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Since Kung Fu encompasses thousands of martial arts, their history is still much disputed. A prime example is the exact origin of Kung Fu; almost every historian or instructor has his or her own answer! Some historians date it as far back as 16th century B.C., while others believe Kung Fu was developed during 475-221 B.C. There are also two major viewpoints on Kung Fu's origins.
One view associates Chinese martial arts with Shaolin Temple. The story is that an Indian monk named Bodhidharma traveled to Hunan province's Shaolin Temple around 540 AD to teach Zen Buddhism. He found that the monks were extremely weak, so he introduced breathing and strengthening exercises to strengthen and condition their bodies and build their inner energy, or chi. Later, these movements were applied for self-defense purposes. The monks changed and perfected them over time, and by the 13th century AD had developed the art of "Shaolin Ch'uan Fa," or Shaolin Temple Boxing. This system of weaponless self-defense techniques is the theorized basis of many Asian martial arts.
However, others hold the view that Kung Fu practice predated Shaolin Temple. Since the Taoist religion influenced the martial arts and existed before Buddhism in China, it is believed that training started as early as 2600 BC when peasants began to practice simulated combat. It later appeared in the Chou dynasty (1066-403 BC) among the archery, wrestling, and other defense methods of that time. Then, in the sixth century BC, a Han dynasty medicine man introduced the internal aspect of martial arts training with his methods that were based on the movements of animals. And during the Mongol invasions between 1205 and 1227 BC, the Chinese developed a great deal of their combat methods to defend themselves.
Although Kung Fu were originally only practiced in families, it eventually spread. Now, Kung Fu are some of the most practiced martial arts around the world. The launch of actor and martial artist Bruce Lee's action-packed movies in the 1970s is considered the main factor of Kung Fu popularity in North America.
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