Pop Culture Kung Fu – Kung Fu Tea

Introduction Welcome to “Chinese Martial Arts in the News!” Lots has been happening in the Chinese martial arts community, so its time to see what people have been saying. For new readers, this is a semi-regular feature here at Kung Fu... Continue Reading →

***Luke White has generously offered Kung Fu Tea the following report on this year's fourth annual Martial Arts Studies Conference at Cardiff University. Sadly I was not able to attend, but reading Luke's report makes me feel as though... Continue Reading →

We all love clickbait. Sure, we say we hate those gimmicky titles that populate our YouTube play lists. And none of us would willfully admit to clicking on “108 Facts about Rick and Morty” or, “20 Things that You Didn’t... Continue Reading →

Introduction In the first part of this series (which you can read here) we discussed the earliest works on the Chinese martial arts to appear in English, and looked at two sources on Wing Chun. The first was an... Continue Reading →

The Loss of Heroes The Chinese martial arts community has lost two giants. The death of Raymond Chow (who was instrumental in jumpstarting Bruce Lee’s martial arts films) and Louis Cha (who wrote under the name Jin Yong)... Continue Reading →

***I am off visiting family over the holiday weekend, so we are headed back to the archives. Since our (American) readers have just celebrated Thanksgiving, I though it would be appropriate to revisit an essay that asks what we... Continue Reading →

Lightsabers Go Legit What follows is a meditation on recent events. It is not every day that you sit down, open your phone, and find Trevor Noah performing a Daily Show bit about people you know. It is... Continue Reading →

Introduction Its been over a month since our last news update, which means that there is no better time to get caught up on recent events! For new readers, this is a semi-regular feature here at Kung Fu Tea in which we... Continue Reading →

Introduction In the coming months I expect that readers will be seeing a few new blog posts discussing my ongoing work with the Lightsaber Combat community. I have a chapter and conference paper that will be looking at performance... Continue Reading →

Paul Bowman. 2019. Deconstructing the Martial Arts. Cardiff: Cardiff University Press. 165 pages. Free to Download. Introduction Summer is typically the time when scholars get caught up on their reading. Yet judging from the pile of books, manuscripts, dissertations... Continue Reading →

Introduction Its been a long hot month with lots of Chinese martial arts news. That means that now (before the start of the new semester) is the perfect time to get caught up on recent events! For new readers,... Continue Reading →

“The lightsaber has become an important touchstone, both within the films and within our culture…They serve as a source of identification and identity. They are the ultimate commodity: a nonexistent object whose replicas sell for hundreds of dollars. This is... Continue Reading →

Its That Time of Year Again! Welcome to Kung Fu Tea’s eighth annual holiday shopping list! These are some of my favorite posts to pull together. They also serve as a reminder to make time for martial arts practice and study... Continue Reading →

Fitness and Agency Rose clippers are a key symbol within Judkins family folklore. When I was about ten my mother bought my father, who does not garden, a set of rose clippers. These have lived, unused, in a... Continue Reading →

***Like many of you I am spending the evening watching the latest installment in the Star Wars franchise (and therefore not blogging). So it seems only fitting to dip into the archives and take another look at a post... Continue Reading →

Introduction 2020 is now a few days old, and that means that it’s time to reveal our top picks for the news stories, people and trends that shaped the popular discussion of the Chinese martial arts in the last... Continue Reading →

It has been way too long since our last news update so now is the perfect time to get caught up on recent events! For new readers, this is a semi-regular feature here at Kung Fu Tea in which we review media... Continue Reading →

Introduction There is so much heavy stuff going on in the world today. Sadly, it doesn't look like things will be letting up soon, and they may even get worse as we head into the fall semester. So this... Continue Reading →

Introduction I was scrolling through Facebook the other day and came across a “Top Five” list…of other “Top Five” lists. It was a wonderfully meta idea and it made me realize how long it had been since we had... Continue Reading →

Introduction It has been over a months since our last news update. For new readers, this is a semi-regular feature here at Kung Fu Tea in which we review media stories that mention the traditional fighting arts. In addition... Continue Reading →

Chinese Martial Arts in the News: July 16 2018: Ip Man, Bruce Lee and the Shaolin Temple

Conference Report: Bruce Lee’s Cultural Legacies

16 Facts You (Probably) Didn’t Know About the Chinese Martial Arts, Part I

Spreading the Gospel of Kung Fu: Print Media and the Popularization of Wing Chun (Part II)

Of Pens and Swords: Jin Yong’s Journey

Bruce Lee: Memory, Philosophy and the Tao of Gung Fu

Paradoxes of Success in Lightsaber Combat

Chinese Martial Arts in the News: March 22, 2019: Kung Fu and its Discontents

History and Myth in Lightsaber Combat

Book Review: Deconstructing Martial Arts

Chinese Martial Arts in the News: August 19, 2019: Hong Kong, Bruce Lee and New Books!

Sometimes a Cigar is Just a Lightsaber: Fetishism and Material Culture in Martial Arts Studies

2019 Christmas Shopping List: Martial Arts Equipment and Long Reads to get you through the Winter Months

Failed Transformations: Peloton, Master Ken and Traditional Martial Arts

Star Wars: An American Martial Arts Film Franchise?

The Top Five Stories that Defined a Decade in the Chinese Martial Arts

Chinese Martial Arts in the News: Feb 16, 2020 – Kung Fu in a time of Coronavirus

Chinese Martial Arts in the News: August 19, 2019: Kung Fu and Summer Fun

Top Five Changes in Martial Arts: 2020 Edition

Chinese Martial Arts in the News: September 21, 2020: Mulan Struggles, Return of the Guandao, and the Future of Kung Fu Tea