“We now come to the most critical yet most prickly of all questions: does any of this matter beyond the martial arts and combat sports, symbolically rich but socially marginal activities after all…The greatest challenge that the fighting... Continue Reading →
Adam Frank Theorizes Lineage Conflict This post will be reaching most of Kung Fu Tea’s readers the day after many Americans celebrated Thanksgiving. On this particular holiday it is customary to spend a few moments... Continue Reading →
Introduction I would like to begin this week here at Kung Fu Tea by revisiting an essay that I first posted about a year ago. Last week I wrote a short piece considering the sources of the social distrust that... Continue Reading →
Introduction This occasional series of posts is dedicated to the display and discussion of vintage images of the Chinese martial arts. While occupying an important place in popular culture, the martial arts were traditionally associated with... Continue Reading →
Introduction: A Question from a Reader The title (and subject) of today’s post is borrowed from a google query that brought a reader to this blog last week. WordPress has an incentive to encourage writers... Continue Reading →
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 →
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 →
Introduction – The Loss of Chu Shong Tin A few weeks ago the Wing Chun community lost one of its leading lights. It is hard to overstate Master Chu Shong Tin’s contributions to the emergence and preservation... Continue Reading →
Men fighting men to determine worth (i.e., masculinity) excludes women as completely as the female experience of childbirth excludes men….The female boxer violates this stereotype and cannot be taken seriously—she is parody, she is cartoon, she is monstrous. Had... Continue Reading →
Kung Fu Tea 
Recent Comments