The Problem of Presentism in the Chinese “Martial Arts”
***Greetings. I am currently hard at work on a few different research projects. One of these involves quite a bit of thinking (and reading) about the process of "standard setting" in an...
View ArticleSalvage as Method in Martial Arts Studies
***What follows is the text of my keynote address delivered at the 2019 Exploring Imperial China Workshop held on June 5-6 at Tel Aviv University. I would like to thank both the Department of East...
View ArticleThrough a Lens Darkly (14): Archery Practice in Late Imperial China
***Kung Fu Tea is having a birthday! The blog has now been up and running for seven years. Its hard to believe how much it, and the Martial Arts Studies community, has grown in that time. As such...
View ArticleNew Issue of Martial Arts Studies: Bruce Lee’s Martial Legacies
We are thrilled to announce the release of the Summer 2019 issue of Martial Arts Studies (Number 8). This special issue has been guest edited by Kyle Barrowman and Paul Bowman. It collects in a...
View ArticleAn Overview of Ma Shi Tong Bei Training
***Greetings. I am currently traveling for a duanbing ("short weapon," e.g., Chinese competitive fencing) workshop with Ma Yue Shifu in Michigan. As such I thought it might be appropriate to...
View ArticleResearch Notes: A Japanese Martial Arts Demonstration
It will come as no surprise to regular readers that I am a fan of late 19th and early 20th century martial arts ephemera. Postcards, being visual, cheap and easily mailed around the globe, were one...
View ArticleDebating Rules and Standards in the Martial Arts
Why do the rules matter? Recently I was invited to help organize a local martial arts gathering and tournament. I have never done anything like this before (most of my organizational expertise is...
View ArticleThree Thoughts on Hong Kong, Social Dislocation and the Fog of War
“Prediction is very difficult, especially about the future.” Niels Bohr (among others). With Trepidation I would like to outline three quick points about the current situation in Hong Kong,...
View ArticleChinese Martial Arts in the News: August 19, 2019: Hong Kong, Bruce Lee and...
Introduction Its been a long hot month with lots of Chinese martial arts news. That means that now (before the start of the new semester) is the perfect time to get caught up on recent events! For...
View ArticleRules of Appropriateness, in Martial Arts and Politics
Fragmentation and Unification Recently I had a chance to catch up with one of my old Kung Fu training brothers. We had a great time training at the same Wing Chun studio. That was years ago. Then I...
View ArticleThe Good, Bad and Ugly in Martial Arts and Combat Sports
This post started life as a book review, but as I thought about what I actually wanted to say it quickly became a different sort of essay. It was inspired by Janet O’Shea’s 2019 Oxford UP Press,...
View ArticleDoing Research (11): Apprenticeship as Method in Martial Arts Studies
Welcome to the eleventh entry in our ongling series of posts titled “Doing Research.” If you missed the first essay by D. S. Farrer (which provides a global overview of the subject), the second by...
View ArticleBrian Kennedy and the Development of Chinese Martial Studies
The Chinese martial studies community suffered a great loss with the recent passing of Brian Kennedy (1958-2019) at the age of 61. Any such event is a tragedy, and this was all the more unexpected...
View ArticleWho “Owns” Kung Fu? Intangible Cultural Heritage, Globalization and the...
***In the last week I have found myself delving ever deeper into the literature on Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) designations and the traditional martial arts. When seeking to understand the...
View ArticleChinese Martial Arts in the News: September 23, 2019: Zhang Weili, Global...
Introduction It's the end of summer, autumn is in the air, and now is the perfect time to get caught up on recent events! For new readers, this is a semi-regular feature here at Kung Fu Tea in which...
View ArticleConference Report: Fighting Bodies and Knowledge at Trier University
***The following is a guest post by Paul Bowman who recently had the good fortune to attend a fascinating set of meetings at Trier University organized by Dr. Eric Burkart and Dr. Eva Bishoff. From...
View ArticleKung Fu Documentaries and Their Discontents
Given that many of the readers of Kung Fu Tea come to this blog to read about the history or development of traditional fighting systems, I am willing to bet that each and every one of us has...
View ArticleMartial Arts as Politics: The Act of Seeing
Look at Me! I took a break from the kicking drill just as an insistent, irritated, voice rang out. “Coach, look at me! Look at me! LOOK AT ME! Hey Coach. COACH! Look at me!” Of course it......
View ArticleThrough a Lens Darkly (62): Chan Bing’s Choy Li Fut Students, 1967
Unfolding a Story When the opportunity presents itself I try to collect vintage photographs, postcards, illustrations and other ephemera touching on the martial arts. As someone who writes and...
View ArticleChinese Martial Arts in the News: October 28th, 2019: Bruce Lee, Taijiquan...
It has been too long since our last news update. Halloween is just around the corner, and now is the perfect time to get caught up on recent events! For new readers, this is a semi-regular feature...
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