Download or read book Asian Martial Arts in Literature and Movies written by Michael DeMarco, M.A. and published by Via Media Publishing. This book was released on 2016-08-05 with total page 275 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Most learn about martial arts through movies and print publications, primarily fictional. "Fiction is drama, the blood of drama is conflict, and martial arts are rooted in conflict," writes James Grady in chapter one. Good fiction uses martial arts well, while poor writing skills can be plain boring! This anthology is a collection of fifteen articles that cover the richness and depth of Asian martial arts in both movies and literature. After look over the array of topics, I decided to utilize writings by James Grady for the two introductory chapters. Grady is an internationally renowned writer and investigative journalist known for his nail-biting thriller novels. His early novel was adapted to film as Three days of the Condor (1975) starring Robert Redford. Grady has since written over a dozen wonderful novels and in between wrote two excellent pieces for the Journal of Asian Martial Arts: one dealing with movies and another with literature. The following chapters are greatly enriched by the informative contents in Grady’s chapters. Details about movie-making are provided in the interview with producer Andre Morgan (Enter the Dragon, Walter Texas Ranger, Martial Law, etc.), plus the inside scoop in the publishing and film industries in the interview with multifaceted Curtis Wong. Actor/producer/kickboxing champion Don Wilson provides insights from both sides of the camera in his interview. Among the chapters are Albert Dalia’s exposition of China’s “wandering martial hero” stories that have roots reaching back two thousand years; Christopher Bates’ excerpt from Xiang Kairan’s Tales of Chivalrous and Altruistic Heroes; and Olivia Mok’s research and translations of sections of Fox Volant of the Snowy Mountain, a Louis Cha’s novel of 1959. In the latter, Mok extricates references to dianxue—the methods of attacking vital points. We also have fiction focusing on Japanese and Chinese martial traditions by John Donohue, Peter Graebner, John DeRose, and John Gilbey’s (aka, Robert W. Smith)—each highlighting combative experience, theory and technique with cultural trimmings. Interviews with Barry Eisler and Author Rosenfeld give insight into scholar/practitioners whose published novels contain text colored by their knowledge of the martial arts and culture. We hope you’ll find this book captivating, exciting, heroic, spellbinding, content rich, fascinating, penetrating . . .
Download or read book Chinese Martial Arts Cinema written by Stephen Teo and published by Edinburgh University Press. This book was released on 2015-11-13 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the first comprehensive, fully-researched account of the historical and contemporary development of the traditional martial arts genre in the Chinese cinema known as wuxia (literal translation: martial chivalry) - a genre which audiences around the world became familiar with through the phenomenal 'crossover' hit Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000). The book unveils rich layers of the wuxia tradition as it developed in the early Shanghai cinema in the late 1920s, and from the 1950s onwards, in the Hong Kong and Taiwan film industries. Key attractions of the book are analyses of:*The history of the tradition as it began in the Shanghai cinema, its rise and popularity as a serialized form in the silent cinema of the late 1920s, and its eventual prohibition by the government in 1931.*The fantastic characteristics of the genre, their relationship with folklore, myth and religion, and their similarities and differences with the kung fu sub-genre of martial arts cinema.*The protagonists and heroes of the genre, in particular the figure of the female knight-errant.*The chief personalities and masterpieces of the genre - directors such as King Hu, Chu Yuan, Zhang Che, Ang Lee, Zhang Yimou, and films such as Come Drink With Me (1966), The One-Armed Swordsman (1967), A Touch of Zen (1970-71), Hero (2002), House of Flying Daggers (2004), and Curse of the Golden Flower (2006).
Download or read book Stateless Subjects written by Petrus Liu and published by Cornell University Press. This book was released on 2012-01-31 with total page 279 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Women in Chinese Martial Arts Films of the New Millennium written by Ya-chen Chen and published by Lexington Books. This book was released on 2012-04-12 with total page 313 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Women and Gender in Chinese Martial Arts Films of the New Millennium, by Ya-chen Chen, is an excavation of underexposed gender issues focusing mainly on contradictory and troubled feminism in the film narratives. In the cinematic world of martial arts films, one can easily find representations of women of Ancient China released from the constraints of patriarchal social order to revel in a dreamlike space of their own. They can develop themselves, protect themselves, and even defeat or conquer men. This world not only frees women from the convention of foot-binding, but it also "unbinds" them in terms of education, critical thinking, talent, ambition, opportunities to socialize with different men, and the freedom or right to both choose their spouse and decide their own fate. Chen calls this phenomenon "Chinese cinematic martial arts feminism." The liberation is never sustaining or complete, however; Chen reveals the presence of a glass ceiling marking the maximal exercise of feminism and women's rights which the patriarchal order is willing to accept. As such, these films are not to be seen as celebrations of feminist liberation, but as enunciations of the patriarchal authority that suffuses "Chinese cinematic martial arts feminism." The film narratives under examination include Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (directed by Ang Lee); Hero (Zhang Yimou); House of the Flying Daggers (Zhang Yimou); Seven Swords (Tsui Hark); The Promise (Chen Kaige); The Banquet (Feng Xiaogang); and Curst of the Golden Flower (Zhang Yimou). Chen also touches upon the plots of two of the earliest award-winning Chinese martial arts films, A Touch of Zen and Legend of the Mountain, both directed by King Hu.
Download or read book Martial Arts as Embodied Knowledge written by D. S. Farrer and published by State University of New York Press. This book was released on 2011-12-01 with total page 265 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This landmark work provides a wide-ranging scholarly consideration of the traditional Asian martial arts. Most of the contributors to the volume are practitioners of the martial arts, and all are keenly aware that these traditions now exist in a transnational context. The book's cutting-edge research includes ethnography and approaches from film, literature, performance, and theater studies. Three central aspects emerge from this book: martial arts as embodied fantasy, as a culturally embedded form of self-cultivation, and as a continuous process of identity formation. Contributors explore several popular and highbrow cultural considerations, including the career of Bruce Lee, Chinese wuxia films, and Don DeLillo's novel Running Dog. Ethnographies explored describe how the social body trains in martial arts and how martial arts are constructed in transnational training. Ultimately, this academic study of martial arts offers a focal point for new understandings of cultural and social beliefs and of practice and agency.
Download or read book A History of Chinese Martial Arts Fiction written by Chen Pingyuan and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2016-10-13 with total page 277 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The seminal work on the evolution, aesthetics and politics of modern martial arts fiction from one of China's leading scholars.
Download or read book Chinese Martial Arts Film and the Philosophy of Action written by Stephen Teo and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2021-03-30 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book focuses on the philosophy of Chinese martial arts film, arguing that philosophy provides a key to understanding the whole genre. It draws on Chinese philosophical ideas derived from, or based on, Confucianism, Daoism, Buddhism, and other schools of thought such as Mohism and Legalism, examines a cluster of recent Chinese martial arts films centering on the figure of the xia—the heroic protagonist, the Chinese equivalent of medieval Europe’s knight-errant—and outlines the philosophical principles and themes undergirding the actions of xia and their narratives. Overall, the author argues that the genre, apart from being an action-oriented entertainment medium, is inherently moral and ethical.
Download or read book Paper Swordsmen written by John Christopher Hamm and published by University of Hawaii Press. This book was released on 2005-01-01 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The martial arts novel is one of the most distinctive and widely-read forms of modern Chinese fiction. John Christopher Hamm offers the first in-depth English-language study of this fascinating and influential genre, focusing on the work of its undisputed twentieth-century master, Jin Yong.
Download or read book Films of Fury written by Ric Meyers and published by Eirini Press. This book was released on 2011-03-22 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From Bruce Lee to James Bond, Jackie Chan to Jet Li, Enter the Dragon to Kung Fu Panda, kung fu films remain a thrilling part of movie-lovers' lives. Now the acknowledged pioneer in the genre presents his magnum opus on the subject, incorporating information and revelations never before seen in America. From the ancient Peking Opera origins to its superhero-powered future, Ric Meyers reveals the loony, the legendary, and everything in between. This vivid, action-packed book may delight, surprise, fascinate, and even enlighten you with a personal V.I.P. tour through the wondrous world of the most ridiculously exhilarating movies ever made.
Download or read book Armed Martial Arts of Japan written by G Hurst I and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 1998-07-11 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This unique history of Japanese armed martial arts--the only comprehensive treatment of the subject in English--focuses on traditions of swordsmanship and archery from ancient times to the present. G. Cameron Hurst III provides an overview of martial arts in Japanese history and culture, then closely examines the transformation of these fighting skills into sports. He discusses the influence of the Western athletic tradition on the armed martial arts as well as the ways the martial arts have remained distinctly Japanese. During the Tokugawa era (1600-1867), swordsmanship and archery developed from fighting systems into martial arts, transformed by the powerful social forces of peace, urbanization, literacy, and professionalized instruction in art forms. Hurst investigates the changes that occurred as military skills that were no longer necessary took on new purposes: physical fitness, spiritual composure, character development, and sport. He also considers Western misperceptions of Japanese traditional martial arts and argues that, contrary to common views in the West, Zen Buddhism is associated with the martial arts in only a limited way. The author concludes by exploring the modern organization, teaching, ritual, and philosophy of archery and swordsmanship; relating these martial arts to other art forms and placing them in the broader context of Japanese culture.
Download or read book Hong Kong Martial Artists written by Daniel Miles Amos and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2021-03-24 with total page 230 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This imaginative and innovative study by Daniel Miles Amos, begun in 1976 and completed in 2020, examines sociocultural changes in the practices of Chinese martial artists in two closely related and interconnected southern Chinese cities, Hong Kong and Guangzhou. The initial chapters of the book compare how sociocultural changes from World War II to the mid-1980s affected the practices of Chinese martial artists in the British Crown Colony of Hong Kong and neighboring Guangzhou in mainland China. An analysis is made of how the practices of Chinese martial artists have been influenced by revolutionary sociocultural changes in both cities. In Guangzhou, the victory of the Chinese Communist Party lead to the disappearance in the early 1950s of secret societies and kungfu brotherhoods. Kungfu brotherhoods reappeared during the Cultural Revolution, and subsequently were transformed again after the death of Mao Zedong, and China’s opening to capitalism. In Hong Kong, dramatic sociocultural changes were set off by the introduction of manufacturing production lines by international corporations in the mid-1950s, and the proliferation of foreign franchises and products. Economic globalization in Hong Kong has led to dramatic increases both in the territory’s Gross Domestic Product and in cultural homogenization, with corresponding declines in many local traditions and folk cultures, including Chinese martial arts. The final chapters of the book focus on changes in the practices of Chinese martial arts in Hong Kong from the years 1987 to 2020, a period which includes the last decade of British colonial administration, as well as the first quarter of a century of rule by the Chinese government.
Download or read book Adapted for the Screen written by Hsiu-Chuang Deppman and published by University of Hawaii Press. This book was released on 2010-04-30 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Hsiu-Chang Deppman puts landmark contemporary Chinese films in the context of their literary origins & explores how the best Chinese directors adapt fictional narratives & styles for film.
Download or read book The Magnolia Sword written by Sherry Thomas and published by Sherry Thomas. This book was released on 2019-09-10 with total page 323 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: CHINA, 484 A.D. A Warrior in Disguise All her life, Mulan has trained for one purpose: to win the duel that every generation in her family must fight. If she prevails, she can reunite a pair of priceless heirloom swords separated decades earlier, and avenge her father, who was paralyzed in his own duel. Then a messenger from the Emperor arrives, demanding that all families send one soldier to fight the Rouran invaders in the north. Mulan’s father cannot go. Her brother is just a child. So she ties up her hair, takes up her sword, and joins the army as a man. A War for a Dynasty Thanks to her martial arts skills, Mulan is chosen for an elite team under the command of the princeling—the royal duke’s son, who is also the handsomest man she’s ever seen. But the princeling has secrets of his own, which explode into Mulan’s life and shake up everything she knows. As they cross the Great Wall to face the enemy beyond, Mulan and the princeling must find a way to unwind their past, unmask a traitor, and uncover the plans for the Rouran invasion…before it’s too late. Inspired by wuxia martial-arts dramas as well as the centuries-old ballad of Mulan, The Magnolia Sword is a thrilling, romantic, and sharp-edged novel that lives up to its beloved heroine.
Download or read book White Tiger written by Kylie Chan and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2011-08-30 with total page 532 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Packed with Chinese mythology, kick-ass action, and sexual tension….A smart, entertaining read.” —Australian Specific A young woman accepts a position as nanny to the young daughter of a handsome, wealthy, and mysterious Chinese businessman—only to discover her new employer is really a god…and every foul demon in creation is out to destroy him! With a premise like that, fantasy aficionados and die-hard action lovers alike will no doubt be expecting something exceptional—and Australian author Kylie Chan delivers big time! White Tiger is the first book in Chan’s breathtaking trilogy that ingeniously blends magic, martial arts, and urban fantasy with a healthy dollop of paranormal romance thrown in to sweeten the pot. Fans of Hong Kong kung fu movies and the novels of Lilith Saintcrow, Liz Williams, Karen Chance, Devon Monk, and Ilona Andrews will flip over White Tiger, Kylie Chan’s remarkable non-stop martial arts supernatural adventure love story.
Download or read book Angry White Pyjamas written by Robert Twigger and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2010-10-05 with total page 326 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Adrift in Tokyo, translating obscene rap lyrics for giggling Japanese high school girls,, "thirtynothing" Robert Twigger comes to a revelation about himself: He has never been fit nor brave. Guided by his roommates, Fat Frank and Chris, he sets out to cleanse his body and mind. Not knowing his fist from his elbow, the author is drawn into the world of Japanese martial arts, joining the Tokyo Riot Police on their yearlong, brutally demanding course of budo training, where any ascetic motivation soon comes up against bloodstained "white pyjamas" and fractured collarbones. In Angry White Pyjamas, Twigger blends, the ancient with the modern--the ultratraditionalism, ritual, and violence of the dojo (training academy) with the shopping malls, nightclubs, and scenes of everyday Tokyo life in the 1990s--to provide a brilliant, bizarre glimpse of life in contemporary Japan. Adrift in Tokyo, "thirtynothing" Robert Twigger came to a revelation about himself: He had never been fit or brave. Guided by his roommates, he set out to cleanse his body and mind. Not knowing his fist from his elbow, the author is sucked into the world of Japanese martial arts and joins the Tokyo Riot Police on their year-long, brutally demanding course of budo training, where any ascetic motivation soon comes up against blood-stained "white pyjamas" and fractured collarbones. In this entertaining book, Twigger blends the ancient with the modern--the ultratraditionalism, ritual, and violence of the "dojo" (training academy) with the shopping malls, nightclubs, and scenes of everyday Tokyo life in the 1990s--to provide a brilliant, bizarre glimpse of contemporary Japan.Adrift in Tokyo, "thirtynothing" Robert Twigger came to a revelation about himself: He had never been fit or brave. Guided by his roommates, he set out to cleanse his body and mind. Not knowing his fist from his elbow, the author is sucked into the world of Japanese martial arts and joins the Tokyo Riot Police on their year-long, brutally demanding course of budo training, where any ascetic motivation soon comes up against blood-stained "white pyjamas" and fractured collarbones. In this entertaining book, Twigger blends the ancient with the modern--the ultratraditionalism, ritual, and violence of the "dojo" (training academy) with the shopping malls, nightclubs, and scenes of everyday Tokyo life in the 1990s--to provide a brilliant, bizarre glimpse of contemporary Japan.
Download or read book Chinese Martial Arts Training Manuals written by Brian Kennedy and published by Blue Snake Books. This book was released on 2008-01-08 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Secret training manuals, magic swords, and flying kung fu masters—these are staples of Chinese martial arts movies and novels, but only secret manuals have a basis in reality. Chinese martial arts masters of the past did indeed write such works, along with manuals for the general public. This collection introduces Western readers to the rich and diverse tradition of these influential texts, rarely available to the English-speaking reader. Authors Brian Kennedy and Elizabeth Guo, who coauthor a regular column for Classical Fighting Arts magazine, showcase illustrated manuals from the Ming Dynasty, the Qing Dynasty, and the Republican period. Aimed at fans, students, and practitioners, the book explains the principles, techniques, and forms of each system while also placing them in the wider cultural context of Chinese martial arts. Individual chapters cover the history of the manuals, Taiwanese martial arts, the lives and livelihoods of the masters, the Imperial military exams, the significance of the Shaolin Temple, and more. Featuring a wealth of rare photographs of great masters as well as original drawings depicting the intended forms of each discipline, this book offers a multifaceted portrait of Chinese martial arts and their place in Chinese culture.
Download or read book The Martial Arts Cinema of the Chinese Diaspora written by Kin-Yan Szeto and published by SIU Press. This book was released on 2011-06-29 with total page 185 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In The Martial Arts Cinema of the Chinese Diaspora, Kin-Yan Szeto critically examines three of the most internationally famous martial arts film artists to arise out of the Chinese diaspora and travel far from their homelands to find commercial success in the world at large: Ang Lee, John Woo, and Jackie Chan. Positing the idea that these filmmakers' success is evidence of a "cosmopolitical awareness" arising from their cross-cultural ideological engagements and geopolitical displacements, Szeto demonstrates how this unique perspective allows these three filmmakers to develop and act in the transnational environment of media production, distribution, and consumption. Beginning with a historical retrospective on Chinese martial arts films as a diasporic film genre and the transnational styles and ideologies of the filmmakers themselves, Szeto uses case studies to explore in depth how the forces of colonialism, Chinese nationalism, and Western imperialism shaped the identities and work of Lee, Woo, and Chan. Addressed in the volume is the groundbreaking martial arts swordplay film that achieves global success-Ang Lee's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon- and its revelations about Hollywood representations of Asians, as well as concepts of male and female masculinity in the swordplay film tradition. Also investigated is the invigoration of contemporary gangster, thriller, and war films by John Woo, whose combination of artistic and historical contexts has contributed to his global success. Szeto then dissects Chan's mimetic representation of masculinity in his films, and the influences of his Chinese theater and martial arts training on his work. Szeto outlines the similarities and differences between the three artists' films, especially their treatments of gender, sexuality, and power. She concludes by analyzing their films as metaphors for their working conditions in the Chinese diaspora and Hollywood, and demonstrating how through their works, Lee, Woo, and Chan communicate not only with the rest of the world but also with each other. Far from a book simply about three filmmakers, The Martial Arts Cinema of the Chinese Diaspora investigates the transnational nature of films, the geopolitics of culture and race, and the depths of masculinity and power in movies. Szeto's interdisciplinary approach calls for nothing less than a paradigm shift in the study of Chinese diasporic filmmakers and the embodiment of cosmopolitical perspectives in the martial arts genre.
