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Kung Fu History and Styles Chinese martial arts are often known in the West as "Kung Fu." Historically, Kung Fu was called Ch'uan Fa (fist way). It is the generic name for as many as 1,500 different styles of individual fighting arts, both internal and external, northern and southern styles, hard and soft, and ancient and of relatively recent southern styles invention. Martial arts historians stress that Kung Fu did not start at the Shaolin Temple, but simply began to flourish under Shaolin's influence. A brief history of Kung Fu can trace its origins back some 4,000 years to 2,674 BC, when Emperor Huang Ti used a rudimentary form of martial arts called Chiou Ti as a form of individual combat and military tactic. In 2,600 BC a new style of combat named Go-Ti came into being which had wrestling as its main focus. In about 6