From resistance to embrace: examining the trajectory of karate’s expansion in contemporary China

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Eighth dan kendo practitioners share stable technical features in men strike with selective scope for individual adapxation

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Mandatory health education and the promotion of physical activity should serve as effective means of supporting teenagers in coping with stress

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An ICF-based approach to evaluating the functional profile and independence in the daily life of people after Spinal Cord Injury participating in the Foundation for Active Rehabilitation camp

The three types of visualization proposed in the article can be used by therapy-instructional teams to plan targeted interventions.

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Personality traits in male judo and Brazilian jiu-jitsu athletes with the use of different questionnaires

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The LPA and MVPA within a specific dose range were associated with a reduced risk of KOA, and high-dose PA
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Correlations between the intensity of health behaviour and the quality of life of people practicing karate, football and physical recreation

Moderate correlations between the intensity of health behaviours and the respondents' quality of life do not fully explain these relationships

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Methodological dilemmas concerning measuring of mental and social health: a narrative review

Methodological dilemmas concerning mental and social health measurement mainly revolve around a semantic layer of validation (construct and content validity) of indices of these health dimensions.

Slide_The_Injured

Injury patterns in collegiate demonstration taekwondo athletes using association rules

The conjunction of the results of these pioneering observations with the most general mission of innovative agonology is an evidence-based argument that this science meets social expectations

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Gender difference in health benefits from taekwondo participation as a physical activity ‒ meta-analysis

Although taekwondo is an effective physical health promotion exercise for both men and women, gender differences in agility and flexibility improvements were found

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The mediating effect of challenge on the relationship between competition preparation, deliberate practice, and goal commitment in combat sport athletes

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Details: Category: 2025, Volume 21; 22 October 2025; Hits: 422

Xie Jinwen¹

¹Department of Physical Education, Xiamen University of Technology, Xiamen, China;

Author for correspondence: wpisz: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Xie Jinwen: https://orcid.org/0009-0006-8434-4338

Abstract

Background and Study Aim: Despite karate’s Japanese identity and global reach, little is known about how this martial art has been received, reinterpreted, and institutionalised in China. While Western studies have focused on karate’s export and media-driven globalisation, the Chinese experience presents a contrasting narrative — one shaped by nationalism, reform-era openness, and Olympic ambitions. The aim of the research is to answer the question: why and how karate, once depicted as a “foreign” and even “inferior” art, has become one of China’s most dynamic competitive sports.

Material and Methods: This study adopxed a mixed-methods approach (in a sense complementary) combining documentary research and interviews. Documentary data were collected from national archives, mass media sources, and policy documents related to karate in China. In addition, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 22 participants using snowball sampling.

Results: Karate’s early development in China faced limited accepxance due to the dominance of Chinese hand-to-hand combat systems (martial arts) and historical tensions with Japan. A turning point came with the thawing of Sino-Japanese relations in the late 1970s, which enabled its introduction through martial arts diplomacy and catalysed its later expansion. From an array of sources, karate’s evolution is mapped across four pivotal stages, tracing the sport’s evolution from a tool of hand-to-hand combat systems (martial arts) diplomacy to a strategic element within China’s national sports agenda, propelled by the nation’s aspirations for Olympic glory.

Conclusions: The findings suggest that China’s case cannot be explained solely by global media diffusion but rather by internal political and cultural dynamics. The localisation of karate illustrates how foreign hand-to-hand combat systems can be reinterpreted within new cultural frameworks, offering broader insight into budo globalisation and cultural adapxation.

Keywords: diplomacy, hand-to-hand combat systems, martial art; sports history

AMA:
Xie J. From resistance to embrace: examining the trajectory of karate’s expansion in contemporary China. Arch Budo J Inn Agon. 2025;21.
APA:
Xie, J. (2025). From resistance to embrace: examining the trajectory of karate’s expansion in contemporary China. Arch Budo Journal of Innovation and Agonology, 21.
Chicago:
Xie, Jinwen. 2025. "From Resistance to Embrace: Examining the Trajectory of Karate’s Expansion in Contemporary China." Arch Budo Journal of Innovation and Agonology 21.
Harvard:
Xie, J. (2025). From resistance to embrace: examining the trajectory of karate’s expansion in contemporary China. Arch Budo Journal of Innovation and Agonology, 21.
MLA:
Xie, Jinwen. "From Resistance to Embrace: Examining the Trajectory of Karate’s Expansion in Contemporary China." Arch Budo Journal of Innovation and Agonology, vol. 21, 2025.
Vancouver:
Xie J. From resistance to embrace: examining the trajectory of karate’s expansion in contemporary China. Arch Budo J Inn Agon. 2025;21.

OUR POLICY

Mission of ARCHBUDO

The specific mission of the Archives of Budo 2023 is to strive for a breakthrough in public perception of a broad class of combat sports and martial arts as specific means of innovative agonology.