Although Plum, almost exclusively, represents books and videos on traditional Chinese martial arts, there are times when we bow or nod to important works from among our cousins; in this case, it is GM James Mitose’s classic treatise on Self-Defense techniques and theory, What Is Self Defense, that strongly influenced the development of Kenpo (often […]
Sep
4
2023
4
2023
Aug
26
2023
26
2023
The Dao of Shipping
Daoist writings (and I liberally paraphrase here) teach us that ‘Nature is not kind.’ This does not mean that Nature is unkind; more like Nature is not a Disney movie. At Plum, we recognize a variation of this wisdom: ‘The post office is not kind.’ In all honesty, the vast majority of what we send […]
Aug
21
2023
21
2023
Yes, The Saber!
Another great weapons book, Black Tiger Claw Single Saber, from the prolific Paul Koh, this one on Tiger Claw’s Single saber. One of the many things we appreciate about Sifu Koh’s books is his emphasis on foundation as well as form and usage. A reader can easily learn and apply much from this text, even […]
Aug
10
2023
10
2023
A Martial Renaissance (再生 — Zaisheng): Xingyiquan, Taijiquan
There is a Renaissance going on in martial arts, and it is not purely physical. We are talking about the quantity of high-quality martial writing in English, which includes translations of Chinese origin. This unexpected level of cogency delights us. We are seeing the maturity of an art, along with the rooting of well-planted seeds […]
Jun
15
2023
15
2023
Tiger Claw’s Long Pole
Yet another excellent book from prolific writer and instructor Paul Koh, this one on the Tiger Claw Long Staff. Each of Sifu Koh’s books offer a step in the evolution and development of the Tiger Claw style he learned from Sifu Tak Wah Eng. Both have contributed a great deal to the modernizing and creation […]
Jun
6
2023
6
2023
Tom Bisio’s Old Eight Palms of Master Wang Shi Tong
What excitement! Books have arrived! Tom Bisio has just published a new book on Master Wang Shi Tong’s Old Eight Palms of Bagua Zhang. Sifu Bisio, the only American disciple of Master Wang, details the forms, principles, training methods and many applications he learned directly from the Master himself. Almost every style of Bagua Zhang […]
Apr
26
2023
26
2023
A Feng Zhiqiang Hun Yuan Fest
Although we represent several books in Chinese on Sifu Feng Zhiqiang’s Hun Yuan Chen Taijiquan, (there are a couple on this page) we are a bit scant on material concerning his style in English; most of it has gone out of print. But we were able to source a few long-out-of-reach items, so we thought […]
Mar
16
2023
16
2023
Xin Yi Liu He and Chen Taijiquan: Two Great New Books
It is complete coincidence that our two newest books — James Counsilman’s, “Ten Animals Kung Fu: Xin Yi Liu He Quan,” and Andrea Falk’s, “Shadowboxing in Shanghai: A Memoir and a Guide to the Traditional Chen Taijiquan From Dragon Park” — have something in common: they both come from records of the authors’ experiences studying […]
Feb
13
2023
13
2023
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
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
Aug
5
2022
5
2022
Ark Yuey Wong
A fine video example of Sifu Ark Yuey Wong performing. Click here to read about and purchase his book, Secret of Kung-Fu.
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 […]
