The latest issue

Hi all,

Although I've emailed Gene before regarding the magazine, can I just say one more time, enough of the Shaolin Specials! It does seem like every other issue is Shaolin related at the moment.

How about more historical specials like the classic Wong Fei Hung issue? Although I can't speak for anyone else, personally I always find the issues with articles about masters gone by the most interesting. More articles on the likes of Lam Cho, Hung I-Hsiang, or even Mok Gwai Lan, a person of immense historical kung fu importance and yet I don't think I have ever seen a feature on her in any post 1970's martial arts magazine. I'm sure that there are people still alive today that knew her and have some interesting tales to tell.

When was the last time Baji featured? Or Fan Tzi and Tong Bei for example?

The problem is that at the moment each magazine seems to feature the same people and styles. The magazine used to be the best out there, but I feel now it is run of the mill. I keep wanting to give it another chance, but each month now I am dissapointed.

Our last Shaolin special was Jan 2002, so it's been almost two years between them. Throughout the history of our magazine, our Shaolin specials are some of the highest selling issues of all of our issues, especially in book stores. If we just looked at book store sales, our tops issues are all shaolin, except one Bruce Lee special we did years ago. So it's what our readers want.

Now, don't get me wrong, I'm certainly not discounting our traditional coverage. In fact, our next issue will be quite traditional, featuring a renown HK master, now in his 70's, that I don't think has been featured in the USA yet. The Wong Fei Hung (southern special) was a favorite of mine too. We did sell out of our stock of back issues, but it actually performed lower on the newstands than almost every single issue since 2000. Of course, a lot has changed since that issue, but to compare it with the rest of the issues of 1998, the southern special (SEP 98) was below the Taoist Special (JULY 98) and the Wushu special (Mar 98). It was only .2% better than the Jet Li issue (May 98).

Please keep in mind that we aim to serve the entire martial arts community, which includes modern, traditional, Hong Kong and Shaolin. That means we all each take turns, fair and square. Chinese martial arts are so diverse so we cycle through the different subjects through each issue. We try to stay balanced as best we can. Right now, some of our strongest connections lie in mainland China, so we've done more with them lately. But you'll also find a lot of Taiwan influence, and like I said, our next issue goes back to HK. There's a lot of ground to cover, so be patient. I think you'll like our next issue.