197. What is the difference between Wushu and Kungfu? (Part 2/3)

The Way through Baguazhang - 八卦掌道 - A podcast by Peter Hainzl

Calling Kungfu a smokescreen is an adapt description for what is going on and is better than calling some Shifu lazy! Which, sadly, was also sometimes true. Not just with non-Chinese but amongst Chinese themselves. Within the broader Chinese community, including China itself, there is a lot of misunderstanding around Kungfu within the martial arts world. The third major difference is that a Wushu master teaches or instructs students in how to fight, while a Kungfu master has disciples who are schooled in more than just fighting. To give a basic example still within the realms of fighting: The moment you learn how to set a broken arm from fighting or start dabbling in how to heal or assist the physical body with proper nourishment or herbal medicine, is the moment you have stepped outside of Wushu and entered Kungfu. And we are still just talking about fighting. The esoteric mystical stuff comes much, much, later. Now between the esoteric stuff and fighting is a huge grey area that could loosely be termed as Kungfu Culture. And is something like a subculture with Chinese characteristics. To use me as an example, I am what I like to call myself as being a 'Tea Egg'. Now right there is a term most people are not familiar with. A tea egg is a hard boiled chicken egg boiled in tea. I have a brown shell from my African ancestry, Baguazhang martial arts, and the fact that I practice mindfulness through Chazen. The egg whites come from my European ancestry and that the colour white usually refers to things that are related to heaven. Hence the I-Ching, walking the Tao and the harder stuff around Qigong. And the yellow yolk in the middle? I have a Chinese wife and as far as I can tell, I have been marinating in ancient Chinese culture through the I-Ching and Bingfa since my fifteenth birthday. Guys like me, rarely talk about this part because while it may have started as a bit of yellow fever, now going to China is like going home. And we essentially know that when we die, our place in the heavenly ancestral temple is assured. So, you can read and hear by the above example just how divergent Wushu and Kungfu can be.