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Martial Arts Studies 2016 Conference Report – Performance, Motivations and...
A view of downtown Cardiff from the top of the Norman Keep. Photo by Benjamin Judkins. Introduction Earlier this week I returned from a brief trip to Canada and the United Kingdom. During this...
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Chinese Martial Arts in the News: August 1, 2016: Bruce Lee, Books and...
A replica of a Ming era Dandao. 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...
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Lightsaber Combat and Wing Chun: The Search for Meaning in the Modern Martial...
The title slide of my keynote address at the July 2016 Martial Arts Studies Conference. ***What follows is the text of my recent keynote address given at the 2016 Martial Arts Studies Conference. I...
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Lives of Chinese Martial Artists (18): Xiang Kairan – Imagining the...
Woodblock print of Chinese warrior holding a sword. “When the Nanjing Martial Arts Institute was opened, I was in Hankou [in eastern Hubei], where I noticed in a newspaper that they were dividing...
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Alex Gillis Talks about Tae Kwon Do, Controversy and Researching Martial Arts...
A Killing Art. PHOTO COURTESY OF ECW PRESS Introduction One of the first books that I reviewed on this blog was A Killing Art: The Untold History of Tae Kwon Do by Alex Gillis. To this day it...
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Research Notes: Xiang Kairan on China’s Republic Era Martial Arts Marketplace
Introduction In a recent post we explored the life and career of Xiang Kairan (1890-1957), a seminal figure in the creation of the modern, media driven image, of the traditional Chinese martial...
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Through a Lens Darkly (39): The Strength of Chinese Boxers
Vintage photography, circa 1860-1900. Photographer unknown. Introduction Some of the most popular posts at Kung Fu Tea have examined vintage images of traditional martial artists. These are also...
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Chinese Martial Arts in the News: August 22, 2016: Wing Chun, Nunchuks and...
Nima King, in his Hong Kong Wing Chun school. Source: South China Morning Post Introduction Welcome to “Chinese Martial Arts in the News.” This is a semi-regular feature here at Kung Fu Tea in...
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Doing Research (8): Taking Seriously the Mundane, or How I Learned that a...
Prof. Kyle Green competing in a grappling tournament. Source: Kyle Green. Introduction Welcome to the eighth entry in our series of guest posts titled “Doing Research.” If you missed the first...
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“Now With Kung Fu Grip”: Jared Miracle and the Reinvention of the Martial...
Now With Kung Fu Grip! How Bodybuilders, Soldiers and a Hairdresser Reinvented Martial Arts for America. By Jared Miracle. McFarland & Company (March 31, 2016) Jared Miracle. 2016. Now with...
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James Yimm Lee and T. Y. Wong: A Rivalry that Shaped the Chinese Martial Arts...
“The Sturdy Citizen” – TY Wong performing Shaolin animal forms within his Kin Mon Physical Culture Studio in San Francisco’s Chinatown. TY was a local tong enforcer who had taught kung fu in San...
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The Bubishi: Innovation, Tradition and the Southern Chinese Martial Arts
In honor of the upcoming National Bonsai Show (held in Rochester NY on September 10-11) I decided to re-post some pictures from my old Bonsai teacher’s blog. If you are anywhere in the area you won’t...
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Multimedia Wing Chun: Learning and Practice in the Age of YouTube
By George Jennings (Cardiff Metropolitan University, UK) and Anu Vaittinen (Newcastle University, UK) Reference to conference presentation: Jennings, G. & Vaittinen, A. (2016). Mediated...
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A Puzzle, a Big Announcement and an Introduction to Kung Fu Diplomacy
A late Qing military official and his personal guards. Norther China. Source: Vintage Russian Postcard, Personal Collection. Wushu Comes to America Today’s post has two goals. The more...
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How (not) to categorise martial arts: A discussion and example from gender...
Taijiquan practitioners by M. Louis. Source: Wikimedia. ***Over the last couple of years a discussion has emerged within the literature on how scholars should define and classify the martial arts,...
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Chinese Martial Arts in the News: September 19th, 2016: Expats in Shanghai,...
Xing Xi practices at the Zen Kung Fu Center in Beijing. Source: Reuters. Introduction Welcome to “Chinese Martial Arts in the News.” This is a semi-regular feature here at Kung Fu Tea in which...
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Theory and the Growth of Knowledge – Or Why You Probably Can’t Learn Kung Fu...
Becoming Ip Man, in all the Wrong Ways On a Saturday morning in 2011 I found myself running an “open session” for my Sifu’s Wing Chun school. The weekday classes were always structured affairs in...
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Through a Lens Darkly (40): Butterfly Swords and Tong Wars in North America
Weapons seized by the NYPD and photographed for a 1922 report on violence in Chinatown. Source: NYPD Public Records/Vice.com. The Yin and the Yang of the Hudiedao Earlier this year I had the...
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Research Notes: Han Xing Qiao Opens the “Internal Arts” to the West, 1934
Jiang’an Temple in Shanghai, late 19th century. Note that by 1934 the area around this structure was substantially more developed. Source: http://www.virtualshanghai.net Introduction On...
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Culture, Experience and Understanding – Or, Who Can Master “Authentic” Aikido?
Photo by Marcello Sidoti. Source: Wikimedia. Can a westerner truly master Akido (or Taijiquan, Wing Chun, etc…..)? I once again find myself noting that I should not be writing this post. The...
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