This year, the 32nd South-East Asian SEA Games in Cambodia is featuring popular Chinese martial arts Wushu as one of the sports events, find out more about the sport, its history, styles, events, rules and meaning
Wushu in simple terms is a collection of Chinese martial arts and it is sometimes also called kung fu, both terms are used interchangeably to refer to the Chinese martial arts.
What is the Wushu game as sport is featured at SEA Games 2023, rules, meaning, format and points scoring
Pagi kemarin, saya bersama jajaran Pengurus Besar Wushu Indonesia menyaksikan persiapan para atlet kontingen wushu Indonesia yang akan berlaga di Sea Games 2023 Kamboja.
Kita optimis, tetap fokus dalam latihan, terus berdoa, para atlet kita semakin siap untuk berlaga, pic.twitter.com/5oLxxkUrwY
— Airlangga Hartarto (@airlangga_hrt) February 24, 2023
Siang kemarin, saya membuka sekaligus memberikan sambutan Rapat Kerja Nasional (Rakrenas) PB Wushu Indonesia di Tangerang.
Kita harus fokus dalam mengejar dan mencapai target PB Wushu tahun ini terutama pada ajang SEA Games Kamboja 2023. pic.twitter.com/6HV2beJgkT
— Airlangga Hartarto (@airlangga_hrt) March 13, 2023
The 2023 SEA Games will feature 22 different wushu events, ranging from artistic displays to fighting-style bouts.
History and styles of wushu
Wushu, which is written 武术 in Chinese, literally translates to “martial technique”. The origin of Wushu dates back thousands of years when the Qin Dynasty ruled China. In modern times, the International Wushu Federation was formed in 1990 and the body governs the many distinct types of martial art under the “wushu” banner.
In present day, there are two main disciplines of wushu: the taolu, or choreographed routines, and sanda, or full-contact combat.
The Taolu is further divided into different categories based on different stances, movements, routines, and even weapons. It includes the bare-handed taijiquan and taijijian, or tai chi with a Chinese straight sword.
Meanwhile, the sanda style features combat using wushu and kung fu techniques. The sanda is divided into different weight categories like other Asian martial arts such as judo and taekwondo.
The first Wushu World Championships took place in Beijing in 1991 and it has been held every two years since. The sport first appeared on the Asian Games programme the year before and has since feature at every Asian Games.
Meanwhile, the sport was first added to the SEA Games in 1991. The sport has featured in every edition of the games, aside from 1995 and 1999.
Wushu sports events at 2023 SEA
Altogether, there are 22 events taking place at the SEA Games, with 14 of them taolu and eight in sanda. The eight sanda events are divided into three women’s weight categories and five men’s weight categories. The taolu events are:
- Men’s and women’s changquan
- Men’s and women’s duilian (dual event, featuring teams instead of individuals)
- Men’s and women’s nanquan
- Men’s and women’s daoshu + gunshu
- Men’s and women’s jianshu + qiangshu
- Men’s and women’s taijiquan + taijijian
- Men’s and women’s nandao + nangun
Wushu equipment
Generally, the changquan, nanquan, and taijiquan Wushu events are contested bare-handed. Meanwhile the rest of the other events all involve the use of weapons. The daoshu event features the use of a broadsword, while nandao uses a Southern Chinese variation of the broadsword. While gunshu and nangun events feature the use of a staff, the taijijian and jianshu are performed with a straight sword. The qiangshu events involve the use of a spear while the Taolu events involve a difficulty and execution score. Meanwhile, the sanda events involve a direct head-to-head combat.