第三讲

甲骨文

金文

小篆

楷书

武字从戈从止。“戈”代表古代的兵器。“止”代表脚趾。甲骨文“武”字上戈下足的形象组合，展现了中国先民手持武器踏足而舞的武舞场景。因此“武”的本义是舞蹈，而且特指狩猎舞。后来，因持有武器（戈），引申指①军事、技击、强力有关之事。②勇武。③拿着兵器的人，即武士。

“武（wŭ）” is composed of “戈”（gē） and“止（zhǐ）”. “戈” stands for ancient weapons. “止” stands for toes. The image combination of the character “武” on oracle bone inscriptions shows the dance scene of Chinese ancestors holding weapons. Therefore, the original meaning of “武” is dance, and especially refers to the hunting dance. Later, based on the possession of weapons (Ge), the meaning of this character was extended .It also refers to:

①military, attack, force related matters. ② the brave. ③ Warrior(The man with the weapon).

我们对中国武术并不陌生，李小龙、成龙、李连杰等人的名字早已在国际上家喻户晓。那么，究竟什么是中国武术呢？

We are no stranger to Chinese Kung Fu，because Bruce Li, Jackie Chen, Jet Li and other movie stars have earned their international fame. However, what exactly is Chinese Kung Fu?

武术是一种精神。武术不仅能强身健体，提高人的应变能力，还强调内外兼修，形神兼备，有助于养成良好的精神风貌和道德情操。中国有句老话，未曾学艺先识礼．未曾习武先明德。

Kung Fu is a spirit. It not only strengthens people’s physical fitness and responsiveness, but also improves people’s internal traits and external behavior, contributing to the cultivation of sound mentality and morality. There is an old Chinese saying, “learn the etiquette before learning the skill, and learn the ethics before learning Kung Fu”.

学习武术必须要先学习武德、学会做人，千百年的传承中形成了“尊师重道，孝悌正义，扶危济贫，除暴安良”的武德，为后人留下了宝贵的精神财富。

So before learning Kung Fu, one must first become a good person. During the thousand year’s time, the ethical tradition of “respecting masters, obeying justice, helping the poor, protecting the good and destroying the wicked” has been carried forward and become a valuable spiritual wealth for succeeding generations.

武术是一种文化。随着时代的发展，武术也被不断赋予新的含义，已成为中国人民喜闻乐见的健身方式。在中国的大街小巷，你随处可见打太极拳，练太极剑的人们。

Kung Fu is a cultural life. As time passes, Kung Fu has been given a new meaning and has become the favorite way of fitness for Chinese people. You can see people practicing Tai Chi boxing and Tai Chi swordsmanship everywhere in China.

武术因为高度的对抗性和技巧性已发展成为一项广受欢迎的体育赛事，各类比武大会从来都是媒体关注的焦点。武术也因为优美的表现形式而发展成为一门表演艺术，蕴含着东方美学的武术表演广受世界各国人民的喜爱，成为中外文化交流一张靓丽的名片。

Kung Fu has also developed into a popular sports event because of its high degree of confrontation and skill and Kung Fu contests always become the focus of media. Kung Fu has evolved into a performing art too as it is expressive and elegant. Kung Fu performances that contain oriental aesthetics are popular among peoples of the world, and have become a beautiful name card for cultural exchange between China and other countries.

In ancient times, the rulers of ancient China always kept the policy of “emphasizing culture and restraining military force”, so that they can maximize the maintenance of national stability. This promoted the prosperity of culture and education. We can see that the imperial examination system and the popular poems and poems in China have left a strong mark in the history of human culture. Compared with the lofty pursuit of cultural education, physical education and physical training were coldly received by the ancient Chinese. In the imperial court, the status and treatment of military attache were far lower than that of civil officials, and people despised those who only had brute strength but no knowledge.