The Role of Wushu Martial Arts Representation in the Contemporary Mass Culture of the World

ABSTRACT

Wushu occupies a considerable place in world culture as one of the most widely known martial arts. Wushu is a remarkable part of modern popular culture and is present in the context of cinema, computer games, social networks etc. The study aim is to explore the significance and impact of wushu on contemporary culture through values and motivations of Chinese and foreign audiences. The relevance of the proposed study lies in the proposal of an approach to determining the characteristics of the influence of wushu as an independent cultural phenomenon. The study population was 916 participants from China and around the world, aged 14 to 68. They were divided into two groups: Chinese and foreigners. During the online survey, the participant was inquired to subjectively assess the meaning of wushu, pass a test on the ability to identify wushu among other martial arts and an associative test to determine the values and motivations associated with wushu. The large differences were identified in the values and motivations of the Chinese and foreign audiences in relation to wushu, including gender and age differences. Wushu has been found to retain an important traditional influence on Chinese society than might be expected.

KEYWORDS:

• Cinematography
• martial arts
• mass media
• traditional values
• wushu
• wuxia

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Ethical approval

The research was conducted ethically in accordance with the World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki. The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Tangshan Normal University, Tangshan, Hebei, China (Protocol № 6 of 18.11.2022).

Informed consent

Informed consent was obtained from all the participants of the research.

Data availability statement

Data will be available on request.