By Gene Ching
There it was...finally! The return of Kung Fu Tai Chi in print. For those of you who ordered one, I trust you enjoyed holding a new print edition of Kung Fu Tai Chi in your hands again. I didn’t realize how much I missed that. We do apologize for its tardiness and appreciate your patience and understanding. Allow me to explain…
To begin, non-Kung Fu movie fans* might wonder about the title of this report. Why ‘Revenge of Kung Fu Tai Chi?’ Sure, it echoes my previous ’Return of Kung Fu Tai Chi’ installment. But what it really comes down to is that no one ever said restarting our magazine would be easy. It’s been unforgiving, like revenge.
Our biggest delay was our miscalculation in production time. Upon receiving a sample, we asked for some color corrections, which was no big deal previously. However, we were printing more than ten times the number of issues in 2020 than now, so we worked with a large printer that could make quick changes to meet newsstand deadlines (talk about unforgiving). Our new printer is smaller, so those corrections caused a significant delay, far longer than we anticipated.
And then on top of that, our shipment was lost in transit. For weeks! When it was found, only 75% of it was delivered first. That was just enough to cover our pre-orders plus a little more, so we were on the verge of selling out. Eventually the remaining quarter was recovered too – just in time, so the issue didn’t sell out when we thought it might. But as I write this, that issue is sold out.
If you got a copy of the new issue, congratulations – you now have a collector's item. I imagine this is how all our issues will go because we’re doing such limited print runs.
Showing up late to our own return felt like a dagger in the back. We had worked so hard to make that premiere issue. Perhaps it was karmic revenge, but I don’t know why we might deserve this karma. Maybe for all the typos we let by over the years, but as I often said, ‘the typos make it genuinely Chinese.’
If you’re already too late to get our first return issue, you can still get it digitally with a website subscription. The Winter 2025 issue of Kung Fu Tai Chi is there in digital format, along with our growing archive of back issues. We’ve been working to digitize and upload our archive properly, but that takes time too. Eventually, the entire library of back issues will be available there, along with the entire collection of TC Media Int., produced instructional videos, all for just $5 a month. And if you get a full year, MartialArtSmart.com will refund you with store credit coupons, It's a great deal and you'll help to support our ongoing publications.
Please continue to back our work, both in print and online. Without you, Kung Fu Tai Chi will cease again, and it is extremely unlikely that we'll get a third chance. This is it, so we need your help more than ever to keep moving forward. We appreciate everyone who invested in our first issue. I hope everyone keeps advocating for us by getting our publications, by print or digitally, whatever works best for you. Our next issue is at press and we’re taking pre-orders now.
NEXT: The Spring 2026 issue of Kung Fu Tai Chi
The second issue of our return to print, the Spring 2026 issue of Kung Fu Tai Chi, is due to arrive very soon. And production of the third issue is well underway. However, I must confess that just like our first issue, our second issue is late. The Spring 2026 should’ve dropped in February for Chinese New Year, but it was being sent to the printers then because we were still dealing with first issue issues, which were much more than we expected. With a downsized staff and without the pressure of newsstand deadlines, our first two comeback issues are tardy. Our apologies – we’re working to catch up.
In truth, we’ve been working on this second issue for over half a decade. This was the issue that we were working on when the pandemic made us shelter-in-place, killing the large newsstands, and consequently ending Kung Fu Tai Chi. After Kung Fu Tai Chi ceased publication, KungFuMagazine.com persisted, and I considered running many of these articles there. But I’ve harbored this hope that it might come back somehow. And now behold – our magazine is rising like fiery phoenix from the ashes.
We originally planned this issue for Summer 2020. Finally, six years later, it’ll finally come to fruition. I’m overjoyed to finally get it in print. I have the deepest gratitude to the authors that waited patiently to get their articles published in this issue. It’s this kind of loyalty that gives me hope that our print issues will be sustainable for the long run.
NO TCEKFMC IN 2026
I’ve said this already, but it bears repeating - The Tiger Claw Elite KungFuMagazine.com Championships is going on hiatus for 2026.
Master Kwangil Bae, who ran the simultaneous Tiger Claw Elite Taekwondo Championships alongside TCEKFMC, will hold a tournament under the Elite banner with the support of Tiger Claw. On May 16th, Master Bae will host the Open Elite Taekwondo Championship at James Lick High School in San Jose, California.
We are considering doing another online competition, like we did with the Tiger Claw Elite KungFuMagazine com Online Championship during the pandemic. It depends upon the level of interest.
I am dying to run a showcase event based on the weapons in KPop Demon Hunters. I’ve put this idea out before but got no reaction, so perhaps I’m misguided. It wouldn’t be the first time. But I think it would be great fun because the weapons HUNTR/X uses are all parallel to Kung Fu weapons. I’ve yet to see a revitalization of those practices in the Korean arts. This seems like a no brainer. Someone must still have those martial skills with that distinct Korean flavor. HUNTR/X martial cosplayers – please reach out to me about this. I know you’re out there. Let’s be Golden!
I’d also like to keep supporting the WildAid Tiger Claw Championship. As of last year, this special showcase charity event earned over $17,600 for WildAid’s ongoing mission to protect wildlife and vital habitats from critical threats including illegal wildlife trafficking, climate change, and illegal fishing. It’s a cause that I’ve championed with Tiger Claw since I wrote “Jackie Chan Saves the Tiger” in the 1998 NOV/DEC Issue of World of Martial Arts and I’ve supported groups like WildAid since long before that. It doesn’t feel right to be giving that up, especially now.
In contrast, another idea we’re considering is a contest to become a new influencer for Tiger Claw. We see you out there expressing your skills on social media. Competitors would submit videos using Tiger Claw gear and the winner(s) would be provided with Tiger Claw gear to make more videos. I see a lot of potential in many of our up-and-coming martial influencers. If there’s enough interest, we could develop fair parameters for entry.
Or maybe will just do the same thing we did during the pandemic with Tiger Claw Elite KungFuMagazine com Online Championship.
Or maybe we just skip it and continue to focus on magazine production, which is a strange new world into which we have boldly gone. And it’s an unforgiving one.
Here is another place where your vote counts. Please feel free to let us know in the comments what direction you’d like to see with Tiger Claw Elite and the KungFuMagazine.com Championships. As always, you’ll find links to our discussion forum below. Or you can email me at gene@KungFuMagazine.com (but keep in mind that I get a ton of emails so I don’t always respond that quickly).
You have our gratitude.
*Are there any non-Kung Fu movie fans in our readership?
Author:
Gene Ching is the Publisher of KungFuMagazine.com and the author of Shaolin Trips.
Threads:
https://forum.kungfumagazine.com/t/kungfumagazine-relaunch-2025/62941
