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A Year in the Chinese Martial Arts: The Stories and Events that Shaped 2015
Happy New Year! New Years is a good time to sit back and reflect on recent accomplishments and events. 2015 has been a huge year for the field of martial arts studies. Things had been picking up...
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Kung Fu Tea Selects the Top Chinese Martial Arts Webpage of 2015
A Guoshu school located in Tianjin, 1927. Source: The Taiping Institute. Introduction Welcome to our fourth annual discussion of the top webpages in Chinese martial studies. The purpose of this...
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Letting ‘Real’ Kung Fu Die: Paradoxes of the Traditional Chinese Martial Arts...
Cityscape by Jay Musler (1981). Blown, cut, Sandblasted and painted glass. Corning Museum of Class. Picture by Benjamin Judkins. …When I asked why he was not more active teaching himself, he answered...
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Research Notes: Foreign Attitudes towards Kung Fu in Colonial Hong Kong
A Vintage Postcard showing a Shanghai Sword Juggler. Source: Author’s Personal Collection. The TCMA as a Perpetual Revival Movement Kung Fu has an odd relationship with the past. It seems that for...
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A Quick Announcement and the Unexpected Role of Secrecy in the Success of the...
A pair of Japanese Komuso or “Monks of Emptiness.” Original Source: Unknown. Introduction I am currently in the middle of writing a short introduction that I was asked to contribute to a forthcoming...
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Chinese Martial Arts in the News: January 24th, 2016: Ip Man 3, An Exhibit of...
A Pallet of Wooden Dummies for sale at a Costco store in Japan. Source: goodall factory on Instagram. Introduction Welcome to “Chinese Martial Arts in the News.” This is a semi-regular feature...
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The Exotic, Feminine and Dangerous: How the “Yellow Peril” Set the Stage for...
Vintage Postcard. Yukio Tani demonstrating a flying armbar on William Bankier c.1906. Source: Wikimedia. Introduction The term “Yellow Peril” is something that I do not often see in the martial...
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Martial Values, Social Transformation and the Tu Village Dragon Dance
Feb. 1, 1963: Dragon, manipulated by 40 men, takes part in Chinese New Year parade for the Year of the Rabbit in New Chinatown. Introduction The Spring Festival (or “Chinese New Year”) is now upon...
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Through a Lens Darkly (36): Swords, Lions and the Consumption of Chinese Culture
Lee Fung, “Director of Chinese Lion Dance.” January 23rd, 1941. Source: Vintage newspaper photo. Author’s personal collection. Introduction Happy Lunar New Year! In honor of the holiday I decided to...
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Conference Report: Gender, Martial Arts, Youth Violence and Social...
Muay Thai Kickboxing match. Source: Wikimedia. Conference Report: Martial Arts Studies – Gender Issues in Theory and Practice Brighton University (UK), 5th February 2016 Introduction On February...
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Chinese Martial Arts in the News: February 15th, 2015: The Business of Kung...
Source: https://sports.vice.com 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...
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Doing Research (2): Choosing a School – Affinity, Danger and Compliance by...
Master Chen Zhonghua and Daniel Mroz playing Tui Shou, Daqingshan, Shandong, China, 2007. Photo by Scot Jorgensen. Introduction Welcome to the second entry in our series of guest posts titled “Doing...
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Doing Research (3): It’s My Way or the Wu Wei – A Note of Advice for Novice...
Introduction Welcome to the third 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), or...
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Through a Lens Darkly (37): Demonstrating the Heroic Spear, Saber and Double...
A photograph (probably 1930s) showing a marketplace martial arts demonstration. Note the Shuang Gau led by the man on the left. Source: The personal collection of Benjamin Judkins Introduction...
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Doing Research (4): I’m Only in It for the Stories
Earl White, chief instructor,Ijo Ija Academy (left), and author (right),Capoeira Batuque, Los Angeles, CA, 2008. Source: http://abcclio.blogspot.com/2010/08/author-guest-post-thomas-green-on.html...
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What are “martial arts,” and why does knowing matter?
The Nine Dragon Wall in the Forbidden City, Beijing. Note that the full beauty of the wall can only be seen if one takes a step back and looks at it from multiple perspectives. Source: Wikimedia....
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Bodhidharma: Historical Fiction, Hyper-Real Religion and Shaolin Kung Fu
A now iconic image of Bodhidharma as imagined by the Japanese Woodblock Artist Yoshitoshi, 1887. Source: Wikimedia. ***For the Friday post we will be revisiting a classic (and very popular) article...
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Chinese Martial Arts in the News: March 14th 2016: Ip Man, Wing Chun 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 arts....
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Doing Research (5): Lies I Have Told About Martial Artists
Breaking ceramic action figure by Martin Klimas. Source: http://www.whudat.de/exploding-porcelain-action-figures-by-martin-klimas-7-pictures/ Introduction Welcome to the fifth entry in our series...
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Lives of Chinese Martial Artists (16): Yu Chenghui – Realizing Swordsmanship...
Yu Chenghui with one of his painting. While a martial artists he was also an accomplished poet and calligrapher. Source: chinadaily.com.cn Introduction: The Shadow of History None of the short,...
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