Civil Society, Mimetic Desire and China’s Republican era “Kung Fu Diplomacy”

TY Wong standing with butterfly swords, center, during a San Francisco street parade during the 1940s. Source: Photo courtesy of Gilman Wong.

Introduction

This paper was recently read at the International Conference for the 1st World Youth Mastership held at Cheongju University on Nov. 3-4, 2017.  Many thanks go to Prof. Gwang Ok for making this event possible and extending an invitation for me to attend.  A special note of thanks also goes to the Cornell University East Asia Program for helping to support this research.  My report on this conference is coming soon, but I first wanted to share some of the things that I have been working on for the last six weeks with the readers of Kung Fu Tea.  Enjoy.

Civil Society, Mimetic Desire and China’s Republican era “Kung Fu Diplomacy”

Today I would like to talk about an overlooked period in the globalization of the…