We thought we would try something different this year, and pick out some of our favorite books and DVDs—a few older, many more recent—to highlight for a December sale. Plum carries over 3000 books, VCDs and DVDs, so choosing among them is not easy, but we at least made sure we have enough copies to […]
Dec
9
2020
9
2020
Nov
9
2020
9
2020
Bagua Zhang and Xin Yi Quan
Got in a short stack of great books—limited copies on each, at the moment, but thought we would let you know about them. One of them, the book on Dai Style XinYiQuan, incorporates those QR Codes instead of including a packaged DVD, so that with a simple scan from your phone’s camera, you can watch […]
Oct
31
2020
31
2020
Bagua Zhang’s Ji Ben Gongs—Plum’s New Project
Here is a short interview with Ted Mancuso, Plum’s director, on his upcoming book/DVD project. Covid slowed us down, but now we are back at work again, and hope to have this finished in the new year. Q: Your new book is on Bagua Zhang Gongs. What is a Gong? Ted: In […]
Jul
11
2020
11
2020
Wang ShuJin’s Swimming Body DVD
Some things take a long time to materialize, but when they finally show up, they are worth the wait. Such is the case with Kent Howard’s Bagua Swimming Body Palms DVD, companion to his excellent and popular book of the same title. Howard’s style is clear and clean, and one realizes that he sincerely intends […]
Jun
19
2020
19
2020
Three Clean Quarters
We have three new books for you, all in Chinese and well presented. The first book, Wu Jin, starts us off with an historical and cultural text so old we have no knowledge of its author. Among unnumbered pages is presented authentic military strategy, along with close hand combat. This is a general’s text with […]
May
29
2020
29
2020
Restocks!
Happy to report the return of three unlikely roommates today. Click each image for more information and to purchase.
Apr
28
2020
28
2020
Why I Like Bagua
Everything is spinning crazily. The fact that facts are scarce does not prevent them from flying at us, relentlessly. We spend our hours looping and diving, just to keep upright. In times like this, Bagua sounds just about right. It is no wonder that people recognize that Bagua is the truth-speaker of a relatively untruthful […]
Feb
26
2020
26
2020
Pakua Journal: Vince Black on Li Zi Ming
One of the richest resources we represent on Plum is the CD compilation of Dan Miller’s Pakua Journal. This CD contains ALL 38 issues (over 1000 pages) of this extraordinary magazine that ran from 1990 to 1997. CLICK HERE for a complete article from Volume 5, written by Vince Black, on the remarkable Li Zi […]
Dec
7
2019
7
2019
Fundamentals of Pakua Chang, Volume 2
For several years, there has been a noticeable hole in Plumpub’s book catalogue, namely Park Bok Nam’s Fundamentals of Pakua Chang, Volume Two. Although we reprinted Volume One a while back, the manuscript for Volume 2 was in an inaccessible format. Nonetheless, we persisted, and are happy to announce, right before this year’s end, that […]
Aug
27
2019
27
2019
Rare Hao Style, Hong Style, and Bagua Leg Techniques—Available Now!
Delighted to announce the addition of five strong books into the Plum library. These gems from Hong Kong, all with boh Chinese and English text, are beautifully designed and laid out with large, easy to read photos, on subjects we just never see in English. KH020 Hao Style Tai Ji Quan Developed by Master Liu […]
Jul
8
2019
8
2019
Jun
7
2019
7
2019
Jun
6
2019
6
2019
Back in Stock: Sun Zhi Jun
We know you are supposed to love all your children books equally, but some you just love a little more. And Cheng Bagua stylist Sun Zhi Jun’s masterpiece, “You Shen Ba Gua Lian Huan Zhang” (Swimming Body Bagua Linked Fist) is one of those. What’s not to love? It is a complete illustrated English language […]
May
26
2019
26
2019
Jiang Rongqiao’s Bagua Zhang—Now in English AND Chinese
Andrea Falk is doing wonderful translations. Actually, she has been doing wonderful translations for a long time, but now she is going back, revising and improving on some of her earlier works to make them even better. We are still awaiting the massive expansion and rewrite of her earlier Wushu dictionary (this one promises to […]
May
4
2019
4
2019
Liang Zhen Pu, Together Again
As we mentioned a couple of weeks ago, we are in the process of republishing several out of print titles, and the first one has arrived: Liang Zhen Pu Eight Diagram Palm, by Li Zi Ming, compiled by Vince Black. This authoratative book was written by Li, the last living representative of the third generation […]
May
2
2019
2
2019
Apr
23
2019
23
2019
Vince Black on Li Zi Ming’s Bagua Zhang
One of our favorite items at Plum is the Pa Kua Chang Journal CD, containing the entire 38-issue run of more than 1,000 pages. The original journal, published by Dan Miller, is a treasure for the martial and Bagua community. In many cases entire issues are devoted to a single topic, and contain interviews with […]
Dec
18
2018
18
2018
The Dragon in Bagua Zhang
One of Plum’s longtime favorite and recommended books is Tom Bisio’s “Essentials of Bagua Zhang.” Below is an excerpt dealing with his view of the Dragon’s influence on one of China’s greatest masterworks in the world of martial arts. You get an actual ‘two-for-the-price-of-one’ in the passage below, in that Bisio himself quotes Francois Jullien […]
Aug
30
2018
30
2018
Help Us Help You
We got an email from a kind customer, who wanted to alert us to the fact that a link he was clicking did not bring up the intended information. After a few minutes’ investigation, I would say he was putting it mildly: we had provided clips—many clips!—for each of the DVDs in China’s Living Treasures […]
Jul
11
2018
11
2018
Celebrating Skill and Friendship
Last week, we wrote about Sifu Donald Hamby’s Gathering of the Masters kung fu exhibition, showcasing some of the best traditional kung fu teachers and performers. This week, we have some video footage that we shot while there. These three videos feature a smapling of the rare and unique forms we saw there—many of which […]
