Rediscovering China’s Flails
Reclaiming Bruce When is a nunchuck, perhaps the most iconic weapon to emerge from Okinawan karate, not a nunchuck? When it is being held by Bruce Lee. At least that is what the discussion in my...
View ArticleSometimes a Cigar is Just a Lightsaber: Fetishism and Material Culture in...
“The lightsaber has become an important touchstone, both within the films and within our culture…They serve as a source of identification and identity. They are the ultimate commodity: a nonexistent...
View ArticleAre the Chinese Martial Arts Fake?
Given that this essay is being hosted on a blog mostly read by practitioners of the TCMA, I doubt that the question posed by the title will generate a great deal of enthusiasm. I suspect that most...
View ArticleChinese Martial Arts, Religion and Spirituality: A Guide for the Perplexed
Can the confused lead others to clarity? Perhaps the title of this essay risks overselling the contents as I can think of no subject within the field more demanding of nuance, yet less likely to...
View ArticleSpirituality in the Traditional Martial Arts – Between History and Theory
“There is a problem with the study of martial arts similar to that identified by Markus Davidson in the case of “spiritual studies”: many of the scholars involved in the topic are themselves...
View ArticleThe Immigrant Experience: Asian Martial Arts in the United States and Canada,...
***Happy Thanksgiving! This is a day when we commemorate the initial act of European immigration to North America. From that point onward the flow of people and ideas across our borders has never...
View ArticleResearch Note: When Martial Arts Divided Us
Introduction It seems to be taken as an article of faith in much of the popular writing on the martial arts that these hand combat systems provide not only an avenue for self-actualization, but also...
View ArticleThe Transformation of Chinese Martial Arts During the Song Dynasty
Introduction I have always wondered about the Song period (960-1279) and its connection to the modern Chinese martial arts (let’s say 1850 to the present). One could be forgiven for placing the...
View ArticleThrough a Lens Darkly (47): The Sword Shops of Beijing’s Bow and Arrow Street
***I am currently preparing for a demonstration and tournament which I will be hosting on Friday. As such, we are turning to the archives for today's post. This essay offers readers a unique look at...
View ArticleFailed Transformations: Peloton, Master Ken and Traditional Martial Arts
Fitness and Agency Rose clippers are a key symbol within Judkins family folklore. When I was about ten my mother bought my father, who does not garden, a set of rose clippers. These have lived,...
View ArticleStar Wars: An American Martial Arts Film Franchise?
***Like many of you I am spending the evening watching the latest installment in the Star Wars franchise (and therefore not blogging). So it seems only fitting to dip into the archives and take...
View ArticleBrazilian Jiu-Jitsu and the Anti-Witch: Martial Arts as Therapy
D. S. Farrer. 2019. “Brazilian jiu-jitsu is therapy: Shifting subjectivities on Guam.” ETNOGRAFIA E RICERCA QUALITATIVA (ERQ). No. 3. 407-428. Introduction Donn F. Draeger’s made no secret of his...
View ArticleTrends and Stories that Shaped Chinese Martial Arts in the 2010s, Part I
A Time for Lists Holidays are the rhythm section of life. They provide the beat that gently nudges us towards the next phase of the yearly cycle. While holidays like Christmas, Hanukah and Yule...
View ArticleThe Top Five Stories that Defined a Decade in the Chinese Martial Arts
Introduction 2020 is now a few days old, and that means that it’s time to reveal our top picks for the news stories, people and trends that shaped the popular discussion of the Chinese martial arts...
View ArticleResearch Notes: The Katana Invades America
Why is the Katana more popular than the Jian A good friend recently sent me a link for a YouTube video asking why Chinese swords are not as well known in Western popular culture as their Japanese...
View ArticleAnother Look at Ritual, Theater and Combat in the Chinese Martial Arts
“If it is necessary to debunk the Bodhidharma myth since it is historically false, we must also be wary of the modern materialist impulse to tear aside the veil of myth to uncover the real martial...
View ArticleThrough a Lens Darkly (63): Romance of the Single-Stick
An Eternal Passion As a martial artists that I work with likes to tell his students, "Hitting someone with a stick is not difficult. Noting getting hit with a stick is...a lot of fun." The history of...
View ArticleHistory of East Asian Martial Arts: Week 1 – Invented Traditions
A New Semester, A New Course Welcome to the first week of "History of East Asian Martial Arts" (History 2960)! As some of you may know, I am a Visiting Scholar at Cornell. One of my colleagues,...
View ArticleRemembering Ip Ching (1936-2020)
Many of Kung Fu Tea’s readers are Wing Chun students and I am sure that most of you have already heard about Ip Ching’s passing on the 25th of January. Ip Man’s second son was well known in Wing......
View ArticleHistory of East Asian Martial Arts: Week 2 – Violence
Introduction Welcome to the second week of History of East Asian Martial Arts (HIST 2960). This is a course taught by Prof. T. J. Hinrichs here at Cornell University that I am auditing in my...
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