196. What is the difference between Wushu and Kungfu? (Part 1/3)

What is the difference between Wushu 武術 and Kung Fu 功夫? To most people around the world, there is no difference. They are one and the same thing. Chinese Martial Arts or the Chinese way of boxing: Zhong Quan Tao 中拳道. But there is a difference. The first major difference is territorial. Within China proper martial arts is called Wushu, because Wushu is the literal translation of the term. Wu 武 means or implies things to do with warfare and can be loosely translated as martial while Shu 術 means the arts or craft as in warcraft. Everywhere else, outside of China proper, the term Kung Fu is used. Now to be clear, by China proper, I am referring to all the lands under direct jurisdiction of the People's Republic of China and where the dominate Chinese dialect is naturally Mandarin Putonghua. Places like Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore, southern China or even Shanghai have got their own dialects and terminology. The second major difference has to do with historically inaccurate translations of what Chinese martial arts actually is. Chinese martial arts is just that: The fighting arts. When you go to learn boxing or wrestling, you are learning Wushu. Self defence and closequarter combat fall into this category as well, whether you are learning it for sport, self defence or career meal ticket. Kung Fu is a much broader term, which literally was used as a smokescreen word to cover up what was really going on. Whenever a non-Chinese person asked a Shifu what they were doing, the Shifu would reply "Kung Fu". Meaning hardworking. In one sense, the Shifu was telling the truth. Learning martial arts is physical hard work that takes a long time to get good at it. But that term can refer to any skill that leads to craftsmanship mastery. At the same time, by not calling it what it is, the Shifu avoided answering the real truth. It is this avoidance of the real truth, that gives people the impression that something is up and that the Shifu is keeping secrets. While there are martial schools that sell themselves on being secret, many Shifu are teaching more than just how to fight and it is this part that leads to the third major difference.