“If it is necessary to debunk the Bodhidharma myth since it is historically false, we must also be wary of the modern materialist impulse to tear aside the veil of myth to uncover the real martial arts beneath. The... Continue Reading →
Introduction I have always wondered about the Song period (960-1279) and its connection to the modern Chinese martial arts (let’s say 1850 to the present). One could be forgiven for placing the genesis of our current systems sometime in... 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 →
Reclaiming Bruce When is a nunchuck, perhaps the most iconic weapon to emerge from Okinawan karate, not a nunchuck? When it is being held by Bruce Lee. At least that is what the discussion in my Facebook feed seemed... Continue Reading →
I am currently working on a paper that has me thinking about Sun Lutang again. To my mind he has always been one of the quintessential pioneers of the modern Chinese martial arts. So here is Part One of a... Continue Reading →
***In the last week I have found myself delving ever deeper into the literature on Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) designations and the traditional martial arts. When seeking to understand the relationship between politics and these fighting systems, one would... Continue Reading →
The Chinese martial studies community suffered a great loss with the recent passing of Brian Kennedy (1958-2019) at the age of 61. Any such event is a tragedy, and this was all the more unexpected as Brian was active... Continue Reading →
***Kung Fu Tea is having a birthday! The blog has now been up and running for seven years. Its hard to believe how much it, and the Martial Arts Studies community, has grown in that time. As such I... Continue Reading →
***Greetings. I am currently hard at work on a few different research projects. One of these involves quite a bit of thinking (and reading) about the process of "standard setting" in an international context and what implications this might... Continue Reading →
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