Kung Fu has never been mentioned as a martial art in any ancient texts. A french missionary in the 18th century is said to be the first one who related Kung Fu to chinese martial art. But in fact the meaning of Kung Fu (also known as Gongfu, Kuoshu or Wushu) means an expertise in any skill and not martial arts in specific.

In ancient Chinese texts as Dao De Jing, Zhuang Zi and Sun Zi (Art of War), which are written between 1100 and 255 BC, there are passages that can be related to the principles of the modern Kung Fu. The concept, philosophy and practices described in those texts are similar to the concept of Kung Fu as we know it today.

There are various theories regarding the written history of Kung Fu. One of them is that the Yellow Emperor (2700 BC) wrote the first texts about Chinese martial arts. Another one is giving credit to the Taoist monks who are said to have introduced a martial art form, around 500 BC, that is similar to the modern Tai Chi. Pan Ku wrote “Six Chapters of Hand Fighting” in his historical work about the Han Dynasty and around 220 AD Hua T’uo wrote his own story “Five Animals Play”.

In the late 1960’s Hollywood discovered Kung Fu and produced several martial art movies and television series. The most famous Kung Fu master was of course Bruce Lee. Some decades later the popularity of Kung Fu got another boost because of movies starring the martial art masters Jet Li and Jack Chan.