Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

From Fact To Fiction: The Wuxia Experience And The Wushu Practice, Kadien S. Hill

Honors College Theses

Since its beginnings in China, martial arts have intrigued people with its mastery over mind and body, from the Shaolin monk practices of hand-to-hand combat and body conditioning to folktales of martial heroes with their mastery of swordplay and their almost superhuman-like fighting abilities. Martial arts have fascinated and astonished people in China for centuries, and since their introduction to the West they have captivated other cultures the world over. Their intrigue has caused them to penetrate entertainment circles through novelization early on. Chinese classics such as Water Margin and The Seven Heroes and the Five Gallants solidified martial arts …