Introduction You may not know her name, but if you have any interest in modern Chinese history, it is almost certain that you have seen her photographs. Hedda Morrison (1908-1991), while not acknowledged as a leading artistic photographer during... Continue Reading →
They say a picture is worth a thousand words. If true this will be a weighty essay. Yet that was always the thing about Harrison Forman, the renowned photo-journalist, writer and explorer. As a correspondent he was a double... Continue Reading →
The Center and the Periphery What is this “a case of?” That is the basic empirical question that underlays countless discussions in the social sciences. It is difficult to know what something means, what puzzles or challenges its presence... Continue Reading →
The First of Five Photos by Horst Faas to accompany story on the practice of Tai Chi Chuan. An older Chinese man practices the calisthenics called Tai Chi Chuan, sometimes called shadowboxing by Westerners, in the city of Shanghai... Continue Reading →
Of Boy Scouts and Kendo A recent post focused on the role of the global scouting movement in promoting the spread of the Asian martial arts during the first half of the 20th century. In that essay I mentioned... Continue Reading →
Structure and Agency Contrary to popular opinion, nature does not love parsimony. This frequently repeated opinion is more an aesthetic judgement on the part of some scholars rather than an empirical observation about the actual functioning of the natural... Continue Reading →
***We remember the martial arts through many mediums. Countless videos can be found on YouTube. Novels, opera and film have sanctified the heroes of the past. Books have archived the wisdom of countless communities. Yet over the last century no... Continue Reading →
Old Friends One of the more rewarding things that I have been able to do with this blog has been to showcase previously unseen, or rare, images of Chinese martial arts. I have tried to keep these photos, engravings,... Continue Reading →
Introduction When we think about the early history of the Chinese martial arts in the United States we tend to focus our discussion on either San Francisco or New York. Los Angles, Chicago and Honolulu also make the short-list of... Continue Reading →
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