Hello there.
So, for those that know, I am very much into the monk class, both from a gameplay standpoint, but also a lore and class fantasy one. What you might not know, is that part of the reason is that I practice martial arts in real life, specifically, Shotokan Karate, and as someone that has read many times the history of Karate, I noticed some things in common with the story of Pandaria and monks in Wow. Before I continue, if any information here is not 100% correct, please forgive me, the sources I read had degrees of different info, so Is hard to tell whats the official history.
You might find that weird, since Pandaria is clearly based around China and Karate is more associated with Japan, but first things first, Karate has its origins not in Japan originally, though the place nowadays is part of Japan, Karate has its origins set in Okinawa, which in the past was know as the Ryukyu Kingdom, basically islands that would have sailors from all the regions around it using as a port, a place of trade, where some local martial artists would learn from people from other lands.
During the 17th century, Japan invaded the Ryukyu Kingdom, and banned the usage of weapons by the locals, this led to the locals to focus on developing unarmed martial arts to what we nowadays would know as Karate.
Does this sound familiar? In Pandaria lore, the Pandaren were enslaved by the Mogu, and not allowed to carry weapons, and as such, Kang, fist of the first dawn decided to dight against the Mogu with his bare paws, and that is how the “Monk class” started.
Of course, nothing matches 1 to 1, but it is pretty similar IMO, and consider what I said before, Ryukyu Kingdom were islands, Islands that used to have contact with China before (and other places) and probably some of the techniques that were in that martial arts developed in Ryukyu come from china. In Ryukyu, the early forms of karate could be split in Shuri-te, Naha-te and Tomari-te, based on the region they were practiced, and these 3 “styles” would eventually lead to what we perceive as karate.
Back to WOW, we have this Island, the Wandering Isle, which houses Pandaren that used to have contact with Pandaria, but not anymore, and in that Island, we have two different “styles” of martial arts, not based in region but in philosophy, Tushui and Huojin.
Again, not perfect connections, but I hobestly think this is indication of inspiration.
And the last element.
In the 20th century, the Ryukyu Kingdom was undone, and it became part of Japan, with that, many schools of Karate came to japan and eventually to the world, where we have the incredible effect of countries with no cultural connection with japan or okinawa, sharing that tradition with martial arts. And this is not just karate, many martial arts, when taught in another country or place, will have that art origin as a baggage.
And back to WoW, the Huojin monks joined the horde and the Tushui monks joined the alliance, and they spread the martial arts and tradition for others to learn. And I honestly think this is beautiful. And of course, as the martial arts evolve, we have new developments coming from all sorts of places, and this is also a natural route monks could go in WoW.
I wrote a lot, later i will proofread to see any mistakes, I am sorry in advance, and I also probably butchered some of the Okinawa history, I am sorry for that.