Just arrived, TWO books: the premier translation of the martial-world famous Bubishi by Patrick McCarthy; AND more stock on the gorgeous hardcover edition of The General Tian Wubeizhi: The Bubishi in Chinese Martial Arts. The convergence of these two–the translation (Bubishi) and the commentary (General Tian’s Wubeizhi)–mirror the revelations contained in these two texts concerning […]
Dec
28
2016
28
2016
Dec
16
2016
16
2016
A Wire of Iron
What a year the monkey has been! Now, we have so much good stuff coming in we can act like the Rooster Year is already here, and can start to crow a bit. In the next couple of months, we’re looking forward to adding more and more top quality books and DVDs, often in English. […]
Dec
2
2016
2
2016
Bubishi Classic, Like You Have Never Seen Before (Updated)
Plum treasures our close affiliation with Lionbooks in Taiwan, both for their extensive library of authentic, hard-to-find martial arts literature, and the exceptional job they do of making these books beautiful. So, we are excited to announce their new english language study of the Bubishi, the foundational text of Karate, including two Bubishi manuals, both […]
Nov
17
2016
17
2016
Chen With Your Hands Full
A quick announcement of three new book/vcd packages in one of our favorite series; these are on Chen Style Tai Chi Ball, Double Maces, and Eyebrow Staff. This series, which you will find scattered throughout the Plum site, gives you a book in both Chinese and English (en face) plus a VCD (in Chinese, subtitled […]
May
8
2016
8
2016
Li Tianji’s Xing Yi Legacy; Andrea Falk’s Dictionary
Plum is adding another text by Andrea Falk, a translation of significance to Xing Yi practitioners: Li TianJi’s The Skills of XingYiQuan; 311 pages, with hundreds of illustrations. This is a thorough text on the style handed down to Li Tianji from his father, Li Yulin. It’s very well laid out with sections covering basic […]
Apr
15
2016
15
2016
Ever Heard of Shaman Kung Fu?
Even if you have only visited PLUM a couple of times, you will note that we have a huge selection of materials: DVDs, English language books, VCDs, Chinese texts, en face books and more. At present we have one of the largest collections online, and growing. When we started […]
Jan
22
2016
22
2016
The Basics
Jack Yan has emerged as one of our more favored writer/translators. His exhaustive series on the teacher Chen Zheng Lei has brought a lot of attention to this branch of the art, and his own series on Tong Bei is a welcome addition to what is otherwise a very under-represented field of texts and DVDs. […]
Dec
20
2015
20
2015
Oct
28
2015
28
2015
Tai Chi: Wu and Hong styles
Today, we add the last installment of our selection on the Chen Tai Chi exclusive branch named Hong style. Chen style has a well-known “short fist” version. And this style, developed by teacher Hong JunSheng, presents a smaller frame, demonstrating a soft, slow elegance. This last DVD shows many throws and takedowns with high emphasis […]
Sep
20
2015
20
2015
Adam Hsu’s Basic Kung Fu Training Books
Much earlier in his career, Adam Hsu Sifu created a special series of three linking sets. Each of these were progressively designed to waste as little time as possible, getting that crucial fundamental information to the students. For instance, there are no repetitious sections. Also, each movement is a crucial basic. Two of these sets […]
Jul
31
2015
31
2015
Dragon (re)Emerges from the Sea
PLUM revives one of the most popular Kung Fu books of the 80’s, during the Golden Era of Kung Fu movies and practice. Dragon Form Boxing is a short book displaying form and function. The moves are big and easy to learn. This was one of a series that look liked a paste-up directly from […]
Jul
3
2015
3
2015
Xing Yi and Taijiquan: 2 New Items
There is such a diversity and quality of materials on all major Kung Fu styles, that we sometimes can’t keep up with the new postings. Here is a version of probably the most famous and popular of Xing Yi style two-person sets: An Shen Pao. Not only does it pair up the two players from […]
May
11
2015
11
2015
FINALLY! Books from Hong Kong are here
Here’s the short version: Last year, we re-ordered these wonderful titles from Hong Kong Chin Woo. It took 3 months and they arrived…sort of—one of the boxes from the order went missing in the US Postal System (it actually navigated the oceans but got lost between New Jersey and California.) It took a while but […]
May
1
2015
1
2015
Nov
25
2014
25
2014
The Second Special Lam Family Hung Kuen Book is Here!
Not to be missed if you are a Hung or related practitioner or you want to see a good example of “how Kung Fu ought to be” presented.
Nov
16
2014
16
2014
Now You Can Look It Up
If you’ve been around in the Chinese martial arts field for a while and have tried your hand at translation, you probably will think the same thing I did on first seeing teacher Andrea Falk’s wushu dictionary: “Not only could I have written this, but I probably did…more than once.” The difference is that Sifu […]
Oct
16
2014
16
2014
A Qigong sequence from Xing Yi
Xing Yi Quan: Tu Na Si Ba The Four Breathing Methods of Master Li Gui Chang Tom Bisio takes a little time off to present this book on the Xing Yi Qigong developed by Li Gui Chang (student of Dong Xiu Sheng.) His teacher Dong was the student of masters Geng Ji Shan, Li Cun […]
Oct
9
2014
9
2014
Snake, Cat, Crane Combined Fist: Hung Style
Not only does it contain the entire form, but it gives some great historical information on the creation of this set and, in the wider picture, the creative process that was occurring with many other teachers…
May
16
2014
16
2014
Two more “Facing” Books
We add two more entries in our “en face” collection. This is one of the most popular series, especially for learning one of its representative forms. After all, you get the text in Chinese AND in English, and then a self-contained VCD (in Chinese, with English subtitles) to watch the performance and check your own. […]
Jan
30
2014
30
2014
Shaolin and TongBei
We add to our ever-increasing selection of Shaolin style forms with a Shaolin Six Harmonies Partner Staff set. As we’ve said before, the Six Harmonies division of Shaolin seems dedicated to very solid and reasonably simple partner sets. This one, with its frenetic energy, would be a perfect companion form for young people; it moves […]
