Wudang wushu, one important school of Chinese martial arts, originated on Mount Wudang in Hubei Province. Wudang wushu, which incorporates ways to keep healthy, prolong lifespans and collect skills to fight, is not only a special school of martial arts, but also a complete system of martial arts theory.

Ⅰ. Origin

Mount Wudang is not only a scenic spot but also a famous Daoist mountain. What has made the mountain known around the world is the grand master Zhang Sanfeng, who founded the wudang wushu (martial arts) that is just as famous as Shaolin Kungfu.

Wudang wushu is closely linked with Daoism. When the Daoists were cultivating, they usually practiced martial arts. Wudang wushu emphasizes the promotion of health. It is one of the most important systems in the history of Chinese wushu and is a precious treasure of Chinese culture.

It is said that when Zhang Sanfeng, founder of Wudang boxing, was self-cultivating in the Wudang Mountain; he saw a fight between a sparrow and a snake. The sparrow was flying up and down to attack and the snake was shaking its body and raising its head to fight back. This gave him some inspiration and he understood Taiji theory, based on this he created Wudang boxing.

The original legend of Wudang wushu and the pose of the snake in fighting demonstrate the gist of Wudang wushu: to overcome the strong in a gentle way and to win by striking only after the enemy had struck; to ascertain one's position and then defeat the enemy.

Ⅱ. Main Contents

After many boxing masters' enrichment and development, Wudang wushu formed into many derivative schools, such as, Taiji Boxing, Form-and-will Boxing, Eight-Diagram Palm; Taiji Spear and Taiji Sword; Qingqong, Hard Kungfu, feats and some kinds of Qigong. It has formed many sub-boxing skills and schools during its long development, such as inner body boxing (Neijiaquan), Chen Style Taiji, Yang style Taiji and Dan school swords. From then on, Wudang wushu has walked out of the deep mountain and become an important school of Chinese martial arts.

Wushu weapons evolved from ancient Chinese military weapons. Besides sabers, spears, rapiers and cudgels, there are bows, arrows, slingshots, Ge, halberds, hooks, Guai, shields, daggers, whips, Biangan, Quan, meteor hammers, Dangs, forks, Pas, hammers, Zhua, Emeici, axes, Yue, Shuo, spades and Jue. Sabers, spears, rapiers and cudgels are the four main weapons in contemporary Wushu.

Wudang wushu, as a culture, contains profound Chinese philosophical theories, and has combined traditional notions of Taiji, Yin-yang, Five-element and Eight-diagrams into boxing theories, boxing skills, exercise, and attack policies, tantamount to studying the laws of life activities. It can be said that Wudang wushu is the crystallization of Wudang Taoism in the process of studying life.