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Kung Fu Tea

Martial Arts History, Wing Chun and Chinese Martial Studies.

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literature review

Do the Chinese Martial Arts have One “Martial Culture” or Many?

The impact of the Boxer Uprising was truly global.  The political context for the uprising was significantly influenced by national trends.  But in the end, the Boxers were really a regional movement.  With the exception of a few officially inspired... Continue Reading →

Towards The Motors of Tradition: A Report from the Field for Kung Fu Tea

By Daniel Mroz, Ph.D., University of Ottawa, Canada   ****I am very happy to introduce the following research report by my friend and colleague, Prof. Daniel Mroz of the University of Ottawa.  He has recently returned from conducting some fieldwork... Continue Reading →

Digital Sparring: A History of Martial Arts in Video Games by Rob Argent

Video games are an important force in modern popular culture.  I remember talking to new students when I was teaching introductory Wing Chun classes for my Sifu back in Salt Lake.  I would often ask students what got them interested... Continue Reading →

Reevaluating the “Theater of Combat”: A Critical Look at Charles Holcombe, Popular Religion and the Traditional Chinese Martial Arts.

Kung Fu and Religion: The Emergence of the Modern Debate. For most of the 20th century western academics paid little attention to the Chinese martial arts.  Popular culture did not elicit much interest from scholars who were more engaged with... Continue Reading →

Kung Fu and Soft Power: Why can’t the Chinese government capitalize on the popularity of the traditional fighting arts?

  Introduction: If Kung Fu is so popular, why can’t Wushu get into the Olympics? I am first and foremost a political scientist.  When I look at the “traditional Chinese martial arts” what I see is emerging trends in civil... Continue Reading →

The Book Club: Taijiquan and the Search for the Little Old Chinese Man by Adam D. Frank: Chapter 4-8: Globalization, Modernization and Mobility in the Chinese Martial Arts.

This is the second half of our two part discussion of Adam D. Frank’s ethnographic study of identity and the traditional Chinese martial arts.  The first part of this review can be found here.  The “Book Club” is a semi-regular... Continue Reading →

The Book Club: Taijiquan and the Search for the Little Old Chinese Man by Adam D. Frank: Introduction – Chapter 3: Body, Lineage, Space and Identity.

[This is the first post of the third installment of our "Book Club" series.  The goal of this series is to provide a detailed discussion of some important books within the field of Chinese martial studies, similar to what you... Continue Reading →

From the Archives: A Really Short Reading List on Chinese Martial Studies.

Introduction As I mentioned over at the Facebook group, I need to take a week off from Kung Fu Tea.  My father, who is also a college professor, is recovering from surgery and has asked to me cover some of... Continue Reading →

David Palmer on writing better martial arts history and understanding the sources of “Qi Cultivation” in modern Chinese popular culture.

  Catching Qigong Fever. I have read my fair share of books on religion in late imperial and modern China.  Unfortunately I had been neglecting a classic.  In 2007 David Palmer released a volume titled Qigong Fever: Body, Science and... Continue Reading →

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