I've been a fan of Chinese Kung Fu movies since the mid 1970's. And one thing that I've never gotten an explanation of is the flying, particularly in the sword fight movies. There is more flying than ever now in the modern sword fight movies. Does anyone know what the flying symbolizes?

The basic theory is something like the mastery of inner Qi Gong to the point that the fighter is able to make themselves "lighter than air", I believe.

of course, cinema offers no boundry for imaginative license, and many movies have abused the art of levitation. Characters in (Jin Yong's) wuxia novels aren't capable of flying as you see in movies; what they are capable of doing is jump very high with ease, but as far as changing directions in midair and such, those were probably invented by movies.

The practice of Qinggong (light-art, or the art of lightness) is an extension of Qigong (energy-art, or the art of energy) and is frequently discussed within the context of fighting techniques, and is the means by which people jump very high and far. Fighting and flying in mid-air seen in movies and novels could probably be considered a mythical extension of such abilities--something that normal humans would not likely be able to achieve, and therefore an indication of the extraordinary extent to which the person has mastered Qinggong.

In the classic "westerns" we would consistently see the cowboy/gunfighter/hero/whatever hipshooting apples from a tree at 500+ yards or somesuch. What I find interesting is that not only is this a complete physical impossibility, it's never questioned by western audiences. He's just "really good." Yet same person complained with indignance over "too much of that fake flying" in Crouching Tiger.

By the way, speaking of Jin Yong, I recall that LaoWanTong/ZhouBoTong had the capability of something similar to flying in ShenDiao Xia Lu. He transported Yang-guo some distance using this technique...but of course he (nor anyone else) never did any actual mid-air fighting.

I guess the difference is that Superman is obviously not human, and his power is explained, whereas nobody ever explains why REAL people are able to fly in martial arts movies, and it is against common sense.