I quickly read your writing and a couple things stand out to me immediately: in a couple places to refer to Patrick McCarthy as Paul McCarthy. Better get that corrected.
You mention the fluid, “dance”-like aspects and “tricking” gymnastics of kung fu. Historically this was far less prevalent. The traditional Kung fu methods certainly pushed the envelope of physical education in the practitioner, as it is an effective form of exercise and fitness which are useful in self defense and combat, in addition to the body of directly applicable techniques and strategies and training methodologies. But the traditional methods are rooted in practical and useful combative methods, which gymnastics and tricking are not. Sometimes people like to talk about the “flowery” techniques of Kung fu as well, with which I also take issue. I can only speak to my own experience, which includes Tibetan White Crane, Wing Chun, Shaolin Long Fist, Taiji (Chen, Yang, and Sun families), and a touch of Hung Ga. What I can say from my experience is that there are no useless, deliberately “flowery” techniques that are meant only for show and performance or “dance”. It is all designed to be useful, as long as you understand the foundation upon which it is built.
Now getting back to the gymnastics bit. In the 1950s, the Communist Chinese government created a new cultural art form called “Modern Wushu”. Wushu is the proper term meaning “fighting art”. Kung fu actually means to have good skill derived from hard work. The skill can be in any topic, including but not limited to fighting skill. The term was mis-translated and subsequently adopted in the West in reference to the fighting methods of China. But the proper term is “Wushu”, which we can distinguish between Traditional Wushu as the older fighting methods, and Modern Wushu of the Chinese government. At any rate, Modern Wushu was based on the older traditional fighting methods, but was intended to be a cultural performance and competition art form. It specifically was no longer intended to be a viable fighting method and the techniques and routines were changed to emphasize their performance value and crowd-pleasing qualities. Modern Wushu continues to be popular, and much of what you would find in China today, if it is a big school with good facilities, is Modern Wushu and receives official government support. Furthermore, what the traveling Shaolin Monks do in their performances is also Modern Wushu. They are not demonstrating viable traditional combat methods.
Modern Wushu competitors train very hard. It is a very demanding discipline and they are tremendous athletes. But the method they practice is meant for performance, and is not a traditional combat method, although the art is inspired by the traditional combat methods. This is where you see the gymnastics and flowery postures.
I hope this helps.
