The Research Expedition: What is the Value of Short Duration Study?
A New Hoplology Over the last few weeks I have been thinking quite a bit about what hoplology was and what it might yet become. What were the advances and shortcoming of this field’s previous...
View ArticleGive Me Those Old Time Kung Fu Villains
Introduction Antagonists seem to be the critical ingredient that make the martial arts possible. Yet to understand why that is the case we need to start by unpacking a few things. An immense range...
View ArticleResearch Note: A Visit with the Jingwu Association in 1928
At the moment I am working on a guest editorial project examining Afro-Caribbean and New World martial arts. It will pose a number of interesting questions and I hope to discuss some of these...
View ArticleHawkins Cheung and the Making of Modern Wing Chun History
Regrets As many readers will already know, Master Hawkins Cheung Hok Jin passed away on Sunday February 3rd 2019, in Los Angeles. Within the martial arts community regrets take many forms. One of...
View ArticleViolence and Peace: Reconsidering the Goals of Martial Arts
What is my motivation? Connecting the dots between an individual’s intentions, their actions and subsequent systemic outcomes is more difficult than one might suspect. Just ask any social scientist....
View ArticleChinese Martial Arts in the News: February 16th, 2019: All the World’s a Stage
Introduction I hope that everyone enjoyed their Lunar New Year. Its always a time of many public exhibitions and celebrations. They, in turn, generate an uptick in news coverage of local martial...
View ArticleParadoxes of Success in Lightsaber Combat
Lightsabers Go Legit What follows is a meditation on recent events. It is not every day that you sit down, open your phone, and find Trevor Noah performing a Daily Show bit about people you know....
View ArticleFrom the Journal: Psychological Collectivism in Traditional Martial Arts
Greetings! I am currently traveling for some fieldwork on duanbing (short weapons training). As someone who spends a lot of time researching the Republic era Chinese martial arts, I am excited to...
View ArticleMeeting Ma Yue and the Limits of Description
An Unexpected Invitation A friend recently extended an invitation that I couldn’t refuse. A couple of weeks ago Chad Eisner (who some of you may remember from my various lightsaber projects) got in...
View ArticleNonviolence and Martial Arts Studies
***One of my goals in creating Kung Fu Tea was to inspire more enthusiasm for (and participation in) the scholarly discussion of martial arts. As such, I am happy to share a reader's lengthy...
View ArticleJudo in Taiwan, 1895-1945: The Dark Side of Martial Arts Politics
Dong Jhy and J. A. Mangan. 2018. “Japanese Cultural Imperialism in Taiwan: Judo as an Instrument of Colonial Conditioning.” in Mangan, Horton, Ren and Ok (eds.) Japanese Imperialism: Politics and...
View Article“Old Sports” in New China – Reporting the 1953 National Exhibition and...
The Source As part of my ongoing research on the role of the traditional martial arts within the creation of China’s public diplomacy strategy, I am reviewing several propaganda sources produced...
View ArticleThe New Hoplology: Stick, Machete and Whip Fighting in the Caribbean
Introduction Masters magazine has just released a free special issue that I think will be of great interest to the readers of Kung Fu Tea. Late last year Prof. T.J. Desch-Obi and Dr. Michael J....
View ArticleMartial Arts and Politics: Silat in Defense of Religion and the Malay Nation
Lawrence N. Ross. 2017. “Demi Agama, Bangsa dan Negara: Silat Martial Arts and the ‘Third Line’ in Defense of Religion, Race and the Malaysian State.” In Sophie Lemiere (eds.) Illusions of Democracy:...
View ArticleResearch Note: Kung Fu Diplomacy During the Cultural Revolution
The History of Practice vs. The History of an Idea This post continues an occasional series looking at the ways in which the traditional Chinese martial arts were discussed in the PRC’s propaganda...
View ArticleSubcultures and Neo-Tribes: Contesting the Meaning of Martial Arts
Introduction While most of my own writing focuses on the Chinese martial arts, I tend to read rather widely. In part this is simply a reflection of my interests, and perhaps some sort of escapist...
View ArticleThrough a Lens Darkly (58): Contesting Wushu
Introduction I recently noted that it is necessary to begin historical discussions by specifying whether we are examining events (or practices) as they actually happened, or the evolution of ideas...
View ArticleWhen Did Wing Chun Become “Intangible Cultural Heritage”?
Social media is rarely surprising. Its popularity derives from administering small doses of reassuring comfort, most of which suggests that the world is just as we had always imagined it. There...
View ArticleResearch Note: Organizing the Women’s Section of the Jingwu Association, 1920.
An Unexpected Find It is basically a truism to say that the Western public didn’t know very much about the Chinese martial arts in the 1920s. More interesting is the question of why. Given the global...
View ArticleRevisiting Alfred Lister: A Forgotten Observer of the Southern Chinese...
***We have now come to the point in the semester that I call "deadline season." As such, we will be dipping into the archives over the next few weeks to give me some additional time to work on......
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