Elderly martial arts master Elderly martial arts master The elderly martial arts master is a mentor/teacher stock character in fiction, especially "Wuxia", "Chanbara", and other martial arts films. Typically an East Asian male, he is a near-invincible master of the martial arts, despite being advanced in age and presumably having a decrease in physical strength. Often he possesses the rank of Sensei (or teacher) and is referred to as such by his student. The elderly master most often teaches either generic kung fu or an exotic style specific to the fictional period (see List of fictional martial arts). During the films, the master often
Chinese martial arts muscle and cardiovascular fitness are called "external" (; ). Geographical association, as in "northern" (; ) and "southern" (; ), is another popular classification method. "Kung fu" and "wushu" are loanwords from Cantonese and Mandarin respectively that, in English, are used to refer to Chinese martial arts. However, the Chinese terms "kung fu" and "wushu" (; ) have distinct meanings. The Chinese equivalent of the term "Chinese martial arts" would be "Zhongguo wushu" () (Mandarin). In Chinese, the term "kung fu" () refers to any skill that is acquired through learning or practice. It is a compound word composed of