Kung fu

:For the television program, see Kung Fu (TV series). For the Nintendo Entertainment System video game, see Kung Fu (video game).

Spelling

Part of the confusion around this term comes from the many ways the Chinese characters 功夫 can be romanized, as Chinese romanization systems have evolved much in the past years.

Related Topics:
Chinese characters - Romanized

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Here are some of the most common versions in use today:

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• Kung fu is undoubtedly the most widely spread. It uses the Wade-Giles romanization system; a system that many consider obsolete today.
• Gongfu is the Hanyu Pinyin romanization. With tones included this would be written gōngfu. Even though Pinyin is currently the official system of romanization of the People's Republic of China, the spelling "gongfu" is not widely used. Pinyin is, however, a popular system used for many other similar Chinese terms, such as Qigong (instead of Ch'i Kung in Wade-Giles).
• Gungfu or gung fu is a Cantonese version using Yale romanization, sans tone marks. This spelling was made popular by Bruce Lee during the 1970s.