Hi all, A lot of people have contacted us, after seeing Santa Cruz on the news this week. Thank you so much! Just want to let you know that we are all ok here. Our house, and Plum are both a few blocks from the coast, and about a mile from the mountains where most […]
Displaying posts written by
Plum Staff
who has written 886 posts for KaiMen.
Jan
10
2023
10
2023
Jan
9
2023
9
2023
BP Chan Students and Colleagues
We received this email from a longtime customer and friend of Plum who is collecting memories and stories of BP Chan, for a book that he is writing on the famous teacher. My name is Ron Lambert. I’m writing a book on the life of BP Chan… I’m in the process of interviewing students of […]
Dec
24
2022
24
2022
Boxing Day Sale at Plum!
Here it is! Our Second Annual Boxing Day sale at Plum. OK, we know Boxing Day does not refer to the boxing (拳, Quan) we practice as martial artists. But the name so perfectly lends itself to our purposes, that we borrow it to create a Boxing Day Sale (节礼日特卖, Jiélǐ rì tèmài) for martial […]
Dec
16
2022
16
2022
Pak Mei Kung Fu: A Rare Find
Well, how excited are we about this? Today marks the return of Pak Mei Kung Fu White Eyebrow, a book so long gone that we cannot remember when we last had copies of this to sell. As a matter of fact, we may NEVER have had this collector’s item. All of HB Un’s books are […]
Nov
10
2022
10
2022
Tiger Claw’s Wooden Master
Just added to our collection an exciting new book, Tiger Claw’s Wooden Master, from Sifu Paul Koh, who is brilliantly carrying on the lineage from his teacher, Sifu Tak Wah Eng. This new title is, like all of Sifu Koh’s books, a labor of both love and color. He outlines Tiger Claw’s system of using […]
Oct
28
2022
28
2022
ChaQuan and Its TanTui
We at Plum freely admit that we are big fans of Andrea Falk, in her roles as martial artist, writer and translator. It is this last role that we celebrate today. When we started Plum, almost 30 years ago, there were so many important texts available in Chinese that we never thought we would see […]
Oct
12
2022
12
2022
Sep
15
2022
15
2022
Newest Excitements
Well, we won’t be able to use our “Summer of Stars” cliche much longer, so we have a mixed bag of new titles today. There is still a short but powerful stack of books yet to catalogue, so keep a close watch for those. Today’s batch mostly centers around Tai Chi, with a nod to […]
Aug
28
2022
28
2022
Jimmy Lee’s Poison Hand, and some Clean Staff Techniques from China
Continuing our Summer of Stars, we have two new offerings today. If your jaw drops on this first one you are not alone: Plum’s was on the floor when this book came to us: Jimmy Lee’s classic on Iron and Poison Hand Training, “Modern Kung-Fu Karate.” We have been in business for almost 30 years, […]
Aug
24
2022
24
2022
Yiquan Seminar with Sifu Ken Cohen
We want to make sure that you all know about an upcoming 7 week online seminar on Yiquan, taught by the inestimable Sifu Ken Cohen. These classes, which can be viewed live through Zoom and/or downloaded after each session, will approach Yiquan as foundational to Qigong practice. Please read the catalogue description below, and click […]
Aug
14
2022
14
2022
Ten Essential Techniques of the Tiger
Continuing our Summer of the Stars lineup of new material, we are happy to announce the arrival of a major book in the Fu Jow Pai system, Sifu Paul Koh’s Ten Essential Techniques of the Tiger. Sifu Koh, along with his teacher Sifu Tak Wah Eng, has set himself the difficult task of preserving the […]
Aug
5
2022
5
2022
Jul
13
2022
13
2022
Taijiquan, Martial Power and Andrew Townsend’s Fine Books
Some business problems are ones you want to have: too much good stuff coming in at one time; too many customers ordering; too much media attention. The six new books we have just added from Andrew Townsend present a different (good) problem: although he is essentially teaching and writing about Taijiquan, these volumes cross categories, […]
Jul
1
2022
1
2022
The Excitement That is Meihuaquan
You’ve probably noticed that we have a hard time containing our enthusiasm when we add special items to our catalogue. As many know, we hand-pick each title that we represent, so by the time we offer it to you we already have a good assessment. But face it: some books and DVDs are even MORE […]
Jun
19
2022
19
2022
5th Annual Gathering of the Masters: Clips
The 5th Annual Gathering of the Masters was a success, with over 150 people attending, and some terrific demonstrations. Sifu Hamby once again managed to highlight friendship across the styles, instead of competition. If you would like to see a nice clip of the performances, click the image to the left.
Jun
11
2022
11
2022
Jun
5
2022
5
2022
Formation of a Wushu Student: Andrea Falk’s New Book
Plum represents a LOT of books, among them some real treasures. Typically, when we talk about the best ones, they usually share certain qualities having to do with technical information: a teacher generous enough to reveal principles, methods, even “secrets.” Andrea Falk’s newest book, Beijing Bittersweet, certainly includes gems of instruction from her own teachers, […]
May
7
2022
7
2022
Sifu Jack Yan Teaches Mandarin (Plus a Whole Lot More)
Sometimes, here at Plum, we circle back and take a second look at a book or DVD we rediscover in our own catalogue. Adding almost 4000 items over the years has, hopefully, matured our tastes and understandings, and we often find nuance and new meaning among the treasures. But today, it is not a stack […]
May
1
2022
1
2022
Spring Cleaning’s Treasures
OK, so here’s the deal: we already represent Sifu Zhang Guangyu’s excellent series on Yiquan in VCD format, plus we carry an entirely different series of his in DVD format. However, our Spring Cleaning has revealed one set matching the DVD representation of the VCD series (but not the other DVD series). Got that? Well, […]
Apr
30
2022
30
2022
Going, Going, Gone
At least monthly, we discover that Kung Fu books and videos that were previously abundant and available are now out of print. Unfortunately, we rarely hear about these things BEFORE they disappear. Back in the day, Unique Publications was one of the two main American publishers of martial arts books, along with Ohara (Kodansha and […]
