Martial Arts and World Peace
Peace Park in Salt Lake City, UT. Source: Photo by Benjamin Judkins. Never let it be said that I was afraid to go big in a title. But in all seriousness, we need to talk about the international global...
View ArticleThrough a Lens Darkly (65): Filipino Knives, Imperialism and the Asian...
Vintage Postcard. Source: Author's Collection It sometimes seems as though I am only Wing Chun aficionado who doesn’t have a sideline in the Filipino martial arts. On a cultural level we can thank...
View ArticleTop Five Changes in Martial Arts: 2020 Edition
Introduction I was scrolling through Facebook the other day and came across a “Top Five” list…of other “Top Five” lists. It was a wonderfully meta idea and it made me realize how long it had been...
View ArticleResearch Note: General Ma Liang’s ‘New Wushu’ Comes to America (1924)
Introduction I am always on the look out for vintage newspaper accounts of Chinese martial arts for my database. While it takes some digging, it is not that difficult to get a sense of what is...
View ArticleEpistemic Viciousness: Taking Martial Arts Seriously
Martial Arts Studies blogging is a hard habit to break. No sooner had I resolved to step away from more academic questions and spend a few months writing about Wing Chun practice and history than I...
View ArticleLives of Chinese Martial Artists (24): Wen Shengcai, Wing Chun’s Assassin
On Legends and their Grains Not all legends contain a grain a truth. Such an assertion is wishful thinking and sells short the remarkable faculty that is the human imagination. Still, grains manifest...
View ArticleResearch Note: A Challenge Match in Hong Kong, 1890
Today’s post comes courtesy of Joseph Svinth who shared an intriguing, if brief, find with me a few weeks ago. Kung Fu legends revel in accounts of high stakes challenge matches. In a typical story a...
View ArticleFrom the Archives: A Really Short Reading List on Chinese Martial Studies
Introduction Ok, here is a fun post that I originally wrote in 2012 that really needs to be updated. So many new articles and books have come out in the last eight years (including ones written by...
View ArticleWhy Religion Needs to Play a Greater Role in Chinese Martial Studies than it...
***Greetings! Here is one of my earlier attempts to talk about the topic of theory within martial arts studies (from back in 2012, when there was a lot less of it). It is one area where my thinking...
View ArticleOn Reading Old Books
The idea of reading old books tends to conjure romantic images of dusty tomes and arcane libraries. As martial artists we imagine ourselves clustered around forgotten Ming dynasty manuals, decoding the...
View ArticleAlex Gillis Discusses Tae Kwon Do and “A Killing Art” with Kung Fu Tea
***Alex Gillis was the very first special guest ever interviewed on Kung Fu Tea. His book, A Killing Art, remains one of the most readable and engaging histories of an Asian martial art ever written....
View ArticleFive Years and Twelve Months that Changed the Study of Martial Arts Forever
A BJJ match, 2009. Source: Wikimedia. Paul Bowman and I are happy to announce that the latest issue of Martial Arts Studies is just around the corner. It is in the final stages of production right...
View ArticleViews from the South – Martial Arts of Vietnam, Part I
Giáng long thôi sơn (“Descending dragon presses the mountain”)—Vietnamese martial artists training amidst Cham ruins in Bình Định of southcentral Vietnam. Source: ZingNews. ***Greetings! What...
View ArticleMartial Arts Studies: Issue 10 Release!
Paul Bowman and I are happy to announce that Issue 10 of Martial Arts Studies is now available. As always, this interdisciplinary peer reviewed journal is free to read or download by anyone with an...
View ArticleLessons from the South – Martial Arts of Vietnam, Part II
***What follows in the second installment in our short guest series considering the history and development of the Vietnamese martial arts. Enjoy**** Lessons from the South By Trần Khải Hoài In...
View ArticleForgetting about the Gun: Firearms and the Development of the Southern...
***Its my birthday! To celebrate we are taking a second look at an early photograph with one of my favorite pictures of a Japanese samurai. And essay that comes with it is decent as well. Enjoy!***...
View ArticleA Brief History of Nostalgia and the Future of the Martial Arts
That Special Time of Year It must be that time of year again. December is the season in which Disney unleashes a new Star Wars movie on an eager public, complete with a weaponized marketing...
View ArticleTwo Decades of Chinese Martial Studies
On Looking Back and Looking Forwards The start of a new year is a time for list making. Posts with titles like "The Top Five Trends that Defined 2020!" seem to be the mainstay of seasonal publishing....
View ArticleReconstructing the Tang Dao: Regionalism and Cultural Exchange
Introduction Regionalism has been all the rage in certain academic circles for at least a decade, though no field demonstrates the potential and challenges of this approach more fully than martial...
View ArticleChinese Martial Arts in the News: Jan 11, 2020: Taky Kimura, Shaolin and...
Introduction It has been too long since our last news update. For new readers, this is a semi-regular feature here at Kung Fu Tea in which we review media stories that mention the traditional...
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