Chinese Martial Arts

According to traditional Chinese martial arts custom, instruction in the lethal arts were transmitted under strict secrecy. At the turn of the twentieth century, the martial arts had started to be taught publically with a focus on health. However, many fighting techniques were not shown or taught. As a result, today some systems are more well-known than others. This anthology brings together some of the lesser-known arts in one volume and some aspects of their theory, application, and place historical place in society. The first two chapters by Shannon Phelps give a wonderful presentation ...

When we think of martial arts in “old China,” we get visions of violent convulsions of dynastic change, devastating rebellions, civil wars, and banditry. Throughout the centuries there was a need for masters who possessed highly effective martial skills for positions in the military, protection services, and law enforcement. Out of this historical reality emerged a national treasure we call taijiquan. Chen t’ai chi's mystique remains fundamentally a true fighting art, including bare-handed forms and applications, plus an arsenal of weapons that includes the spear, straight sword, ...

What we think are Asian martial arts is usually derived by Hollywood images, fanciful novels, and a superficial idea of what role combatives played in the long histories of Far Eastern countries. There are only a few people in the world who can truly be called scholars in this field. A leading figure in the USA for the study of Chinese martial traditions is Stanley Henning. This special anthology is a collection of Henning’s superb articles that were previously published in the Journal of Asian Martial Arts, including one he co-wrote with Marnix Wells—a leading British scholar on ...

Tai Chi is a mystical art that promises martial power, as well as good health. But sometimes, it is just too abstract to know if we are doing it correctly. This book is for practitioners who wish to get on the right track and aims to explain Tai Chi with no abstract concepts, scientific concepts, and even styles-specific concepts.

In Chinese martial arts, esotery, religion, pseudo-science and elements of cult like behavior are norm, especially when it comes to anything that has word “gong” in it. Qigong, Weigong, Neigong, are the most exploited terms by martial teachers through which they explain their martial theories. Since early 2000’s the prevalent fashion in Chinese Martial Arts is that theory and practice is moving in the direction of pseudo-science and esotery. Martial theories over time change, and last two decades have seen extremely rapid change, becoming extremely complex with a clear intention to ...

For what cause would a person decide to sacrifice their time, money, and perhaps their own life blood? Surely any vital decision would be made for good reasons. In the new book Wuxia America the story of a Chinese American doctor illustrates what it truly means to be a hero. Dr. Jason Lou represents a medical tradition transmitted over centuries through his family lineage. In 1857, his ancestor brought their medical arts to California from China to serve the growing Chinese population who arrived during the gold rush and railroad building period. In today’s social atmosphere of hate-...

White Crane is one of the most famous and certainly the most influential Kung Fu styles of all times. Everyone has at least heard about it which is not a small feat among literary hundreds of styles that exist today. While there are many popular styles, with enormous number of followers like Wing Chun or Choy Lee Fut, Hung Gar, Tai Chi Chuen, none of these styles holds a place in Kung Fu community like White Crane.On the other hand, there is very limited amount of information available about White Crane. Crane fist never had a lot of followers and has always been taught to very few selected...

A praying mantis insect faces any danger regardless of it’s opponent’s size and strength. If you’ve seen their parade of innate fearlessness, it is easy to see why they have inspired the creation of a Chinese martial art style. This anthology assembles the work of four highly qualified authors who present rare information about praying mantis boxing. In the first chapter, Dr. Martin Eisen interviews Gin-foon Mark, a noted fifth-generation master of Guangxi Province Bamboo Grove Praying Mantis. Mark discusses training in Chinese temples and compares it with the common training methods ...

A needle may draw a thread through printed pages to bind a book. In this little memoir, I feel like a needle that drew a common thread though a segment of martial art history. This book details three interrelated activities: (1) martial art studies, (2) involvement as founder of Via Media Publishing, producing a quarterly journal and books, and (3) teaching martial arts. Publishers, writers, researchers and serious martial art practitioners will benefit with the detailed overview of Via Media and its publications. Via Media produced the Journal of Asian Martial Arts, known for its high ...