Abstract: With the acceleration of China's modernization process, western sports with magnificent commercial packaging and multiple competition forms is promoted by various media to gradually become the main part participated in and appreciated by the Chinese people. As a representative of the traditional culture, martial arts has significantly been compressed in terms of its survival space because of the changes in social survival system in addition to its special inheritance mode and special practice requirements. It has strayed away from the public life. A very important feature of modern sports development lies in the control of the media system,i.e. to guide mass sports culture through the media and to obtain the corresponding discourse right at the same time. But it is difficult for traditional martial arts to obtain any breakthrough because of the influence and restriction of traditional culture. Therefore traditional martial arts has to return to the body.The discourse right of martial arts can be achieved in the world by the cultivation of both the body and mind and self-consciousness. Traditional martial arts will establish its own survival space only by returning to the body level.

Key words: survival space, traditional martial arts, media