19 Chinese Shaolin Kung Fu Documentaries That Will Impress You

Kung Fu Documentaries: Intro

Are you an aspiring Kung Fu artist? Would you like to know more about the origins of this martial art and the different techniques you can try? Maybe you’d like to learn more about monks practicing Kung Fu and Shaolin. Whatever your needs may be, this post about Kung Fu documentaries got you covered. 

It’s all enough to make one put down the Kung Fu movies and curl up in front of a solid martial arts documentary. After all, if fictional cinema is busy marketing the types of myths that MMA fighters keep knocking down on YouTube embarrassingly, maybe some good solid documentaries will put everything into perspective, show the real beauty of these arts and perhaps market them in the current marketplace of ideas. 

Here are our top 19 Kung Fu documentaries you should watch today. 

1. The Kung Fu Shaolin: Episode 1 - History of Kung Fu Documentary

For more than 1,500 years, Shaolin Kung Fu has been considered as one of the highly sought Chinese martial arts. In this Kung fu documentary, CGTN takes you to the rich history of Kung Fu Shaolin. This film is one of the most informative, serious ones you will find about martial arts and its contemporary masters.

2. The Kung Fu Shaolin: Episode 2 - History of Kung Fu Documentary

This is the second part of the five-episode docuseries of the History of Kung Fu Shaolin. In this episode, you will learn to master the secret of martial arts and how it has been the lifelong pursuit of Kung Fu masters.

3. The Kung Fu Shaolin: Episode 3 - History of Kung Fu Documentary

For the third episode, you will capture the real essence and spirit of the Shaolin Kung Fu Masters. These masters surely deserve the utmost respect, and their core philosophy is to teach only to those who are “good nature and respectful.”

4. The Kung Fu Shaolin: Episode 4 - History of Kung Fu Documentary

From acting to boxing, the Kung Fu masters have been aiming and shining in various careers in their real lives. This part four of the 5-part Kung fu documentary explore different people who practice the martial art.

5. The Kung Fu Shaolin: Episode 5 - History of Kung Fu Documentary

For the last and final episode of the Shaolin Kung Fu documentary, this video highlights the massive widespread of martial art across the globe. Shaolin Kung Fu spreads out globally, but it has discovered its own way of telling itself, not just the techniques but the spirit as well.

6. Kung Fu Shaolin Monks Documentary - National Geographic

This Shaolin monk’s documentary presents what is Chinese Shaolin Kung Fu is and how others learn it. It has footage that will further your knowledge about martial arts and more.

7. Kung Fu Shaolin Trainings and Techniques - National Geographic Documentary

This National Geographic Documentary highlights some of the most effective self-defense training and techniques you can learn. The documentary was taken at the Shaolin Temple Kung Fu Academy, which is the biggest school of its kind in China. 

Here, you can see how much hard work is needed to master Chinese martial art in this stunning collaboration.

8. Chinese Kung Fu Shaolin Documentary

This Chinese kung fu documentary focuses on showing how Chinese Kung Fu is performed and techniques that make it unique. The Hollywood actor Jason Scott Lee has been a dedicated student of Bruce Lee’s martial art Jeet Kune Do for twenty years. In this documentary, he was able to fulfill his lifelong dream.

9. This is Kung Fu -  1983 Old School Wushu Documentary

This Shaolin documentary is a rare Chinese Wushu documentary that dates back to 1983. It was probably arranged by the Chinese government as a form of sports propaganda. It brings together many popular modern wushu practitioners of the time, like the young Jet Li and the Beijing Wushu Team, showing the different contemporary and traditional styles of Kung Fu.

10. The Kung Fu Years, Young Jet Li - Wushu Documentary

Are you looking for a documentary where you can watch Jet Li perform Kung Fu? Then this Wushu documentary is the one you’re looking for. This is an awesome documentary about Kung Fu and Wushu in the seventies and eighties. Throughout the video, you will find different styles documented as well as some footage of young Jet Li and his home life.

11. The Legend of Wing Chun -  Wing Chun Documentary

Wing Chun is a Chinese martial artist who arises soon after the burning of the Song Shan Shaolin Temple (1735). This Wing Chun documentary highlights how you can use Wing Chun and his philosophy to enhance your regular life.

12. The Science of Self Defense -  Wing Chun Documentary

Would you like to know the science behind self-defense? Then this Wing Chun documentary is what you need. This footage shows how the human body is the best train to become a master of self-defense. It also highlights drills, concepts, and techniques that guarantee proper reaction and adaptation during the chaos of real-life combat.

13. Wing Chun Short Documentary

This Wing Chun Short Documentary highlights how you can use martial arts to advance your regular life. The story’s narrator shares his experiences of how Wing Chun has improved both his personal and professional life, helping him become one of the most successful businessmen in Hong Kong.

14. Wu Tang Collection - Wing Chun Grandmaster Yip Man

This documentary demonstrates the existing footage of Yip Man performs Wing Chun Kung Fu. He and his son also show the different styles passed on to him by his father. If you want to get a glimpse behind the legend, then this is the video to watch.

15. Ip Man Documentary

In this Ip man documentary, you will uncover the real story of the real Ip Man. You will also find here a footage of Ip man training on the wooden dummy and some of the best historic images of the real Ip Man.

16. The Way of the Warrior: Tai Chi, the Soft Way - Tai Chi Documentary

This is an 8-part Tai chi documentary on the martial arts of south and Southeast Asia. The entire documentary highlights the different forms of Tai Chi and several forms of Kung Fu as well.

17. Mind, Void and Tao -  Tai Chi Documentary

This is a Chinese documentary about Tai Chi Kung Fu. This explores other schools of Tai Chi to unleash the secrets of tapping into your potential and reach the goal of the Taoist practice.

18. QiGong Documentary

This QiGong documentary shows QiGong as a form of moving meditation and one of the most common health practices ever made by mankind. It includes a combination of deep abdominal breathing, gentle movement, and clearing the mind that puts your autonomic nervous system into the relaxation response mode. 

A good result of the practice is a reduction in stress, boost in the size of blood vessels and improved immunity system.

19. Yuan Tze: The Early Year - QiGong Documentary

Yuan Tze is the world-renowned healer and QiGong Master. Born in a small coastal town in the Jiangsu province, Bin Liu later adopted Yuan Tze as his life cultivation name. But long after he was born, he stopped eating. Neither his doctors nor his parents could make him continue eating, and he became very weak. 

A Daoist monk offered to help, and at six months old, he was taken to live with the monk at his temple. This documentary allows you to follow him into his early years and childhood and discover his origins and learn how he became who he is today.

Kung Fu Documentaries: Conclusions

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