In January of 2013 I posted an essay titled "A Social and Visual History of the Hudiedao (Butterfly Sword) in the Southern Chinese Martial Arts." As a student of Wing Chun I have always been fascinated by these weapons, and... Continue Reading →
Introduction: Xiamen and the Chinese Martial Arts Marketplace I am interested in the martial arts history of Fujian province. Many areas of China can rightly claim an illustrious past when it comes to producing famous boxers, military officers or... Continue Reading →
"Inventing MMA: Martial Arts Between Culture, Media and Sport" By Dr. Kyle Barrowman Introduction: Traditional Thinking In the Preface to his recent monograph The Invention of Martial Arts, Paul Bowman identifies an important link between current trends in martial... Continue Reading →
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 fighting arts. In addition to discussing important... Continue Reading →
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 arts studies. The central concept of this paradigm... Continue Reading →
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. In all... Continue Reading →
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 campaign. Sitting in... Continue Reading →
***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!*** Giving Up the... Continue Reading →
***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 the previous section, we looked at... Continue Reading →
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