There are many traditional Kung Fu techniques found in the combat training of todays armed forces and special forces. For example the S.C.A.R.S and CQD programs taught to Navy Seals and other armed forces was designed, not as self defense, but for soldiers in high risk situations.

In Chinese, the term kung fu refers to any skill that is acquired through learning or practice. It is a compound word composed of the words 功 (gōng) meaning "work", "achievement", or "merit", and 夫 (fū) which is a particle or nominal suffix with diverse meanings. Wushu literally means "martial art".

They used the term gung fu, following the pronunciation of the term used in their Cantonese-speaking homeland. More fully, they called it sil lum gung fu (where sil lum is the Cantonese equivalent of Mandarin shaolin, the name of the famous Buddhist monastery associated with martial arts).

Due to the rich and long history of Chinese martial arts, there are over 400 substyles of kung fu. The northern styles, such as Shaolin Kung Fu, tend to put a level of importance on kicks and wide stances. The southern styles are more about the utilization of the hands and narrower stances.