Are Chinese people the most powerful people in the whole world?

Adedayo12

White Belt
Hi! I was born and raised in Nigeria! I am a Nigerian male.

Why are China people the most powerful people in the world? Is it because of the fact that they LITERALLY invented all of history's fighting arts such as Kung Fu, Karate, Taekwondo, Judo, Kali Arnis, Muay Thai, Boxing itself, Kenjutsu, all of history's Wrestling forms, Kempo, Kickboxing, Jiu-Jitsu, Fencing, Silat, Sabre-fighting, Spear fighting, etc.?

Is it because Chinese land is the only place of who invented the concept of martial art itself?

How come China mans didn't conquer the whole world if all non-Chinese people don't have martial arts?

How come China mans didn't conquer the whole world if all non-Chinese people don't know how to fight?
 
Simplified - There is the story of Bodhidharma as the founder of Shaolin boxing, and Shaolin boxing then as source to most of all others Chinese boxing methods.

Bodhidharma was from either India or Persia, ill gues Persian, a lot of ppl form Persia came to China from the earliest days of the silk road bringin with them culture and religion.

Also did China have a big influx of Turkish peoples that brought in their traditions.

It’s not impossible at all that Chinese martial arts have if not fully then a strong partly source in martial traditions that journeyed to the east

It benefited the Chinese greatly making them even more powerful

However by far most Chinese don’t know any KungFu
 
Historically, China has never been interested in conquering things outside of what they consider China, until recently. There was a brief period of exploration, see Zheng He. There are many reasons China did not "conquer the whole world". Look at the history of things like Dynastic changes, Qing Dynasty, the opium war, the boxer rebellion, and Empress Cixi to name just a few. And as it has been said, there are far more Chinese that don't know martial arts than there are those that do.
 
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The term 'martial arts' is of western origin- really, look it up- and there are many martial arts, such as boxing and fencing, that have had no Chinese influence and are every bit as effective as eastern martial arts.
 
If Ming (1368 to 1644) dynasty battleships arrived American, the history would be different today.

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Hi! I was born and raised in Nigeria! I am a Nigerian male.

Why are China people the most powerful people in the world? Is it because of the fact that they LITERALLY invented all of history's fighting arts such as Kung Fu, Karate, Taekwondo, Judo, Kali Arnis, Muay Thai, Boxing itself, Kenjutsu, all of history's Wrestling forms, Kempo, Kickboxing, Jiu-Jitsu, Fencing, Silat, Sabre-fighting, Spear fighting, etc.?

Is it because Chinese land is the only place of who invented the concept of martial art itself?

How come China mans didn't conquer the whole world if all non-Chinese people don't have martial arts?

How come China mans didn't conquer the whole world if all non-Chinese people don't know how to fight?
How did they create Kali? Did they create Pankration? How about Rome Greco wrestling? Greek/Roman Boxing? Who would most likely win, a top Spartan or Chinese Soldier?
 
I'm not sure whether the original question in this post is a troll, a joke, or a legitimate misunderstanding. But it might be worth addressing because I have seen the myth promulgated occasionally that all martial arts go back to a single source. Often that source is given as China, occasionally as India.

There is no single historical source of martial arts. Every culture on earth has created its own systems of fighting - with weapons and with unarmed striking and grappling. Sometimes those systems are formalized and documented in writing, other times they are passed down more informally through personal transmission. Sometimes arts continue to be practiced as a cultural heritage after their original combative context is no longer practically relevant. Other times they are lost, modified, or replaced as times change. Usually they will be influenced by the fighting systems of other cultures which are geographic neighbors or which those which have some sort of contact or cultural exchange. But every country, every culture, has its own native martial arts.

China, being a huge country, has a wealth of native martial arts. (These are generally lumped together under the umbrella term of "Kung Fu" or "Wushu" or "CMA", even though they are very diverse and many developed independently from each other.)

There is a familial relationship between CMA and Karate. Certain individuals from Okinawa visited southern China, trained in some form of CMA, brought it home and blended it with native Okinawan systems to form what eventually became known as Okinawan Karate. When Karate spread to the rest of Japan, it was further modified through influence from older Japanese martial traditions. This familial relationship also extends to Tae Kwon Do, which is a child art of Karate, modified by the Korean culture. (The older Korean martial arts had been suppressed and largely lost during the Japanese occupation.)

Kempo is a hybrid art which, depending on the version, can include elements of Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, and Western martial arts.

Other than that, the list given in the original post is entirely inaccurate. Judo, Kali, Arnis, Muay Thai, Boxing, Kenjutsu, Wrestling forms from outside of China, Kickboxing, Jiu-Jitsu, and Western Fencing have no relationship to Chinese martial arts.

Silat (like "Kung Fu") is a blanket term which covers a wide variety of systems which are native to Indonesia. Thanks to cultural exchange and immigration, there may be some systems of Silat which have CMA influences, but for the most part they are quite distinct from the Chinese arts.

Every culture in world history has had their own version of spear fighting. A large percentage have had some version of saber fighting. I'm not aware of any of the systems outside of China being influenced by the Chinese versions.

Of course, even if the myth of martial arts originating in China were true, it would have no bearing on the idea of China conquering the world. Wars of conquest are not settled by who created a martial art first. They are determined by politics, economics, military manufacturing technology, geography, logistics, strategy, tactics, leadership, morale of the populace and the military, and so on. The question of who invented a certain method for punching and kicking doesn't even make it onto the list.
 
I'm not sure whether the original question in this post is a troll, a joke, or a legitimate misunderstanding. But it might be worth addressing because I have seen the myth promulgated occasionally that all martial arts go back to a single source. Often that source is given as China, occasionally as India.

There is no single historical source of martial arts. Every culture on earth has created its own systems of fighting - with weapons and with unarmed striking and grappling. Sometimes those systems are formalized and documented in writing, other times they are passed down more informally through personal transmission. Sometimes arts continue to be practiced as a cultural heritage after their original combative context is no longer practically relevant. Other times they are lost, modified, or replaced as times change. Usually they will be influenced by the fighting systems of other cultures which are geographic neighbors or which those which have some sort of contact or cultural exchange. But every country, every culture, has its own native martial arts.

China, being a huge country, has a wealth of native martial arts. (These are generally lumped together under the umbrella term of "Kung Fu" or "Wushu" or "CMA", even though they are very diverse and many developed independently from each other.)

There is a familial relationship between CMA and Karate. Certain individuals from Okinawa visited southern China, trained in some form of CMA, brought it home and blended it with native Okinawan systems to form what eventually became known as Okinawan Karate. When Karate spread to the rest of Japan, it was further modified through influence from older Japanese martial traditions. This familial relationship also extends to Tae Kwon Do, which is a child art of Karate, modified by the Korean culture. (The older Korean martial arts had been suppressed and largely lost during the Japanese occupation.)

Kempo is a hybrid art which, depending on the version, can include elements of Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, and Western martial arts.

Other than that, the list given in the original post is entirely inaccurate. Judo, Kali, Arnis, Muay Thai, Boxing, Kenjutsu, Wrestling forms from outside of China, Kickboxing, Jiu-Jitsu, and Western Fencing have no relationship to Chinese martial arts.

Silat (like "Kung Fu") is a blanket term which covers a wide variety of systems which are native to Indonesia. Thanks to cultural exchange and immigration, there may be some systems of Silat which have CMA influences, but for the most part they are quite distinct from the Chinese arts.

Every culture in world history has had their own version of spear fighting. A large percentage have had some version of saber fighting. I'm not aware of any of the systems outside of China being influenced by the Chinese versions.

Of course, even if the myth of martial arts originating in China were true, it would have no bearing on the idea of China conquering the world. Wars of conquest are not settled by who created a martial art first. They are determined by politics, economics, military manufacturing technology, geography, logistics, strategy, tactics, leadership, morale of the populace and the military, and so on. The question of who invented a certain method for punching and kicking doesn't even make it onto the list.
Wait you mean people in separate countries, can come up with ways to hurt each other independently..... UNBELIEVABLE!!! :D

I came very early to this discussion, but it there is some part of this thread that is saying China invented martial arts, that is most certainly not true. My general response to such things is. "If Isaac Newton and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz can come up with calculus at the same time, independently of one another, then how hard is it for two guys to come up with ways to punch people in the face independently of one another"
 
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Wait you mean people in separate countries, can come up with ways to hurt each other independently..... UNBELIEVABLE!!! :D

I came very early to this discussion, but it there is some part of this thread that is saying China invented martial arts, that is most certainly not true. My general response to such things is. "If Isaac Newton and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz can come up with calculus at the same time, independently of one another, then how hard is it for two guys to come up with ways to punch people in the face independently of one another"
Yeah, I think all of us regulars on this site know better. Certainly you do. But I have seen various articles over the years where people try to trace all martial arts back to a single source.
 
Hi! I was born and raised in Nigeria! I am a Nigerian male.

Why are China people the most powerful people in the world? Is it because of the fact that they LITERALLY invented all of history's fighting arts such as Kung Fu, Karate, Taekwondo, Judo, Kali Arnis, Muay Thai, Boxing itself, Kenjutsu, all of history's Wrestling forms, Kempo, Kickboxing, Jiu-Jitsu, Fencing, Silat, Sabre-fighting, Spear fighting, etc.?

Is it because Chinese land is the only place of who invented the concept of martial art itself?

How come China mans didn't conquer the whole world if all non-Chinese people don't have martial arts?

How come China mans didn't conquer the whole world if all non-Chinese people don't know how to fight?
Sounds like this thread is missing the other half of a conversation.
 
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Yeah, I think all of us regulars on this site know better. Certainly you do. But I have seen various articles over the years where people try to trace all martial arts back to a single source.
As have I. Frankly, I believe it was all started by some Sumerian guy named Sidney in Mesopotamia
 
I'm not sure whether the original question in this post is a troll, a joke, or a legitimate misunderstanding.
Yeah it read like someone who got into a heated debate with someone else. It reads to me like a Cultural Class between two people from 2 different cultures. One is from China and the other is from Nigeria.

I would be interested if the person lives in one of the areas where the Chinese community has a large population. I could be wrong but the wording and the questions sound remarkably familiar to things I've heard in the past in my own life, specifically in the cause when someone from one culture talks about how great their culture is and in the process steps on another culture, be it intentionally or not.

To Jump from Martial Arts to Conquering the world seems to be the least about Martial Arts and more about a disagreement about something that doesn't involve martial arts. I think Martial Arts may have just been the thing that was presented as proof.
 
Of course, even if the myth of martial arts originating in China were true, it would have no bearing on the idea of China conquering the world.
Correct. This is why I think we are missing the other half of the conversation that the OP was having with someone else. Most likely none of it had anything to do with Martial Arts. What ever it was, it was big enough for him to come to see what Martial Artist think lol.

One thing about conquering the world. It's impossible to do if your Family is fighting each other. China has had a lot of that in past history. It wouldn't surprise me if China over all has a big trauma about not being as one. Unity is probably really big there. Where other places champion individuality. China is probably the opposite for them Unity probably takes priority.
 
Yeah it read like someone who got into a heated debate with someone else. It reads to me like a Cultural Class between two people from 2 different cultures. One is from China and the other is from Nigeria.

I would be interested if the person lives in one of the areas where the Chinese community has a large population. I could be wrong but the wording and the questions sound remarkably familiar to things I've heard in the past in my own life, specifically in the cause when someone from one culture talks about how great their culture is and in the process steps on another culture, be it intentionally or not.

To Jump from Martial Arts to Conquering the world seems to be the least about Martial Arts and more about a disagreement about something that doesn't involve martial arts. I think Martial Arts may have just been the thing that was presented as proof.
It looks like the original poster hasn't been on the site since one minute after they created this post last Thursday, so we may never know. If they were trolling, it seems like they would have stayed around long enough to watch for responses. Maybe you're right - they were having an argument with someone elsewhere, then just got confused and logged onto the wrong site to post a response.
 
It looks like the original poster hasn't been on the site since one minute after they created this post last Thursday, so we may never know. If they were trolling, it seems like they would have stayed around long enough to watch for responses. Maybe you're right - they were having an argument with someone elsewhere, then just got confused and logged onto the wrong site to post a response.
We've seen it in the past where someone is in an heated discussion in another forum or even offline and for some reason feel that our feedback would support their cause. All they need are a couple of "sound bites"

Out of curiosity I asked CoPilot what it thinks of the OP's post:
"Adedayo12's post on the forum has a tone that is curious and somewhat incredulous. The user seems genuinely interested in understanding why Chinese people are perceived as powerful, especially in the context of martial arts. However, there is also a hint of skepticism and confusion about the historical and cultural claims made regarding the origins of various martial arts."

Not bad for Ai. I asked why it thought that there was skepticism and it came to the similar conclusion that everyone has posted so far. I didn't It would pick up tone that well.

Me "Why do you think there is some skepticiism?"

Copilot:
The skepticism in Adedayo12's post likely stems from a few factors:
  1. Historical Accuracy: The claim that China invented all martial arts is historically inaccurate. Many martial arts, such as Karate, Taekwondo, and Muay Thai, originated in other countries. This broad statement can lead to skepticism among those familiar with the diverse origins of martial arts.
  2. Cultural Influence: The idea that Chinese martial arts are the sole source of all fighting techniques overlooks the rich martial traditions of other cultures. This can cause doubt among readers who recognize the contributions of various cultures to the development of martial arts.
  3. Exaggeration: The post's assertion that China could have conquered the world if other cultures didn't have martial arts seems exaggerated. This hyperbolic statement can make readers question the validity of the entire argument.
These factors contribute to the overall tone of skepticism and incredulity in the responses to Adedayo12's post.
 

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