What does it mean to be political? I suspect that very few people in North America experience their weekly trips to the training hall, dojo or public park as inherently political. There are clearly some exceptions to this. As... Continue Reading →
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 capacity as a Visiting... Continue Reading →
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... Continue Reading →
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, Prof. T.... Continue Reading →
“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 arts beneath. The... Continue Reading →
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 counterparts. ... Continue Reading →
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 in the last... Continue Reading →
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 have a distinctly timeless quality... Continue Reading →
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 love for the real “battlefield” martial arts, both... Continue Reading →
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