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Remembering Yim Wing Chun, the Boxer Rebellion and Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
What at first appears new is often something remembered. The human mind has trouble categorizing and finding meaning in anything that is truly unique or alien. Good storytellers know that...
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Doing Research (10): Trying to Think Inside the Box with Paul Bowman
Introduction Welcome to the tenth entry in our series of guest posts titled “Doing Research.” If you missed the first essay by D. S. Farrer (which provides a global overview of the subject),...
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Through a Lens Darkly (44): Martial Arts in Pre-War Japanese Schools
Kendo at Ina Middle School, probably late 1930s. Vintage postcard. Authors personal collection. Introduction Today’s post is the result of a happy coincidence. As regular readers will be aware,...
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The Boxer Rebellion and Stories We Tell about Chinese Martial Arts
Vintage postcard showing a “Young Boxer” with sword. Early 20th century. Source: Authors personal collection. Confronting the Boxers It is probably an irony that I have written so little on the...
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Chinese Martial Arts in the News: March 27th 2017: Taijiquan, Ip Man 4 and...
Introduction Welcome to “Chinese Martial Arts in the News.” This is a semi-regular feature here at Kung Fu Tea in which we review media stories that mention or affect the traditional fighting...
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“I am a Jedi (knight), like my father before me.” Authenticity and Legitimacy...
A Dance Studio in a Galaxy Far, Far Away “You, put your phone down!” I looked around, unsure about the sudden exclamation from the instructor who had just been summing up the essential concepts...
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Research Notes: Jingwu and the Female Martial Artists of 1920
Chinese post card from the PRC showing a young girl studying a sword routine as her teacher looks on. Introduction I am interested in the frequent, seemingly unconscious, way in which the word...
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A Sword’s Story
A Duandao. The blade is about 18 inches long, and the original sword was probably 25 inches when originally mounted. Collected in China, 1900. Author’s personal collection. What is it? The...
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How did China’s Boxers become “The Boxers”?
A Girl Who Lived with Monkeys No text can be read in isolation. Each is connected to other works through a network of invisible threads. These are the product of suggestion, desire, memory and...
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Chi Sao, Ip Man and the Problem of “Dispersed Training” in Wing Chun
Ip Man practices Chi Sao With Moy Yat. ***Over the next couple of weeks I will be devoting time to some non-blog writing projects. So, from time to time, we will be dipping into the Kung Fu Tea’s...
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The Wing Chun Jo Fen: Norms and the Creation of a Southern Chinese Martial...
Twin Chinese Pagodas in Singapore. Source: Wikimedia. ***I am happy to report that I am making good progress on my current writing project. But it is still an ongoing task, and one that consumed...
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Lives of Chinese Martial Artists (13): Zhao San-duo—19th Century Plum Flower...
The Yellow River Breaches its Course. Water Album by Ma Yuan. Source: Wikimedia. ***I am happy to report that the book chapter that I have been working is going well and that I can finally see...
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Chinese Martial Arts in the News: April 24, 2017: Southern Kung Fu, Taijiquan...
Introduction Welcome to “Chinese Martial Arts in the News!” Its great to be back at my keyboard after spending the last week and half on other projects. I managed to finish the draft of my...
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Traditional Chinese Martial Arts and the “YMCA Consensus”
***I am very excited to introduce the following guest post by my friend Scott Phillips. In this essay Scott draws on his extensive study of modern Chinese religious and social history in an...
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An Introduction to Martial Arts and Public Diplomacy
Taijiquan practitioners in a park. Source: http://english.cntv.cn ***On May 11th and 12th I will be participating in a Political Science workshop at Brigham Young University (BYU) in Utah. While...
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By Popular Demand: “Tradition” vs. “Modernity” in the Chinese Martial Arts
Source: South China Morning Post. An Old Story It is a pattern that we know well. After a debate about the utility of the traditional martial arts (and what that suggests about the state of...
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Lives of Chinese Martial Artists (19): Cheng Zongyou, Shaolin’s Martial...
Introduction Few individuals have influenced our understanding of the martial arts during the late Ming dynasty more than Cheng Zongyou. His manuals provide historians a glimpse into a world of...
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Bartitsu and Suffragette Jujitsu of the Early 20th Century
Source: Wikimedia Introduction Greetings! I am traveling for a conference and workshop where I will attempt to convince a group of political scientists that they should pay attention to...
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Dissemination of Japanese Martial Arts to Korea
Introduction Greetings! I am currently on the road for a conference and workshop. As such, I will be sharing some papers that were presented at the Martial Arts Studies Research Network’s recent...
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Orientalizing the Orient: Searching for Karate’s Budo Roots in Contemporary...
Introduction Greetings! I am currently on the road for a conference and workshop. As such, I will be sharing some papers that were presented at the Martial Arts Studies Research Network’s recent...
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