The long history of the Chinese Martial Arts culture started from the primitive society (starting from Homo erectus Yuanmouensis around 1.7 million years ago and ending in the establishment of the Xia Dynasty in the 21st century B.C.). In the process of their struggle against nature and the social environment, people came up with simple moves of fighting, which gradually matured along with the development of militaristic wars and developed into various systems of barehanded and weapon-tool routines.

Martial Arts is comprehensive exercise based upon fighting skills. It has its movements designed in accordance with the requirements in offensive and defensive fighting and incorporates combined elements such as hunting, warfare and martial dance in its eventual development and formation.

The origin of Martial Arts can be traced back to the primitive society. Its origin and development cannot be separated from human’s survival competition and primitive wars. In the early human society, the opponents in fights were not human beings, but beasts. At that time, living conditions for humans were extremely poor. They lived the life of a savage and burrowed in the wild, where beasts and predators were everywhere. In order to survive and procreate, mankind had no choice but to engage in death struggles against beasts. Many ancient rock paintings in the western region of China depicted various scenes of struggle between men and beasts. In the process of hunting, people gradually formulated unarmed fighting techniques, such as running, jumping, rolling, dodging, punching, kicking and the like, as well as skills to utilize stone and wooden tools like clubs. A number of offensive and defensive experiences were thus accumulated.

The emergence and evolution of primitive tools were also powerful proof of the emergence and development of primitive forms of fighting techniques. Sharp-pointed wares and chopping tools roughly wrought from stones emerged during the Paleolithic Period (around 2.5 million to 10,000 years ago). During the Neolithic Age (approx. 8500-4500 years ago), well-wrought tools made of fine wood, stones and bones came into being, and the invention of bows and arrows, in particular, greatly enhanced human’s ability to hunt, and expanded the scope of the hunting range.

In addition to hunting, the beginning of martial arts was also closely related to primitive wars. In the primitive society, tribes often battled against each other in order to compete for food, territory or the position of leadership. These struggles among human beings promoted the formation of primitive martial arts. Towards the end of the primitive society, tribal warfare for the purpose of plundering slaves and wealth became more and more frequent, and the scale grew larger and larger. In ancient China, legend had it that advanced bronze weapons were utilized during the war between Yellow Emperor Xuanyuan and Chiyou of the Jiuli tribe, and the fighting techniques used by the people were also more complex than those in hunting. Such primitive wars had promoted the development of martial arts.

The development of primitive martial arts is also inseparable from primitive education, primitive religion as well as primitive entertainment. The teaching and training of both production experiences and fighting techniques are important contents of primitive education. In the worshipping and entertaining activities among others, primitive people used to simulate hunting or war scenes, dancing around with various weapons held in their hands to demonstrate their agile fighting skills with delicate movements. In the classic Yao Dian (Document about Yao) of The Book of History, it was recorded that a leader called Kui said: “Ah, let us hit the stone drums, so all the beasts can dance together!” The “beasts” mentioned here indicates a form of movement in imitation of animals. It was a form of hunting dance and the most primitive form of the ancient animal-style martial arts.

In the primitive society, hunting, tribal conflicts and primitive dances all exercised direct effects in promoting the emergence of martial arts. However, martial arts are different from hunting, warring and dancing. It requires more adequate conditions in order to be formed and developed. China’s long history has provided the time and conditions needed for Chinese people to develop Chinese martial arts.