In what year did the TV series Kung Fu premiere?

Answer 1

Kung Fu is a martial art form that originated from China. This art form is due to the efforts of many people throughout history. However, it is a man from India named Bhodhi Dharmam that is credited for the invention of Kung Fu in 1600 A.D.

Answer 2

Chinese records claim the Yellow Emperor (Huangdi) created Wrestling during the mythical "Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors" period around 2700 BCE. However, it should be noted that most of the legendary emperors of China are credited with the creation of stuff like agriculture, writing, and medicine. This is just the Chinese people's way of assigning origins to various facets of their culture. Saying that a legendary emperor invented, for instance, writing sounds a lot more majestic than saying Neolithic people cutting lines into bone fragments invented it. Assigning wrestling to the Yellow Emperor is no different.

A more popular legend not appearing in official records involves the Buddhist Monk Bodhidharma. He is purported to have settled at the famous Shaolin Monastery during the late Northern Wei Dynasty (386-534 CE) and taught qigong, a type of medicinal stretching and breathing exercise, and a system of boxing to the monks there, thus founding Chinese Martial Arts. However, the people who tell this story don't realize the origins of the legend do not predate the 17th-century. This is when the qigong set was first published by a Daoist priest in a Chinese training manual known as the Sinew-Changing Classic (Yijin Jing). The manual has two forged prefaces attributed to famous historical generals that trace the exercise through a chain of heroes and holy men back to Bodhidharma. The exercise has no martial applications, so the idea of him physically teaching boxing to the monks of Shaolin didn't come until much later. In fact, this particular evolution of the legend did not come about until the early 20th-century publication of a Chinese satirical novel known as the Travels of Lao Can (laocan youji). The author obviously mistook the exercise for martial arts and claimed that Bodhidharma had taught the monks boxing. This mistake was later repeated in several bestselling martial arts manuals, thus allowing the legend to become a part of the social fabric of martial arts practitioners. The story is still circulating today.

Another oral legend involves the Daoist immortal Zhang Sanfeng. Many people claim that he created the popular martial arts style Taiji (a.k.a. Tai Chi) during the Song Dynasty (960-1279). Prof. Meir Shahar explains Zhang Sanfeng, whose historicity as a Daoist priest can just barely be verified, was simply chosen as a mascot for the style. Zhang had resided in the Daoist temple complex of the Wudang Mountains. The patron saint of this temple was a martial deity known as the Dark Warrior. This deity had been credited by native Chinese rulers of the Song and Ming Dynasties for giving them their prowess in battle. Later, a group of 17th-century anti-Qing Dynasty martial artists called the "internal school" associated the Dark Warrior's fighting skills with Zhang Sanfeng. One proponent of the internal school wrote that Zhang had learned martial arts from the Dark Warror in a dream. The techniques of the internal school influenced those of Taiji, hence Zhang was attributed as creating the style. Shahar suggests that the internal school chose Zhang to be their figure head because they wanted Daoist fighting arts to have a representative just like Bodhidharma and the Buddhist fighting arts.

Having read the above, it's obvious trying to date Chinese martial arts to a specific period is impossible due to the cloud of legend that engulfs its history. The origins of boxing and weapons most likely predate written records since these skills arise out of strife. Just like the bows and arrows used for hunting by the early inhabitants of China gave rise to military and Confucian Archery, man's natural propensity for play wrestling and fist fights gave rise to the numerous codified systems of grappling and boxing styles that we know today.

For more on martial arts history, see the books Chinese Martial Arts (2012) by Peter Lorge and The Shaolin Monastery (2008) by Meir Shahar and my research paper "A Venerated Forgery: The Daoist Origins of Shaolin's Famous Yijin Jing Manual."

Answer 3

Your Answer: 1972

Did you know:

Kung Fu (1972-1975) is an American television series which starred David Carradine. It was created by Ed Spielman, directed and produced by Jerry Thorpe, and developed by Herman Miller.

Answer 4

1972.