In the global world of the twenty-first century, martial arts are practised for self-defense and sporting purposes only. However, for thousands of years, they w

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

Featuring contributions from leading Chinese scholars and practitioners, this is the most authoritative study ever written on this topic. Including numerous ill

The seminal work on the evolution, aesthetics and politics of modern martial arts fiction from one of China's leading scholars.

Chinese martial arts have a long, meaningful history and deep cultural roots. They blend the physical components of combat with strategy, philosophy and traditi