Os primórdios da prática do wu-shu/kung fu em Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul (décadas de 1970-1990)

Abstract

A prática do Wu-shu, conhecida popularmente como Kung Fu, foi apresentada aos porto-alegrenses pelo Mestre Lee Cheung Deh em 1975. Após a vinda do Mestre Lee a Porto Alegre difundiu-se o Wu-shu, particularmente o estilo Shaolin do Norte, em espaços destinados a prática das artes marciais na capital. O objetivo do estudo é descrever como se constituiu a prática do Wu-shu Shaolin do Norte na cidade de Porto Alegre, nas décadas de 1970 e 1980. A prática do Wu-shu em Porto Alegre começou a ser institucionalizada após exibições da arte marcial pelo Mestre Lee. Em virtude do crescimento do número de praticantes do Wu-shu Shaolin do Norte em Porto Alegre na década de 1980, foi fundada a Federação Gaúcha de Kung Fu/Wushu no início dos anos 1990, acenando para uma nova fase desta prática esportiva.

Promoting the Chinese martial arts internationally: Is it ‘Kung Fu’ or ‘Wushu’?

“…But IWUF's efforts to use both terms did not bring about much clarity in what they represent. On the one hand, they began to regard Kung Fu as a synonym for Wushu as they added the following part into their Constitution in 2015: ‘Wushu, also referred to as Kung Fu, is the collective term for the martial art practices which originated and developed in China over thousands of years’ (IWUF, 2015b: 4). While on the other hand, by replacing ‘traditional Wushu’ with ‘Kung Fu’ in its ‘Traditional Wushu Committee’ and ‘World Traditional Wushu Championships’, they seem to imply that Kung Fu is in fact the synonym for ‘traditional Wushu’ (IWUF, 2015a).…”

“…It is interesting to note that in recent years IWUF has begun to use the term Kung Fu in its promotional activities as well. Among other things, IWUF included the term explicitly in its constitution in 2015 (IWUF, 2015a, 2015b) and changed the name of the ‘World Traditional Wushu Festival’ into the ‘World Kung Fu Championships’ in 2017. But unlike the official IWUF's World Wushu Championships, it is less of a competition on elite level and more of a gathering of participants from all over the world showing their skills in Chinese martial arts.…”