Traditional Chinese Medicine and the Martial Arts: Another Approach to...
***Greetings. Globalization has been a persistent theme here at Kung Fu Tea. It is a topic that occupied much of my thinking as a professor of political economy, and it continues to be a shaping force...
View ArticleFive Years and Twelve Months that Changed the Study of Martial Arts Forever
A BJJ match, 2009. Source: Wikimedia. Paul Bowman and I are happy to announce that the latest issue of Martial Arts Studies is just around the corner. It is in the final stages of production right...
View ArticleThrough a Lens Darkly (6): China Rediscovers the Shaolin Temple, Igniting a...
Accepting the“traditional” Chinese martial arts as a product of the modern world. If I were to conduct a pole and ask the average student of the Chinese martial arts when the “Golden Age” of Kung Fu...
View ArticleHow Yoda Helped to Invent Kung Fu: Star Wars and the Martial Arts in the...
***I was surprised to run across this post in the blog's archives for 2012 as I generally think of Star Wars and lightsabers as a research interest that developed years later. But apparently these...
View ArticleViews from the South – Martial Arts of Vietnam, Part I
Giáng long thôi sơn (“Descending dragon presses the mountain”)—Vietnamese martial artists training amidst Cham ruins in Bình Định of southcentral Vietnam. Source: ZingNews. ***Greetings! What...
View ArticleMartial Arts Studies: Issue 10 Release!
Paul Bowman and I are happy to announce that Issue 10 of Martial Arts Studies is now available. As always, this interdisciplinary peer reviewed journal is free to read or download by anyone with an...
View ArticleLessons from the South – Martial Arts of Vietnam, Part II
***What follows in the second installment in our short guest series considering the history and development of the Vietnamese martial arts. Enjoy**** Lessons from the South By Trần Khải Hoài In...
View ArticleThe Book Club: The Shaolin Monastery by Meir Shahar: Introduction and...
***Ah the book club! I had almost forgotten about these posts. They were a common feature of Kung Fu Tea's early days as I tried to give several of the "classics" a very close reading. Maybe it is...
View ArticleThe Book Club: The Shaolin Monastery by Meir Shahar, Chapters 3-4: Monastic...
Introduction Welcome back to the second installment of the Book Club. In this series of posts we will be taking a more detailed look at some of the most important works in the field of Chinese martial...
View ArticleThe Book Club: The Shaolin Monastery by Meir Shahar, Chapters 5-Conclusion:...
Introduction This is the third and final installment of our in-depth review of Meir Shahar’s groundbreaking work, the Shaolin Temple. Today we will be looking at the evolution of unarmed boxing in...
View ArticleA Social and Visual History of the Dadao: The Chinese “Military Big-Saber”
***Is there any topic more beloved by modern students of Chinese martial arts history than the dadao? I can't think of one. Enjoy!*** Rediscovering the Dadao: A Forgotten Legacy of the Chinese...
View ArticleIp Man and the Roots of Wing Chun’s “Multiple Attacker” Principle, Part 1
Law Enforcement and the Martial Arts in Republican China The intersection between law enforcement and the development of the modern Chinese martial arts is a fascinating topic that deserves a lot more...
View ArticleIp Man and the Roots of Wing Chun’s “Multiple Attacker” Principle, Part 2
Introduction and Review This is the second part of an extended article on Ip Man's career in law enforcement, and the subsequent emphasis on "ambush" and "multiple attacker" scenarios that later...
View ArticleForgetting about the Gun: Firearms and the Development of the Southern...
***Its my birthday! To celebrate we are taking a second look at an early photograph with one of my favorite pictures of a Japanese samurai. And essay that comes with it is decent as well. Enjoy!***...
View ArticleDr. Yang, Jwing-Ming on the Development of the TCMA in North America
Dr. Yang, Jwing-Ming. Source: from the personal collection of Dr. Yang, Jwing-Ming. Introduction Dr. Yang Jwing-Ming generously sat down with Kung Fu Tea for a lengthy and wide ranging discussion of...
View ArticleLives of Chinese Martial Artists (4): Sun Lutang and the Invention of the...
I am currently working on a paper that has me thinking about Sun Lutang again. To my mind he has always been one of the quintessential pioneers of the modern Chinese martial arts. So here is Part One...
View ArticleLives of Chinese Martial Artists (4): Sun Lutang–Secrecy, Reform and the...
Introduction: Sun Lutang at the Crossroads of Modernity In the first section of our special series on Sun Lutang we presented an outline of the life and career of a key figure in Chinese martial...
View ArticleLives of Chinese Martial Artists (4): Sun Lutang’s Unified Theory of the...
Sun Lutang and the Field of Chinese Martial Studies This post is the third and final installment of our three part review of the life and contributions of Sun Lutang. Sun was a master of Xingyi, Bagua...
View ArticleA Brief History of Nostalgia and the Future of the Martial Arts
That Special Time of Year It must be that time of year again. December is the season in which Disney unleashes a new Star Wars movie on an eager public, complete with a weaponized marketing...
View ArticleIp Man and the Prostitute: Female Sexuality as a Weapon in Traditional...
Introduction: Masculinity as a Core Value in the Traditional Southern Martial Arts. One of the few facts that everyone seems to “know” about Wing Chun is that the art was created by a female....
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