Kung Fu is unique to China and is an export that is increasingly successful and diverse. You are probably familiar with Bruce Lee, Jacky Chan and Jet Li but the business of Kung Fu is not limited to the movies. Nintendo games like Street Fighter have characters which are based on particular Chinese martial arts and PC games like Romance of the Three Kingdoms is not only popular in China, but in Korea and Japan as well. Wuxia novels, or literally meaning “martial (arts) heroes”, especially by Jing Yong have been read by generations of Chinese everywhere, and turned into TV series countless times. Not to mention the comic book genre, which has also been turned into movies by the Hong Kong movie industry.
Indeed, Kung Fu has long gone global but the western and eastern notions of it is still very different. When the western audience saw the characters acted by Zhang Ziyi and Chou Yun Fatt walk on water and fight in the bamboo forest in Lee Ang’s Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, there was laughter. Whereas in Asia, there was an innate appreciation for the fantasy and martial arts in wuxia traditions. But the quintessential Chinese Kung Fu movie is still Shaolin Temple of 1982. Speaking of the Shaolin Temple, they have gone global, with worldwide theatrical performance tours as well as their Kung Fu school back in Henan province. They even have their own branding and marketing consultants! A wave of martial arts contests have even begun on Chinese TV, where they invite contestants from neighboring Thailand and Burma. Some of these are to choose representatives to the K1 championships in Japan. Kung Fu is gaining more popular in China and as China continues to develop, be prepared for a more diverse market for Kung Fu.
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