< Terug naar vorige pagina

Publicatie

Kung Fu or Wushu? The Discourse Dilemma and Its Resolution of Overseas Linguistic Symbols of “Chinese martial arts”

Tijdschriftbijdrage - Tijdschriftartikel

The official term “Wushu” that represents “Chinese martial arts” is faced with the dilemma of not being recognized or known. Based on a one-year overseas field inquiry and in-depth interviews with IWUF senior officers and foreign stakeholders and the use of discourse representation theory, it found that Kung Fu is more representative in terms of “imagination, tradition and utility” compared with Wushu’s image of “athletics, dancing and official” under the expectation of western audiences for Chinese martial arts of “the integration of culture and art of attack and defence”. By examining the discourse practice of both symbols, the authoritativeness of Kung Fu lies in the habitus transfer in terms of it satisfying the pre-understanding of “Chinese martial arts” in Western culture. However, the unclear positioning of “Wushu” in overseas discourse practice, resulted in its departure from the original meaning of “Chinese martial arts” as well as the self-contradiction within the official discourse construction. The possible directions to resolve the discourse dilemma are proposed: clarifying the connotation of Wushu and making it represent Chinese martial arts; strengthening Wushu’s dominance of utterance and building a symbol system; uniting multiple discourse subjects to expand the communication field; enhancing the operation of the media to increase the frequency of exposure of Wushu.
Tijdschrift: Journal of Xi’an Physical Education University
ISSN: 1001-747X
Issue: 1
Volume: 39
Pagina's: 87-96
Trefwoorden:Wushu internationalisation, linguistic symbol, Wushu, Kung Fu, Discourse Analysis, Representation
  • ORCID: /0000-0001-8055-3307/work/107749664
Toegankelijkheid:Closed