Chinese Martial Arts Training Manuals: A Historical Survey

Discusses many different modern and old world styles. Influence by military and government of time. Addresses eastern and western mysticism surrounding martial arts. I love this book, and very pleased that I bought it.

This book is a must have for anyone with an interest in Chinese martial arts. There is a lot of good information here, some good stories, and some great pictures. Unfortunately, this book is also very frustrating. It has all the great things just mentioned, and it takes the genre of English-language books on Chinese martial arts history in a welcome departure from the usual. However, the book presents itself as almost academic, and in this aspiration it falls on its face. The call for scholarship in martial arts writing is well received by this reader, but the authors do not set an inspiring example. One glaring omission is the complete lack of citation. There is not even a bibliography, despite the fact that the bulk of the work is a series of book reviews. This lack of citation is frustrating for one who would be interested in further inquiry. The presentation therefore fails as academic, and rests in the "wanna-be" category. Better editing -- in English and in ESPECIALLY IN THEIR USE OF PINYIN -- would also help this otherwise rare example of a commendable book on this fantastic subject.

pretty good book if you are obsessed with kung fu

Fairly interesting introduction of various literary works of Ming dynasty to republican-era martial artists, which include short bios as well as fairly rare photographs. However the book seem too short and much less comprehensive than it could've been, concerning how vast the subject is. What could've been nice would be including selected direct translations of the various texts that was showcased.More disapointedly was the lack of attention paid to southern Chinese systems compared to the Northern/Internal systems. Only a mere 2 pages or so are given to Hung Gar's Lam Sai Wing, the only representation of the southern Chinese martial arts in the whole book.

All practitioners of Chinese martial arts recognize that the roots of these methods run deep. For many years this was symbolized by saying "Tai Chi is thousands of years old" or "Shaolin is the root of all martial arts" etc.A new era is dawning in the Chinese martial arts world where myth and generalized fantasies about ancient China are giving way to historical research and investigation. Bragging about the deadly monks of old is a thing of the past, and the history of Chinese martial arts are starting to become more clear thanks to the efforts of translators and interpreters like Elizabeth Guo and Brian Kennedy.What they've done is assemble many of the most important martial arts books of the last one hundred years, and made a factual survey of their contents. For the first time western readers will actually get to see some of the content and perspective of these texts, and come out of the haze of assumptions and misconceptions about what they say. This is an invaluable service, and reveals a whole new layer of depth about these wonderful martial arts.Rather than feeling a loss from the crumbling of misconceptions about deadly secrets, the practitioners of Chinese martial arts gain much by a more honest and realistic assesment of their styles. Instead of relying on second hand accounts of ancient texts, we get a chance to see how martial arts in China developed over the last hundred years, how they influcenced each other, and even how they intersect with western sports like boxing and western wrestling.The first half of the book puts Chinese martial arts into perspective, laying the groundwork of history and culture. The reader learns about how the various Chinese martial arts manuals came into existence, and why they were written at any given time.The second portion of this book gives concise descriptions of many different martial arts manuals from China, including books on Xing Yi, Shuai Jiao, Shaolin, Ba Gua, China Na, Tai Ji, and many other methods. For any practitioner these descriptions are invaluable insights into how the Chinese arts were viewed and explored in their original context.I'd like to give my sincere thanks to Elizabeth and Brian for their long toil and effort in getting this book out to the public. There is a huge group of Chinese martial arts lovers who will find this book fascinating and inspiring. A realistic look at the development of Chinese martial arts is long overdue, and this book is one of the critical first steps in the right direction.Sincerely,Jess O'BrienOakland, CA

The first half of the book is largely a recounting of the development and history of Chinese Martial Arts (CMA) from a purely literary and historical standpoint. It does spend some time looking at how the practical was devalued and the mythological crept into the practice during the close of the Qing dynasty and the start of the Nationalist/Republican period. It closes with an overview of the current state of the CMA and current visionaries pushing the development of the CMA into the 21st Century.The second half is an overview of noteworthy authors from the Ming Dynasty up until the 1950s. In most cases this includes a quick assessment of the historical accuracy of their materials.The book reads more like a collection of notes than a professional academic book on the subject material. It was useful to me for determining future lines of research. I know which texts I'll be looking for in second-hand bookshops in Taiwan.

Es quizá uno de los libros más sobrevalorados entre los lectores anglófonos sobre artes marciales chinas.Al final, no deja de ser un catálogo de las obras tradicionales o clásicas que ellos mismos publican en su propia editorial. La elección parece hecha un poco al azar, y antenponiendo autores de su propia "línea editorial", como Liu Kangyi, editor de Lion Books (6 páginas), a autores mundialmente reconocidos como Kang Gewu (2 páginas, sin mencionar ni un solo dato biográfico), una romanización pinyin como para sacarse los ojos, todo un capítulo dedicado a la "superioridad" de los estilos y maestros de Taiwan... No es un mal libro, pero no hay nada especial en él que no se pueda encontrar online.

Packed with info, came delivered promptly too.

Good Read. Discusses the fiction and reality in the martial arts.