Introduction: The Symbolic Language of Weapons Victor Turner, the cultural anthropologist, famously argued that all symbols are "multivocal," meaning a single symbol can take on a multiplicity of meanings. Humans have a way of looking at complexes of symbols, perhaps... Continue Reading →
Introduction: Different Visions of the Chinese Martial Arts Assume that we find ourselves in a very specific, recognizable alternate universe. It is almost exactly like ours, but in this world Bruce Lee never came to America. Maybe he got along... Continue Reading →
IntroductionWelcome to the April 22nd edition of "Chinese Martial Arts in the News." Every three weeks we stop to reflect on important events in the Chinese martial arts community and to take a look at how we are being covered... Continue Reading →
A lot of schools have that in their motto: mental, physical and spiritual. But when you get into the school, you just fight and do forms. When do we get to that part I see at the Shaolin Temple... Continue Reading →
Introduction I recently came across a very interesting photograph. It was taken by the important (if under-appreciated) combat photographer Sha Fei sometime between 1938 and 1940. At that point in time he was documenting the progress of the 8th Route... Continue Reading →
IntroductionThis article was first posted on August 3rd, 2012, making it one of the very first things I ever wrote for Kung Fu Tea. It was also my first review of an academic article, and my first attempt to deal... Continue Reading →
Introduction Here is a second post from the Kung Fu Tea archives. This post was originally published on September 5th, 2012. That was still in the first few months of the blog, well before I had started to establish any... Continue Reading →
Introduction As I mentioned over at the Facebook group, I need to take a week off from Kung Fu Tea. My father, who is also a college professor, is recovering from surgery and has asked to me cover some of... Continue Reading →
Note: this article originally appeared as a guest post at "Wing Chun Geeks." Ng Chung So: Looking Beyond the “Three Heroes of Wing Chun” The origins of Wing Chun are shrouded in mystery. We seem to like it that way. ... Continue Reading →
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