History of East Asian Martial Arts: Week 11 – Reinvention of Jujutsu (and the...
Introduction Welcome to week eleven of “History of East Asian Martial Arts.” This series follows the readings being used in Prof. TJ Hinrichs’ undergraduate course of the same name at Cornell...
View ArticleTechnique and Belief in Martial Arts Studies
Answering their Questions COVID-19 has badly disrupted our world. Both jobs and lives have been lost. Professional commitments have been put on hold and training schedules transformed. Yet the...
View ArticleReflections on Training Alone: Martial Arts in a Time of Pandemic
Introduction This is the fifth guest post in our short series examining the ways that the current health crisis has impacted those of us who sit at the intersection of martial arts practice,...
View ArticleRethinking the Martial Arts Community through COVID-19
Introduction This is the sixth guest post in our series examining the ways that the current health crisis has impacted those of us who sit at the intersection of martial arts practice, communities of...
View ArticleThriving in Pandemictown and Its Guilt
Introduction Welcome to the seventh guest post (by Adam Frank) in our ongoing series examining the ways that the current health crisis has impacted those of us who sit at the intersection of...
View ArticleBJJ in the Age of Zoom
Introduction This is the eighth guest post in our series examining the ways that the current health crisis has impacted those of us who sit at the intersection of martial arts practice, communities...
View ArticleDo martial arts make better citizens? How the pandemic answers a classic...
"Do martial arts really make for more pro-social citizens? How the pandemic can help us answering that." By Andrea Molle Martial Arts Studies in Interesting Times “May you live in interesting...
View ArticleChinese Martial Arts in the News: May 22, 2020 – Epidemic, Closure and The...
Introduction It has been way too long since our last news update. We are fortunate to have had such a rich series of guest posts exploring the ways that COVID-19 has impacted both our personal...
View ArticleReflections on COVID-19, transnational (im)mobility, and collective ways of...
Introduction This is the tenth guest post in our series examining the ways that the current health crisis has impacted those of us who sit at the intersection of martial arts practice, communities of...
View ArticleHow to get Stabbed with a Sword in China
A Thought Experiment I suspect that anyone with even a passing interest in Chinese martial arts history has already compiled a mental list of the past masters and personalities that they would most...
View ArticleInvest in Loss: Hope for Traditional Martial Arts
It was the best of times…. I like going to the gym. My reasons are not overly complicated. Nice treadmills are surprisingly expensive and running outside in the dead of winter (or the dog days of...
View ArticleLives of Chinese Martial Artists (23): Fu Zhen Song – Southbound Tiger
History as the cure for Ideology Everyone has a personal mental image of the Chinese martial arts. The detail may vary, but there are some undeniably common elements. Grainy photos, complex...
View ArticleThrough a Lens Darkly (64): Military Exercise Among the Chinese
Photography vs Illustration There was just some discussion on the Kung Fu Tea Facebook page of a 19th century illustration generously shared by Scott M. Rodell. The scene showed half a dozen soldiers...
View ArticleBruce Lee and the Problem with Being Water
A Modest Proposal Numerous commentators have noted that this is a tough time to be a bronze statue. Icons of the 18th and 19th century slave owning class are vanishing from the public landscape in...
View ArticleMulan, the Hidden Hilt Dao and the Dragon Sparrow: LK Chen Explores the...
The Ballad of Mulan One of my personal assignments for this summer was to write an extensive review of the 2020 Disney production of Mulan. While I enjoyed their original animated feature (1998),...
View ArticleBlack Karate in the Chicago Ghetto, Localizing an Art
Introduction Like so many others, I currently find it difficult to focus on the task at hand. Unlike most other people, the “happy place” I keep retreating to is the martial arts history of China’s...
View ArticleChinese Martial Arts in the News: July 13, 2020: The Summer Martial Arts...
Introduction Welcome to Chinese Martial Arts in the news! For new readers, this is a semi-regular feature here at Kung Fu Tea in which we review media stories that mention the traditional fighting...
View ArticleGuest Post: The Meaning and Origin of Taolu in Chinese Martial Arts
Introduction Like many of you, I am currently recovering from our 6th annual Martial Arts Studies Conference which selected as its theme "Martial Arts, Religion & Spirituality." Some great papers...
View Article“Jesus Didn’t Tap”: Sixt Wetzler and the Connection of Religion and Martial Arts
I fundamentally dislike to the term “myth busting.” It reminds me of an American television program that gained great popularity by deconstructing urban legends and popular wisdom through the excessive...
View ArticleResearch Note: China’s Red Spears
The Significance of the Red Spears If one were to ask a group of history students what the most successful Chinese hand combat movement of the early 20thcentury was, my bet is that the conversation...
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