“In the West, Chinese martial arts are called “gong fu” or “kung fu”, but the word gong fu actually means skill that transcends mere surface beauty.” (30)
I really liked this quote and I looked it up to see how it would pertain to my own martial arts training, and it seems that the word has been so Westernized that it doesn’t appear on the Internet as a Chinese word with that meaning anymore. It only appears as a term meaning traditional Chinese martial arts. While that is a form of the word, I think it’s ironic that so much of Western martial arts has no gong fu at all, at least not in the way it was described in the book - I am referring to the part when the narrator goes to Dr. Li’s house and practices on top of the grave with the flow of history pouring through him.
Gong fu was described by Salzman as the art behind the actual marshal art. gong fu is what changes the fighting from being brutal to being an art form. Throughout the later part of the book gong fu was mentioned many times as Mark pursued his marshal arts in the effort to obtain gong fu. It really got me to thinking about the all the areas in our life that could use gong fu. There are so many things that we pursue as humans although usually we don't fully commit to them. We don't take the extra step to actually make it an art form. The actual words gong fu mean skill developed through work over time. In recent years gong fu or kung fu are thought to refer solely to the martial art. However gong fu can be applied to anything. The first word refers to strength work, skill, and acheivement. The second character fu refers to man or master. The words gong fu and kung fu are pronounced the same due to the Wade-Giles romanization system, which basically dictates the pronunciation with the meaning and the character that goes along with it. Basically the idea behind gong fu is that you can only become a master through hard work over time, and when you become a master you are able to display the art of the subject. This is according to shaolinchancity.blogspot.com.
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