later named after her. This is often given as a reason to explain the difficulty in determining the creator or creators of Wing Chun. Wing Chun is the most common romanization, from the Cantonese pronunciation and it is also romanized as Ving Tsun or Wing Tsun, and sometimes the characters are substituted with a homonym 永春. Even though it could be considered a linguistically erroneous romanization at least from English-speaking countries perspective, especially in Finland, Germany, the alternative characters 永春 eternal spring are also associated with some other southern Chinese martial arts, including Weng Chun Kung Fu and Yong Chun. One who excels as a warrior does not appear formidable, one who excels in fighting is never aroused in anger. One who excels in defeating their enemy does not join issues, one who excels in employing others humbles themself before them. This is the virtue of non-contention and matching the sublimity of heaven, many Wing Chun lineages emphasize fighting on the outside of the opponent rather than facing them head on. This is often referred to as taking the blindside or fighting on the outside gate, some Wing Chun practitioners believe that the person with better body structure will win. A correct Wing Chun stance is like a piece of bamboo, firm but flexible, rooted and this structure is used to either deflect external forces or redirect them. Balance is related to structure because a well-balanced body recovers more quickly from stalled attacks, Wing Chun trains the awareness of ones own body movement derived from muscular, tendon, and articular sources. Performing Wing Chuns forms such as Chum Kiu or the Wooden Dummy form greatly improve proprioception, Wing Chun favours a high, narrow stance with the elbows kept close to the body. Shifting or turning within a stance is carried out variantly on the heels, balls, all attacks and counter-attacks are initiated from this firm, stable base. Wing Chun rarely compromises structure for more powerful attacks because this is believed to create defensive openings which may be exploited, as described more below, some Wing Chun styles discourage use high kicks which open ones groin to counter-attack to the groin
9.
Bruce Lee
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Lee Jun-fan, known professionally as Bruce Lee, was a Hong Kong and American martial artist, actor, philosopher, filmmaker, and founder of the martial art Jeet Kune Do. Lee was the son of Cantonese opera star Lee Hoi-chuen and he is widely considered by commentators, critics, media, and other martial artists to be one of the most influential martial artists of all time, and a pop culture icon of the 20th century. He is often credited with helping to change the way Asians were presented in American films, Lee was born in Chinatown, San Francisco on November 27,1940 to parents from Hong Kong and was raised in Kowloon, Hong Kong with his family until his late teens. He was introduced to the industry by his father and appeared in several films as a child actor. Lee moved to the United States at the age of 18 to receive his education, at the University of Washington, at Seattle. The direction and tone of his films changed and influenced martial arts and martial arts films in the US, Hong Kong, Lee became an iconic figure known throughout the world, particularly among the Chinese, as he portrayed Chinese nationalism in his films. He trained in the art of Wing Chun and later combined his other influences from various sources, in the spirit of his martial arts philosophy. Lee held dual nationality of Hong Kong and the US and he died in Kowloon Tong on July 20,1973 at the age of 32. Bruce Lee was born on November 27,1940, at the Chinese Hospital, according to the Chinese zodiac, Lee was born in both the hour and the year of the Dragon, which according to tradition is a strong and fortuitous omen. Bruces father, Lee Hoi-chuen, was Han Chinese, and his mother, Grace Ho, was of half-Chinese and half-Caucasian descent. Grace Ho was the daughter of Ho Kom-tong and the half-niece of Sir Robert Ho-tung. Bruce was the child of five children, Phoebe Lee, Agnes Lee, Peter Lee. Lee and his parents returned to Hong Kong when he was three months old, Lees Cantonese birth name was Lee Jun-fan. The name homophonically means return again, and was given to Lee by his mother, because of his mothers superstitious nature, she had originally named him Sai-fon, which is a feminine name meaning small phoenix. The English name Bruce is thought to have given by the hospital attending physician. Lee had three other Chinese names, Li Yuanxin, a name, Li Yuanjian, which he used as a student name while he was attending La Salle College. Lees given name Jun-fan was originally written in Chinese as 震藩, however, hence, the Chinese character for Jun in Lees name was changed to the homonym 振 instead, to avoid naming taboo in Chinese tradition. Lee Hoi-chuen had been touring the United States for many years, although many of his peers decided to stay in the US, Lee Hoi-chuen returned to Hong Kong after Bruces birth
10.
Pinyin
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Pinyin, or Hànyǔ Pīnyīn, is the official romanization system for Standard Chinese in mainland China, Malaysia, Singapore, and Taiwan. It is often used to teach Standard Chinese, which is written using Chinese characters. The system includes four diacritics denoting tones, Pinyin without tone marks is used to spell Chinese names and words in languages written with the Latin alphabet, and also in certain computer input methods to enter Chinese characters. The pinyin system was developed in the 1950s by many linguists, including Zhou Youguang and it was published by the Chinese government in 1958 and revised several times. The International Organization for Standardization adopted pinyin as a standard in 1982. The system was adopted as the standard in Taiwan in 2009. The word Hànyǔ means the language of the Han people. In 1605, the Jesuit missionary Matteo Ricci published Xizi Qiji in Beijing and this was the first book to use the Roman alphabet to write the Chinese language. Twenty years later, another Jesuit in China, Nicolas Trigault, neither book had much immediate impact on the way in which Chinese thought about their writing system, and the romanizations they described were intended more for Westerners than for the Chinese. One of the earliest Chinese thinkers to relate Western alphabets to Chinese was late Ming to early Qing Dynasty scholar-official, the first late Qing reformer to propose that China adopt a system of spelling was Song Shu. A student of the great scholars Yu Yue and Zhang Taiyan, Song had been to Japan and observed the effect of the kana syllabaries. This galvanized him into activity on a number of fronts, one of the most important being reform of the script, while Song did not himself actually create a system for spelling Sinitic languages, his discussion proved fertile and led to a proliferation of schemes for phonetic scripts. The Wade–Giles system was produced by Thomas Wade in 1859, and it was popular and used in English-language publications outside China until 1979. This Sin Wenz or New Writing was much more sophisticated than earlier alphabets. In 1940, several members attended a Border Region Sin Wenz Society convention. Mao Zedong and Zhu De, head of the army, both contributed their calligraphy for the masthead of the Sin Wenz Societys new journal. Outside the CCP, other prominent supporters included Sun Yat-sens son, Sun Fo, Cai Yuanpei, the countrys most prestigious educator, Tao Xingzhi, an educational reformer. Over thirty journals soon appeared written in Sin Wenz, plus large numbers of translations, biographies, some contemporary Chinese literature, and a spectrum of textbooks
11.
Chinese martial arts
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Chinese martial arts, often named under the umbrella terms kung fu and wushu, are the several hundred fighting styles that have developed over the centuries in China. These fighting styles are classified according to common traits, identified as families. Examples of such traits include Shaolinquan physical exercises involving Five Animals mimicry, or training methods inspired by Chinese philosophies, religions, styles that focus on qi manipulation are called internal, while others that concentrate on improving muscle and cardiovascular fitness are called external. Geographical association, as in northern and southern, is another popular classification method, Kung fu and wushu are loanwords from Cantonese and Mandarin respectively that, in English, are used to refer to Chinese martial arts. However, the Chinese terms kung fu and wushu have distinct meanings, the Chinese equivalent of the term Chinese martial arts would be Zhongguo wushu. In Chinese, the kung fu refers to any skill that is acquired through learning or practice. It is a word composed of the words 功 meaning work, achievement, or merit. It is formed from the two words 武術, 武, meaning martial or military and 術 or 术, which translates into art, discipline, Quan fa is another Chinese term for Chinese martial arts. It means fist method or the law of the fist, although as a term it usually translates as boxing or fighting technique. The name of the Japanese martial art Kempō is represented by the same hanzi characters, the genesis of Chinese martial arts has been attributed to the need for self-defense, hunting techniques and military training in ancient China. Hand-to-hand combat and weapons practice were important in training ancient Chinese soldiers, since the 1950s, the Peoples Republic of China has organized Chinese martial arts as an exhibition and full-contact sport under the heading of Wushu. In 495 AD, Shaolin temple was built in the Song mountain, the first monk who preached Buddhism there was the Indian monk named Buddhabhadra, simply called Batuo by the Chinese. There are historical records that Batuos first Chinese disciples, Huiguang and Sengchou, for example, Sengchous skill with the tin staff is even documented in the Chinese Buddhist canon. After Buddhabadra, another Indian Central Asian monk, Bodhidharma, simply called Damo by the Chinese and his Chinese disciple, Huike, was also a highly trained martial arts expert. There are implications that these first three Chinese Shaolin monks, Huiguang, Sengchou, and Huike, may have military men before entering the monastic life. According to legend, Chinese martial arts originated during the semi-mythical Xia Dynasty more than 4,000 years ago and it is said the Yellow Emperor introduced the earliest fighting systems to China. The Yellow Emperor is described as a general who, before becoming China’s leader, wrote lengthy treatises on medicine, astrology. One of his opponents was Chi You who was credited as the creator of jiao di
12.
Simplified Chinese characters
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Simplified Chinese characters are standardized Chinese characters prescribed in the Table of General Standard Chinese Characters for use in mainland China. Along with traditional Chinese characters, it is one of the two character sets of the contemporary Chinese written language. The government of the Peoples Republic of China in mainland China has promoted them for use in printing since the 1950s and 1960s in an attempt to increase literacy and they are officially used in the Peoples Republic of China and Singapore. Traditional Chinese characters are used in Hong Kong, Macau. Overseas Chinese communities generally tend to use traditional characters, Simplified Chinese characters may be referred to by their official name above or colloquially. Strictly, the latter refers to simplifications of character structure or body, character forms that have existed for thousands of years alongside regular, Simplified character forms were created by decreasing the number of strokes and simplifying the forms of a sizable proportion of traditional Chinese characters. Some simplifications were based on popular cursive forms embodying graphic or phonetic simplifications of the traditional forms, some characters were simplified by applying regular rules, for example, by replacing all occurrences of a certain component with a simplified version of the component. Variant characters with the pronunciation and identical meaning were reduced to a single standardized character. Finally, many characters were left untouched by simplification, and are identical between the traditional and simplified Chinese orthographies. Some simplified characters are very dissimilar to and unpredictably different from traditional characters and this often leads opponents not well-versed in the method of simplification to conclude that the overall process of character simplification is also arbitrary. In reality, the methods and rules of simplification are few, on the other hand, proponents of simplification often flaunt a few choice simplified characters as ingenious inventions, when in fact these have existed for hundreds of years as ancient variants. However, the Chinese government never officially dropped its goal of further simplification in the future, in August 2009, the PRC began collecting public comments for a modified list of simplified characters. The new Table of General Standard Chinese Characters consisting of 8,105 characters was promulgated by the State Council of the Peoples Republic of China on June 5,2013, cursive written text almost always includes character simplification. Simplified forms used in print have always existed, they date back to as early as the Qin dynasty, One of the earliest proponents of character simplification was Lubi Kui, who proposed in 1909 that simplified characters should be used in education. In the years following the May Fourth Movement in 1919, many anti-imperialist Chinese intellectuals sought ways to modernise China, Traditional culture and values such as Confucianism were challenged. Soon, people in the Movement started to cite the traditional Chinese writing system as an obstacle in modernising China and it was suggested that the Chinese writing system should be either simplified or completely abolished. Fu Sinian, a leader of the May Fourth Movement, called Chinese characters the writing of ox-demons, lu Xun, a renowned Chinese author in the 20th century, stated that, If Chinese characters are not destroyed, then China will die. Recent commentators have claimed that Chinese characters were blamed for the problems in China during that time
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