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Collecting Chinese Swords and other Weapons in late 19th Century Xiamen (Amoy)
A tourist posing with Japanese weapons, circa 1890. Bedloe notes that this was the “golden age” of oriental arms collecting as the markets were glutted with high quality pieces. Photographer unknown....
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Yim Wing Chun and Gender: the Stories of Ip Man and Yuen Woo Ping in a...
Chinese postcard showing a young girl studying a sword routine as her teacher looks on. Why Talk About Gender in the Chinese Martial Arts? In my years of teaching I have noticed that any discussion of...
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An Updated and Revised Social History of the Hudiedao (Butterfly Swords)
Antique hudiedao or “butterfly swords.” These weapons are commonly seen in a number of styles of southern Kung Fu including Choy Li Fut, Hung Gar and Wing Chun. Source: Author’s personal collection....
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Ritual, Tradition and Memory in Singapore’s Chinese Martial Arts Community
Raffle’s Place. An imposing view of the modern Singapore skyline. Source: Wikimedia. Introduction: Chinese Martial Studies, Embodied Knowledge and Identity. In 2011 SUNY (State University of New...
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Lau Bun-A Kung Fu Pioneer in America
Lau Bun demonstrating a form in the late 1960s. Source: http://plumblossom.net/ChoyLiFut/laubun.html Choy Li Fut’s place in southern Chinese martial culture. Let me ask you a question. What was the...
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Through a Lens Darkly (7): Selling Swords and Printed Martial Arts Training...
***Recently I was having a discussion about the state of Kung Fu in China with a friend. (You can see his detailed post on the topic here). He was lamenting the general decline of interest in the...
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The Boxer Rebellion and the First Martial Arts Films
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 Boxer...
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Qilin Dancing During the Lunar New Year and Southern Chinese Martial Culture.
A towering Qilin prepares to ritually enter a Chinese restaurant, bringing good luck in its wake. Birmingham’s Chinatown, Lunar New Year, 2012. Source: Chinatownology (see bellow for a link to the...
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What Can the Opera Rebellion Teach us about the Social Toleration of Violence...
Antique Bronze Cash. SourceL Wikimedia. The Logic of Violence and its Relationship with the State My academic background and doctorate is in political science where I specialize in a sub-field called...
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Bruce Lee, Globalization and the Case of Wing Chun: Why do Some Chinese...
“Enter the Dragon” Vintage Movie Poster, 1973. Introduction: Wing Chun and the Haters You do not have to be involved with the Chinese martial arts for very long to discover that Wing Chun has the...
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Old or New? The Miaodao and Invention in Chinese Martial Arts
Searching for the Miaodao What exactly do historians mean when they assert that the Chinese martial arts being practiced throughout the world today are, for the most part, a relatively recent...
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David Palmer on writing better martial arts history and understanding the...
Qigong Fever. by David Palmer. Columbia University Press, 2007. Catching Qigong Fever. I have read my fair share of books on religion in late imperial and modern China. Unfortunately I had been...
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Tools of the Trade: The Use of Firearms and Traditional Weapons among the...
Chinese Highbinder weapons collected by H. H. North, U. S. Commission of Immigration, forwarded to Bureau of Immigration, Washington D. C., about 1900. Note the coexistence of hudiedao (butterfly...
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The Value of a Comparative Case: Jean-Marc de Grave discusses “The Training...
A fine kris. Source: Wikimedia. Introduction: A drift on the sea of knowledge. Let me ask you a question. Do you ever feel like you have too much to read, study or research? Are you familiar with...
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Through a Lens Darkly (9): Swords, Knives and other Traditional Weapons...
An “entry team” of officers in the Shanghai Foreign Concession, trained and led by a British officer. The police needed serious training and firepower to stand up to the strong criminal gangs that...
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Lives of Chinese Martial Artists (6): Ng Chung So – Looking Beyond the “Three...
Gates of the Foshan Ancestral Temple. Photo Credit: Whitney Clayton. Source: Authors Personal Collection. Note: this article originally appeared as a guest post at “Wing Chun Geeks.” Ng Chung So:...
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Imagining the Chinese Martial Arts without Bruce Lee: Sophia Delza, an...
Sophia Delza performing a spanish dance, sometime in the 1920s. Introduction: Different Visions of the Chinese Martial Arts Assume that we find ourselves in a very specific, recognizable alternate...
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Mythology of the Kukri: Sign and Symbol
A procession of men carrying kukris and other blades to be used in the ritual slaughter of hundreds of animals to the Goddess Gadhimai. Source: IKRHS (hat tip to Spiral), 2009. Introduction: The...
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Sugong: Nick Hurst Explores South East Asia’s Shaolin Kung Fu Tradition.
Nick Hust. Sugong: The Life of a Shaolin Grandmaster. Sports Books. 2012. pp. 291. Introduction: Summer Reading for Chinese Martial Artists It is that time of year again. It is the season when...
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Through a Lens Darkly (11): Japanese Martial Artists in China.
Vintage Japanese Postcard. Circa 1920. Introduction: Addressing a Difficult Subject No topic is more difficult to approach than the varied roles that traditional Asian fighting systems have played in...
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