| A major aspect of Taoist influence on Chinese | | | | and a snake which enlightened him a lot. The |
| culture is its martial arts. Chinese martial arts of all | | | | original legend of Wudang Kung fu and the pose |
| sorts have a long history and a great diversity of | | | | of the snake in the fighting have visually |
| methods and styles. Generally speaking, they are | | | | demonstrated the gist of Wudang Kung fu: to |
| divided into two big schools: the south school and | | | | overcome the strong in a gentle way and to win |
| the north school. | | | | by striking only after the enemy had struck. To |
| The north school originated from Shaolin Temple | | | | ascertain one's position and then defeat the |
| of Songshan Mountain, the Holy Land of Buddhism | | | | enemy. |
| and is called the Shaolin Sect with its boxing called | | | | Based on the postures of the two animals, he |
| as Waijiaquan. The south school originated from | | | | eventually created the unique Wudang boxing. It |
| Wudang Mountain, the Holy Land of Taoism and is | | | | has been developed and enriched successively by |
| called the Wudang Sect with its boxing called as | | | | the great masters over the generations and has |
| Neijiaquan. Thus Wudang and Shaolin are | | | | now grown into one of numerous schools and |
| considered as the two main sects of Chinese | | | | varieties with rich contents. Wudang boxing |
| martial arts. | | | | includes boxing varieties such as Taiji |
| Wudang Kung fu has a very long history. | | | | (shadowboxing), Xingyi that imitates the |
| Incorporating ways to stay healthy and prolong | | | | movements of animals or birds of various kinds |
| the lifespan as well as collecting the skills to fight, | | | | and integrates physical motions with concentration |
| it is not only a special school of martial arts, but | | | | of the mind, Bagua (eight-trigram boxing), weapon |
| also a whole system of martial arts theory. | | | | arts such as Taijiqiang (Taiji spear) and Taijijian |
| Wudang Kung fu, as a culture, takes root in the | | | | (Taiji sword), Qinggong (light skill), Yinggong |
| fertile soil of thousand-year long Chinese | | | | (mastery skill), stunt and various Qigong (a |
| civilization, containing profound Chinese philosophical | | | | system of deep breathing exercises) for health. |
| theories, combined with the traditional notions of | | | | After many boxing masters enrichment and |
| Taiji, Yinyang, Five-element, Eight-diagram into | | | | development, Wudang kung fu has many |
| boxing theories, boxing skills, exercise and attack | | | | derivative schools and kinds, such as, Taiji boxing, |
| policies, tantamount to studying the laws of life | | | | Form-and-will boxing, and Eight-diagram Palm; and |
| activities. So we can say that Wudang Kung fu is | | | | Taiji Sword; Lightening Kung fu, Hard Kung fu, |
| the crystallization of Wudang Taoism in the | | | | feats and variations of Qigong. From then on, |
| process of studying life. | | | | Wudang Kung fu has walked out of the deep |
| Wudang martial arts are a great contribution of | | | | mountains and become important school of |
| Wudang Taoism which is a famous branch of | | | | Chinese martial arts. |
| Chinese Taoism. It is said that the father of | | | | As a main sect of Chinese martial arts, Wudang |
| Wudang Neijiaquan is Zhang Sanfeng, an | | | | martial arts are heading for the world and have |
| outstanding Taoist. When practising asceticism at | | | | drawn a lot of martial arts fans from outside |
| Wudang, he saw a fight between a pied magpie | | | | China. |