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An Overview of Ma Shi Tong Bei Training
Ma Yue. ***Greetings. I am currently traveling for a duanbing (“short weapon,” e.g., Chinese competitive fencing) workshop with Ma Yue Shifu in Michigan. As such I thought it might be appropriate...
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Research Notes: A Japanese Martial Arts Demonstration
It will come as no surprise to regular readers that I am a fan of late 19th and early 20th century martial arts ephemera. Postcards, being visual, cheap and easily mailed around the globe, were one...
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Debating Rules and Standards in the Martial Arts
Kendo tournament. Source: https://weblog.tozando.com/strong-kendo-nations/ Why do the rules matter? Recently I was invited to help organize a local martial arts gathering and tournament. I have...
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Three Thoughts on Hong Kong, Social Dislocation and the Fog of War
protesters enveloped in tear gas in Hong Kong. Source: ABC News. “Prediction is very difficult, especially about the future.” Niels Bohr (among others). With Trepidation I would like to outline...
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Chinese Martial Arts in the News: August 19, 2019: Hong Kong, Bruce Lee and...
Introduction Its been a long hot month with lots of Chinese martial arts news. That means that now (before the start of the new semester) is the perfect time to get caught up on recent events! For...
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Rules of Appropriateness, in Martial Arts and Politics
An images from “The Origins of Macau Wing Chun.” Fragmentation and Unification Recently I had a chance to catch up with one of my old Kung Fu training brothers. We had a great time training at the...
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The Good, Bad and Ugly in Martial Arts and Combat Sports
This post started life as a book review, but as I thought about what I actually wanted to say it quickly became a different sort of essay. It was inspired by Janet O’Shea’s 2019 Oxford UP Press,...
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Doing Research (11): Apprenticeship as Method in Martial Arts Studies
Welcome to the eleventh entry in our ongling series of posts titled “Doing Research.” If you missed the first essay by D. S. Farrer (which provides a global overview of the subject), the second by...
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Through a Lens Darkly (61): The Shifting Social and Economic Value of...
Vintage postcard (1907-1914) showing a collection of Chinese and other weapons, musical instruments, pipes and other artifacts. One of the most notable trends over the last decade has been the...
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Brian Kennedy and the Development of Chinese Martial Studies
The Chinese martial studies community suffered a great loss with the recent passing of Brian Kennedy (1958-2019) at the age of 61. Any such event is a tragedy, and this was all the more unexpected...
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Who “Owns” Kung Fu? Intangible Cultural Heritage, Globalization and the...
The Pagoda Forest at the Shaolin Temple in Henan Province. Source: cnn.com ***In the last week I have found myself delving ever deeper into the literature on Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH)...
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Chinese Martial Arts in the News: September 23, 2019: Zhang Weili, Global...
Two athletes at a Wushu exhibition in Bucharest. Source:http://www.chinadaily.com.cn Introduction It’s the end of summer, autumn is in the air, and now is the perfect time to get caught up on recent...
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Conference Report: Fighting Bodies and Knowledge at Trier University
***The following is a guest post by Paul Bowman who recently had the good fortune to attend a fascinating set of meetings at Trier University organized by Dr. Eric Burkart and Dr. Eva Bishoff. From...
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The History and Global Transmission of Wing Chun (In Less than Five Thousand...
Ip Man not only brought Wing Chun to Hong Kong, he also passed on a rich body of lore and legend surrounding his art. I was recently invited to contribute an article to a forthcoming volume on the...
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Kung Fu Documentaries and Their Discontents
The production of reality based content for social media. Source: South China Morning Post. Given that many of the readers of Kung Fu Tea come to this blog to read about the history or development of...
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Martial Arts as Politics: The Act of Seeing
Women practicing martial arts in India. Source: Mirror. Look at Me! I took a break from the kicking drill just as an insistent, irritated, voice rang out. “Coach, look at me! Look at me! LOOK AT...
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Lives of Chinese Martial Artists (4): Sun Lutang and the Invention of the...
Self portrait of Sun Lutang, demonstrating Xingyi Quan for one of his five books. I am currently working on a paper that has me thinking about Sun Lutang again. To my mind he has always been one of...
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Through a Lens Darkly (62): Chan Bing’s Choy Li Fut Students, 1967
Chan Bing’s students performing a Lion Dance in Seattle in 1967. Source: Vintage newspaper Photograph, author’s personal collection. Unfolding a Story When the opportunity presents itself I try to...
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Chinese Martial Arts in the News: October 28th, 2019: Bruce Lee, Taijiquan...
A group of mostly homeless individuals practicing Taijiquan besides the Salt Lake City Public Library. Source: NY Post. It has been too long since our last news update. Halloween is just around the...
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Rediscovering China’s Flails
A wonderfully preserved example of a Qing era Chinese flail. Source: From the collection of Peter Dekker. see:https://www.mandarinmansion.com/item/chinese-war-flail Reclaiming Bruce When is a...
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