The Importance of the “Foreign Language Literature” in Chinese Martial Studies It is very hard to pierce the veil of the mid-19th century and to understand what exactly was happening in the development of the popular martial arts between about... Continue Reading →
*****An updated and revised edition of this article is now available. Click here to read more. Thanks!****** Hudiedao, wu dip do, bat cham do, shuang dao, double short broadswords, butterfly swords......These weapons are known by literally dozens... Continue Reading →
Introduction: Masculinity as a Core Value in the Traditional Southern Martial Arts. One of the few facts that everyone seems to “know” about Wing Chun is that the art was created by a female. Whether this is actually true... Continue Reading →
Giving Up the Gun: Revisiting a Classic Argument. In 1979 a Dartmouth English Professor named Neol Perrin wrote one of the more popular and more widely read books on the history of the martial arts. It was titled Giving Up... Continue Reading →
Spiritual Kung Fu Revisited I recently read something by a somewhat prominent writer on the martial arts that made me sit up and take notice. The author (who remains nameless as I am about to criticize him) noted that a... Continue Reading →
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 →
Introduction This is the second part of our biographical sketch of Cheung Lai Chuen. The purpose of the "Lives of the Chinese Martial Artists" series is to better understand the diversity of life pathways and variety of personal experiences... Continue Reading →
This post introduces the second chapter of our ongoing series exploring the lives and careers of martial artists in late 19th and early 20th century China. Very often we artificially restrict our vision of what the traditional martial arts were... Continue Reading →
Categorizing the Martial Arts of Southern China As I have discussed here, there are a number of different ways that one can conceptualize the traditional martial arts of Guangdong province and the Pearl River delta. One of the more... Continue Reading →
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