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Explaining “Openness” and “Closure” in Kung Fu, Lightsaber Combat and Modern...
Xing Xi pracctices ar the Zen Kung Fu Center in Beijing. Source: Reuters. An Eternal Debate Some of the most persistent, and for students of Martial Arts Studies most significant, issues revolve...
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Chinese Martial Arts in the News: May 21st, 2018: Kung Fu, Travel and a...
Introduction Welcome to “Chinese Martial Arts in the News!” Lots has been happening in the Chinese martial arts community, so its time to see what people have been saying. For new readers, this...
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Lightsaber Combat and the Value of Myth in the Martial Arts
Chad Eisner (left) sparring with one of his students. Solo, the latest addition to the Star Wars franchise, opens around the country tonight. As such, it is only fitting that I share with readers of...
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Judo and the Chinese Martial Arts: the View from 1928
Judo at Ina Middle School. Vintage postcard circa late 1930s. Source: Author’s personal collection. Staging a Global Controversy Origin stories are very often political. People everywhere...
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Report: A Martial Arts Studies BBQ and the Power of Local Networks
Chad Eisner (left), Benjamin Judkins and Daniel Mroz in Syracuse the day before the Martial Arts Studies BBQ. Photo by Tara Judkins. On May 27th just under 20 people gathered in Myers Park over the...
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Translating the Sicilian Knife
Sifu John Crescione (Left) who led the seminar and Sifu Anthony Iglesias (Right) who hosted it. Source: SMAA. “If translation is a form of betrayal, then the translator pays their debt by bringing fame...
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Berlin 1936: Chinese Martial Arts on a Global Stage
Ju Ming Tai Chi sculpture in Jinshan, Taipei. Source: by Allen Timothy Chang at Wikimedia. China Picks 2 Women Boxers For Olympics — Four Men Also Chosen to Give Display of Old Chinese Art — Six...
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Through a Lens Darkly (53): Traditional Weapons in China’s 20th Century...
Member of the Min Ping militia in Yan’an with sword. Photo by Harrison Forman, 1944. Source: University of Wisconsin Milwaukee, AGSL Digital Photo Archive. This is probably my favorite image by Forman...
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Lives of Chinese Martial Artists (22): Wang Ziping and the Strength of the...
Wang Ziping. Source:http://www.helenwutaichistudio.com/?page_id=193 Telling a Tale Brief biographical sketches of Chinese martial artists are some of my favorite posts to write. I am not sure...
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Chinese Martial Arts in the News: June 18, 2018: MMA, Taijiquan and Bruce Lee
A student performs at a demonstration near Mt. Song. Source:http://www.dailymail.co.uk/ Introduction Welcome to “Chinese Martial Arts in the News!” Lots has been happening in the Chinese martial...
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Addiction, Wellness and Martial Arts
photo credit: Helen Cho Winning and Losing In the movies martial artists win their battles. Early losses, inserted into a script for the purposes of “character development,” are redeemed in a...
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Jingwu and the Creation of the “Kung Fu” Brand
Three of the earliest English language books on Kung Fu by Chinese authors published in North America. Rethinking the Conventional Wisdom Our daily conversations are made up of innumerable facts...
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Labor Unions, the Growth of Kung Fu and the Survival of Wing Chun
Ip Man and an early group of students in the 1950s. National boxing is very popular in Fatshan city. It is reported that there are some eight national boxing schools which are directed by well-known...
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Martial Arts Training in the Summer Heat
The Kendo Teacher. 1941. Wada Sanzo. From the series Japanese Vocations in Pictures. Feeling the Heat Here is a fun fact to consider. The modern mechanical air conditioner was invented by Willis...
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Thinking About Kung Fu Families
Interior Architectural Detail of a “tulou,” or traditional Hakka walled village. Veronika Partikova and George Jennings. 2018. “The Kung Fu Family: A metaphor of belonging across time and...
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Matthew Polly on Bruce Lee and The Art of Writing a Life
Matthew Polly. 2018. Bruce Lee: A Life. New York: Simon and Schuster. 656 pages. $35 USD. Introduction Matthew Polly is perhaps the best known and most popular author writing on the martial arts...
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Research Notes: Martial Arts and a History of Desire
School boys at play. Stereoscopic card, circa 1905. Source: Author’s Personal Collection. A History of Desire When thinking about the diffusion of the Asian fighting arts to the West, we must...
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Chinese Martial Arts in the News: July 16 2018: Ip Man, Bruce Lee and the...
An instructor gives a demonstration to children visiting the museum in Wenzhou, in east China’s Zhejiang Province. They had come to learn about the martial arts. Source: Xinhuanet.com Introduction...
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Conference Report: Bruce Lee’s Cultural Legacies
Bruce Lee Graffiti. Source: Wikimedia. ***Luke White has generously offered Kung Fu Tea the following report on this year’s fourth annual Martial Arts Studies Conference at Cardiff University. Sadly...
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Martial Arts Studies 6: New Research on Japanese Martial Arts
Kendo club at a Japanese Agricultural School during the 1920s. Note the rifles along the back wall. Source: wikimedia. Paul Bowman and I are happy to announce that the sixth issue of Martial Arts...
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