2 Attachment(s)
The first, or earliest, exhibition of Kung Fu in America
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/2014/1...brooklyn-1890/
Attachment 9175 Attachment 9174
Thank again everyone!
Nice bit of research, dm1986
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.
Re: article about the first Kung Fu exhibition in America
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.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
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.