Chinese Martial Arts Training Manuals: A Historical Survey

This is a must have book for anyone interested in traditional Chinese martial arts. Finally someone has come out and said much of what needed to be said about the founders of these methods, putting all of those ridiculous myths and legends in their proper perspective. As an author of over 100 articles for Inside Kung Fu Magazine and two of my own books on Baguazhang I have waited many years for a book like this to come along and set the record straight about the tough old men who developed tough combative arts to be used in difficult times. The chapter on Qi and Qigong is especially important for it gives some interesting definitions of a word that is one of the most misunderstood and overused in Chinese Martial lexicons. I am giving copies of this work to all my instructors teaching in our Baguazhang schools around the world as required reading. It sweeps away the cobwebs and silken decorations to lay the reality of Gong Fu Quan bare for all to see once and for all. Thanks to the authors for this much needed work. John P. Painter Ph.D. [...] [email protected] Author Combat Baguazhang, The Nine Dragon System [...]

As always, Brian Kennedy has produced a fascinating and highly informative work here. As a long-time fan of his articles for various martial arts magazines, I was very happy to see this work come to fruition. I first read his article on this subject in "Dragon Times" and it left me wanting more. And more he gives us! For anyone who wants to actually be educated about all aspects of the Chinese Martial Arts, rather than just being brawlers or fighters, this volume is a must-have. Many thanks Mr. Kennedy!

This book is a relief in todays world of Martial Arts liars, thieves, and charlatans. With a field that fosters making claims of magic and mystical powers, or in the least allowing the students or practitioners to go unfettered and run rampant with thoughts of Hollywood, Hong Kong, or Wu Xia Kung Fu this is a breath of fresh air. If you want solid groundwork for dispelling the myths and mysticisms of Chinese Martial Arts then this is the book for you. Well researched and full of great references, Mr. Kennedy offers an oft-times 'no holds barred' spotlight on an industry, sub-culture, phenomenon that has thrived in the shadows for too long. It's about time a book like this was published!

It happens people think this book is the summa of the Chinese Kung Fu Manuals. Wrong. This book analyzes the huge work done in Taiwan from the Lion pub on reissuing old CMA manuals in their original print. Some of them are today also available in English thanks to Tim Cartmell. The high value of this book is on analyzing the history and development of CMA by using documentation and not legends. The high value of this book is to tell the story of CMA historians as well as CMA master and famous people. The way they lived, the way the got money... Then the authors go trough the several manual by analyzing the content related to the time and environment when they were published. Also exciting is the analysis of the different manual organization and the didactics related to the books: form the "hammering the back" body conditioning to the first schedule for drills. This book enlightens a reality a lot of practitioners wouldn't like to see by making more human and real. A book I find very exciting to read and I strongly advice to every western master who seriously want to know something more than legends about the CMA.

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'Brien Oakland, CA