Influence at Home and Abroad: Martial Arts at China’s Central Army Officer...
The Center and the Periphery What is this “a case of?” That is the basic empirical question that underlays countless discussions in the social sciences. It is difficult to know what something...
View ArticleLives of Chinese Martial Artists (11): Mok Kwai Lan – The Mistress of Hung Gar.
***In honor of the recent celebration of Mother's Day. Enjoy!*** Introduction This post is the third entry in our series examining the lives of female Chinese martial artists. While it is the...
View ArticleExplaining “Openness” and “Closure” in Kung Fu, Lightsaber Combat and Modern...
An Eternal Debate Some of the most persistent, and for students of Martial Arts Studies most significant, issues revolve around the choices individuals are forced to make. I was introduced to Wing...
View ArticleChinese 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...
View ArticleLightsaber Combat and the Value of Myth in the Martial Arts
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 Kung Fu Tea my latest article, co-authored with Chad...
View ArticleJudo and the Chinese Martial Arts: the View from 1928
Staging a Global Controversy Origin stories are very often political. People everywhere intuitively understand this. If you can pinpoint (or simply construct) the moment of something’s creation you...
View ArticleReport: A Martial Arts Studies BBQ and the Power of Local Networks
On May 27th just under 20 people gathered in Myers Park over the course of an afternoon to celebrate the arrival of summer with fellow students of martial arts studies and martial arts enthusiasts....
View ArticleBerlin 1936: Chinese Martial Arts on a Global Stage
China Picks 2 Women Boxers For Olympics — Four Men Also Chosen to Give Display of Old Chinese Art — Six candidates for the Chinese boxing [sic] for the World Olympiad at Berlin in August were...
View ArticleThrough a Lens Darkly (53): Traditional Weapons in China’s 20th Century...
They say a picture is worth a thousand words. If true this will be a weighty essay. Yet that was always the thing about Harrison Forman, the renowned photo-journalist, writer and explorer. As a...
View ArticleLives of Chinese Martial Artists (22): Wang Ziping and the Strength of the...
Telling a Tale Brief biographical sketches of Chinese martial artists are some of my favorite posts to write. I am not sure why, but I find the challenge of reconstructing a very different type...
View ArticleChinese Martial Arts in the News: June 18, 2018: MMA, Taijiquan and Bruce Lee
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...
View ArticleAddiction, Wellness and Martial Arts
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 climatic final scene. Those...
View ArticleJingwu and the Creation of the “Kung Fu” Brand
Rethinking the Conventional Wisdom Our daily conversations are made up of innumerable facts drawn from what might be termed, “the conventional wisdom.” The contents of this warehouse of social...
View ArticleLabor Unions, the Growth of Kung Fu and the Survival of Wing Chun
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 national boxers. School fees are only from two to...
View ArticleMartial Arts Training in the Summer Heat
Feeling the Heat Here is a fun fact to consider. The modern mechanical air conditioner was invented by Willis Carrier (a Cornell graduate I might add), not in Arizona or Florida, but in western...
View ArticleThinking About Kung Fu Families
Veronika Partikova and George Jennings. 2018. “The Kung Fu Family: A metaphor of belonging across time and place,”Revista de Artes Marciales Asiáticas.Volume 13(1), 35-52. A Success Story The latest...
View ArticleMatthew 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...
View ArticleResearch Notes: Martial Arts and a History of Desire
A History of Desire When thinking about the diffusion of the Asian fighting arts to the West, we must distinguish between the history of the martial arts as they were practiced, and their...
View ArticleChinese Martial Arts in the News: July 16 2018: Ip Man, Bruce Lee and the...
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 is a...
View ArticleConference Report: Bruce Lee’s Cultural Legacies
***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 I was not able to attend, but reading...
View Article