***Happy Thanksgiving! This is a day when we commemorate the initial act of European immigration to North America. From that point onward the flow of people and ideas across our borders has never really stopped. As such, it... Continue Reading →
First, the Important Stuff Is it possible to approach history without theory? I think not. It is the existence of some sort of preexisting story or framework of understanding that we carry around in our heads which... Continue Reading →
“The lightsaber has become an important touchstone, both within the films and within our culture…They serve as a source of identification and identity. They are the ultimate commodity: a nonexistent object whose replicas sell for hundreds of dollars. This... Continue Reading →
Introduction Welcome to “Chinese Martial Arts in the News.” This is a semi-regular feature here at Kung Fu Tea in which we review media stories that mention or affect the traditional fighting arts. In addition to discussing important... Continue Reading →
***Today we have a fascinating guest post by Paul Bowman. It has been reblogged from Martial Arts Studies. This essay outlines a new research project looking at questions of sanity and insanity within the practice of martial arts. It... Continue Reading →
Meeting the Boxer I recently had the good fortune to meet one of my favorite Chinese Boxers. I had been stalking him for years. This early 20th century postcard was probably purchased in Beijing and then... Continue Reading →
“There is a problem with the study of martial arts similar to that identified by Markus Davidson in the case of “spiritual studies”: many of the scholars involved in the topic are themselves practitioners and their work betrays a... Continue Reading →
A New Pole I had been meaning to get a new “long pole” (or Luk Dim Boon Kwan) for a while. As the name implies, these are somewhat unwieldly training tools and (unless you own a... Continue Reading →
Conventional Wisdom and its Discontents Conventional wisdom holds that Bruce Lee represents the earliest opening of the mysteries of the Chinese martial arts in the West. While others may have taught an Occidental student or two prior to... Continue Reading →
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