Research Note: A Challenge Match in Hong Kong, 1890
Today’s post comes courtesy of Joseph Svinth who shared an intriguing, if brief, find with me a few weeks ago. Kung Fu legends revel in accounts of high stakes challenge matches. In a typical story a...
View ArticleDid Ip Man Invent the Story of Yim Wing Chun?
***Here is one of the first substantive posts that I ever wrote on Wing Chun for the blog back in 2012, about three years before my book (with Jon Nielson) came out. Wing Chun mythology is always a hot...
View ArticleAttack of the Wooden Dummies!
***This was one of the more popular posts I wrote during the first year of KFT (2012). I still love talking about, and training with, wooden dummies. What better training companion can you have in the...
View ArticleLives of Chinese Martial Artists: Qiu Jin—the Last Sword-Maiden, Part I.
***Greetings! This was my first entry in the long running "Lives of Chinese Martial Artists" series. Rather than just profiling the most famous martial artists I attempted to look at the actual life...
View ArticleLives of Chinese Martial Artists (3): Chan Wah Shun and the Creation of Wing...
Chan Wah Shun and his Place in the Modern Wing Chun Community One of the biggest problems in researching the history of the martial arts is the martial artists themselves. They love their styles (or...
View ArticleViews from the South – Martial Arts of Vietnam, Part I
Giáng long thôi sơn (“Descending dragon presses the mountain”)—Vietnamese martial artists training amidst Cham ruins in Bình Định of southcentral Vietnam. Source: ZingNews. ***Greetings! What...
View ArticleLessons from the South – Martial Arts of Vietnam, Part II
***What follows in the second installment in our short guest series considering the history and development of the Vietnamese martial arts. Enjoy**** Lessons from the South By Trần Khải Hoài In...
View ArticleForgetting about the Gun: Firearms and the Development of the Southern...
***Its my birthday! To celebrate we are taking a second look at an early photograph with one of my favorite pictures of a Japanese samurai. And essay that comes with it is decent as well. Enjoy!***...
View ArticleIp Man and the Prostitute: Female Sexuality as a Weapon in Traditional...
Introduction: Masculinity as a Core Value in the Traditional Southern Martial Arts. One of the few facts that everyone seems to “know” about Wing Chun is that the art was created by a female....
View ArticleCollecting Chinese Swords and other Weapons in late 19th Century Xiamen (Amoy)
Introduction: Xiamen and the Chinese Martial Arts Marketplace I am interested in the martial arts history of Fujian province. Many areas of China can rightly claim an illustrious past when it comes...
View ArticleAn Updated and Revised Social History of the Hudiedao (Butterfly Swords)
In January of 2013 I posted an essay titled "A Social and Visual History of the Hudiedao (Butterfly Sword) in the Southern Chinese Martial Arts." As a student of Wing Chun I have always been...
View ArticleRitual, Tradition and Memory in Singapore’s Chinese Martial Arts Community
Introduction: Chinese Martial Studies, Embodied Knowledge and Identity. In 2011 SUNY (State University of New York) Press released a collected volume (edited by D. S. Farrer and John Whalen-Bridge)...
View ArticleQilin Dancing During the Lunar New Year and Southern Chinese Martial Culture.
Introduction: What is a Qilin and why do they dance? Let me start off by wishing everyone a happy New Year! The Lunar New Year is the longest and most important festival in the traditional Chinese...
View ArticleBruce Lee, Globalization and the Case of Wing Chun: Why do Some Chinese...
Introduction: Wing Chun and the Haters You do not have to be involved with the Chinese martial arts for very long to discover that Wing Chun has the potential to be a highly polarizing topic of...
View ArticleTools of the Trade: The Use of Firearms and Traditional Weapons among the...
Introduction: The Evolving Relationship between Firearms and the Martial Arts. In a number of previous posts we have examined the complex, often hidden, relationship between the development of the...
View ArticleLives of Chinese Martial Artists (6): Ng Chung So – Looking Beyond the “Three...
Note: this article originally appeared as a guest post at "Wing Chun Geeks." Ng Chung So: Looking Beyond the “Three Heroes of Wing Chun” The origins of Wing Chun are shrouded in mystery. We seem to...
View ArticleSugong: Nick Hurst Explores South East Asia’s Shaolin Kung Fu Tradition.
Nick Hust. Sugong: The Life of a Shaolin Grandmaster. Sports Books. 2012. pp. 291. Introduction: Summer Reading for Chinese Martial Artists It is that time of year again. It is the season when...
View ArticleThe Wing Chun Jo Fen: Norms and the Creation of a Southern Chinese Martial...
***I am happy to report that I am making good progress on my current writing project. But it is still an ongoing task, and one that consumed much of my weekend. As such our post for this Monday...
View ArticleThrough a Lens Darkly (8): Butterfly Swords, Dadaos and the Local Militias of...
Introduction: The Butterfly Swords and Southern Martial Arts Defend the Nation I recently ran across two photographs that I think students of the southern Chinese martial arts may find very...
View ArticleHong Kong Martial Artists – A Review
Hong Kong Martial Artists, 2021, by Daniel Amos (Rowman&Littlefield). Daniel Miles Amos. 2021. Hong Kong Martial Artists: Sociocultural Change from World War II to 2020. Rowman & Littlefield....
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