Chan Wah Shun and his Place in the Modern Wing Chun Community One of the biggest problems in researching the history of the martial arts is the martial artists themselves. They love their styles (or the businesses that they support)... Continue Reading →
Martial Arts and Globalization in late 19th and early 20th century China. In my previous post I proposed a framework for using globalization and the liberalization of China’s economy in the 1980s and 1990s to understand the progressive “medicalization”... Continue Reading →
The rhinoceros-hide armor was of seven folds or links, one over another; the wild-buffalo's-hide armor was of six folds or links; and the armor, made of two hides together was of five folds or links. The rhinoceros-hide armor would endure... Continue Reading →
***Greetings! This was my first entry in the long running "Lives of Chinese Martial Artists" series. Rather than just profiling the most famous martial artists I attempted to look at the actual life experiences of a wide range of... Continue Reading →
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 secrets of the ancient. Sadly, those are not the... Continue Reading →
***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 has... Continue Reading →
***Many traditional Chinese martial artists today actively distance their practice from its more "theatrical" aspects which may have been displayed in theaters propers or marketplace demonstrations. Still, these were the activities that supported countless martial artists over the centuries.... Continue Reading →
***This was one of the more popular posts I wrote during the first year of KFT (2012). I still love talking about, and training with, wooden dummies. What better training companion can you have in the middle of cold weather... Continue Reading →
An Invaluable Inventory In 1993 local residents in Yinwan (Donghai county, Jiangsu Province) made a remarkable discovery. They uncovered a group of relatively well-preserved flooded tombs dating back to the Han dynasty. Only two of these tombs have been... Continue Reading →
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