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Kung Fu Tea

Martial Arts History, Wing Chun and Chinese Martial Studies.

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Chinese Martial Arts

Chinese Martial Arts in the News: September 29th, 2014: Protests in Hong Kong, Cotton Boxing in Shanghai and Trouble at Shaolin

  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 the traditional fighting arts.  In addition to discussing... Continue Reading →

1928: The Danger of Telling a Single Story about the Chinese Martial Arts

        1928: What Happened in the World of Kung Fu?   -The Central Guoshu Institute was established by the Nationalist (KMT) government and subsequently held its first national martial arts tournament in Beijing.   -Cheung Lai Chuen... Continue Reading →

The Red Spear Society: Origins of a Northern Chinese Martial Arts Uprising

    Introducing the Red Spear Movement     There can be no doubt that Chinese martial studies has made substantial strides in the last decade. Still, to understand the nature and direction of this research area it is important... Continue Reading →

Through a Lens Darkly (26): Taking a Second Look at “A Group of Chinese Boxers”

    A Second Look at a Rare Photograph   It would be an understatement to say that period photographs of Qing-era martial arts activities are rare.  For a variety of reasons these themes were less popular with both western... Continue Reading →

Kung Fu is Dead, Long Live Kung Fu: The Martial Arts as Voluntary Associations in 20th Century Guangzhou

  Introduction   Daniel M. Amos is one of the less appreciated, but more important, voices in the academic study of the southern Chinese martial arts. In 1983 he deposited a doctoral dissertation at the University of California, Los Angeles,... Continue Reading →

Chinese Martial Arts in the News: September 8th, 2014: Memory and Innovation in the Traditional Fighting Arts

  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 the traditional fighting arts.  In addition to discussing... Continue Reading →

Researching the Martial Arts with Jonathan Bluestein

      Introduction: Two Types of “Martial Arts Books”   For supposedly oral traditions, the Asian martial arts have generated a surprising number of books. Broadly speaking these fall into two separate categories. The first are book “of” martial... Continue Reading →

Death, Taxes and the Inevitability of Change in the Chinese Martial Arts: A Historical Case

    Introduction   How should we understand China’s traditional martial arts? Minimal observation will reveal that these are multifaceted social institutions whose interactions with popular culture are complex and ever changing. Still, as Douglas Wile has noted, when discussing... Continue Reading →

War Junks, Pirates and the Commercialization of Chinese Martial Culture

    ***This will be the concluding post in our brief series on the role of southern China's maritime environment on the development and spread of the traditional martial arts.  Please see the end of this post for a complete list of... Continue Reading →

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