Farming, fishing, hunting, medical science, trading and written language are said to have been taught during the reigns of the three mythical emperors Bok Hi, Sin Nong, and Hwang Je in China about 3,500 BC. On the other hand, the mural paintings in the tombs along the Nile and the hieroglyphic inscriptions engraved in the pyramids proved that the Egyptians had a form of open hand fighting similar to boxing as early as 3,000 BC.

There are also reports of open hand fighting techniques practiced by the warriors of Mesopotamia and Sumer (3,000 BC-2,300 BC). Then, we can easily imagine that primitive human beings had to depend on their hands and feet to overcome enemies, animals, and the obstacles to survival found in nature. As human knowledge and wisdom progressed, these crude fighting methods were gradually and continuously improved. Eventually, they were systemized as martial arts.

By the time of the Greek city-states (700 BC), boxing, wrestling and other related forms of combat were regular events in the Olympiads. The works of Homer (427-327 BC) contains descriptions of unarmed combat, and the Greek philosopher Plato (900-800 BC) mentions skiamachia (fighting without an opponent) - a kind of shadowboxing, which was eventually combined with wrestling and boxing to form pancratium. This was a fighting system in which the whole body was used as a weapon.

The Greek practitioners of pancratium were later transformed into Roman gladiators. The gladiatorial games were ferocious sports performed for the entertainment of spectators during the golden age of the Roman Empire. These games were introduced into Germany, Normandy and England after the fall of Rome and subsequently became the basis of modern boxing and wrestling.

It is recorded that some types of open hand fighting were widely practiced in China at an early date. The art of Palgwae flourished during the era of Ju Gong (approximately 200 BC) and came to be perfected during the Song Dynasty a thousand years later.

Throughout the world numerous styles of hand and foot fighting have been developed, each of which reflects the needs of the time and the varying historical and cultural background of the country where it originated.

In China open hand fighting is called Kung Fu or Daeji-Chon; in India Selambam; in France Savate; in Japan, Judo, Karate or Ai Kido or Jujitsu; in Russia Samba; in Malaysia Bosilat; in Thailand Kick Boxing; and in Korea it is known as Tae Kyon, Soo-Bak-Gi, and Taekwon-Do. Some of these forms of self-defence are no doubt as old as mankind itself. It would be virtually impossible to trace hand and foot fighting to any single beginning.







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