The first, or earliest, exhibition of Kung Fu in America

[dm1986]

Dear all,

I recently penned the following article, about what I believe to be the first public exhibition of Chinese martial arts in America. It took place in Brooklyn in 1890.

A couple questions I was hoping wiser heads on this forum could help me out with:

1. I'm wondering, is it the earliest? To date I have not found mention of anything earlier (that was public and open to Western audiences), and the publications at the time (for instance, the New York Times) believed it to be the first. But I'm wondering if anyone here has heard of anything else.

2. Based upon the descriptions, what style could they be practicing? I've already had a few things suggested, but am wondering, what with a fresh eye, you guys (and gals) might think.

The article, with images, can be viewed here:

http://martialartsnewyork.org/2014/10/16/the-first-exhibition-of-kung-fu-and-chinese-martial-arts-in-america-brooklyn-1890/

9175 9174

Thank again everyone!

[Jimbo]

Both were almost certainly Cantonese, and one was a member of an opera troupe, most likely Cantonese opera and not Beijing/Peking opera. There was a historical connection between traveling opera troupes and Wing Chun. So, possibly he could have learned Wing Chun. The other guy I won't guess at.

[bawang]

Both were almost certainly Cantonese, and one was a member of an opera troupe, most likely Cantonese opera and not Beijing/Peking opera. There was a historical connection between traveling opera troupes and Wing Chun. So, possibly he could have learned Wing Chun. The other guy I won't guess at.

they were performing a two man form, which is why it looked "effete" and "mechanical"

they didnt actually hit eacher other LOL

[GeneChing]

This is something I've often pondered but never dedicated any serious research towards. What might jam your findings is that this is exhibition is outside Chinatown, so to speak. There may well have been earlier demonstrations within Chinatown. In fact, that seems very likely. However, that would be near impossible to document as Chinatown gazettes of the time were not preserved to my knowledge (I'm not even sure they existed in America back then). So at this point, you have the earliest documented account that I can think of offhand. Great work. If you hadn't published this online, I might have bought this for publication (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/about/guidelines.php).

[dm1986]

Hi Mr. Ching,

I just sent you a private message. I'm not sure that it went through (didn't see a confirmation), so if you don't receive it, please let me know.

Thanks very much.


This is something I've often pondered but never dedicated any serious research towards. What might jam your findings is that this is exhibition is outside Chinatown, so to speak. There may well have been earlier demonstrations within Chinatown. In fact, that seems very likely. However, that would be near impossible to document as Chinatown gazettes of the time were not preserved to my knowledge (I'm not even sure they existed in America back then). So at this point, you have the earliest documented account that I can think of offhand. Great work. If you hadn't published this online, I might have bought this for publication (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/about/guidelines.php).

[mickey]

Greetings dm1986,

You have three names and the name of the business the fighters worked. You may want to do some research here:

http://www.mocanyc.org/about/

You may also want to check with The Smithsonian Institution as well as The Museum of the City of New York.

For film work you should check the New York Film Archives (of course for more recent stuff).

Keep the net of your research wide. You may miss something with too narrow a scope.

mickey

[SPJ]

I would think as early as there were Chinese settlers in NYC or San Fran.

Opera or fist performances would occur among Chinese and were not necessarily in front of white folks.

They are part of cultural heritage even today.

:)

[dm1986]

Thanks, everyone, for all the insight and comments. Mickey, those are some great resources you pointed out... I will take a look.

Indeed, there was undoubtedly a lot of closed door martial arts that must have gone on, stuff that we will probably never know about. Although I'm finding that, interestingly, some white folks did occasionally get inside to witness the action, and these are, principally, the accounts that have come down to us.

There do seem to be a number of surviving Chinese language American newspapers from the 19th century, but as I do not speak a word of Cantonese or Mandarin, I'll leave this to others to explore:

http://cprr.org/Museum/Chinese_Newspapers.html