Rhetoric

Over the last three decades, Martial arts have become very popular in the western world. Terms like ‘Karate’ and ‘Kung Fu’ are familiar to the general public. Many movies have been made depicting the fighting finesse of Karate and Kung Fu fighters. However, the global popularity of Eastern martial arts did not occur without consequence. The Eastern Martial Arts have their origins in Chinas culture, traditions, philosophy, religion and martial history. Kai Filipiaks article ‘From Warriors to Sportsmen: How traditional Chinese martial arts adapted to modernity’ will describe the “adaption processes and their consequences” (p 32) of Traditional Chinese Martial arts. The article was published in the Journal for Asian martial arts, whose primary audience is comprised of Asian martial art practitioners and those with an interest in Asian philosophy, culture and history. Kai informs his audience how integral Traditional Chinese Martial Arts are to Chinese culture and history. Furthermore he details the considerable impact western culture and values affected Traditional Chinese martial arts and, on a greater scale, Chinese culture and heritage. He illustrates how the Traditional Chinese Martial Arts adapted from their cultural roots to its modern age status as a popular sports interest. The adaptation process was necessary for the survival of traditional Chinese martial arts; however this adaptation process proved detrimental to its cultural and pugilistic aspects. He will persuade his audience by his use of evidence such as historical accounts, quotes and extracts and language such as jargon, pinyin and tone.

The author defines his audience by the scope of content use of jargon and terminology. The article addresses an issue specifically related to Traditional Chinese Martial Arts, not Asian Martial Arts. However he reaches out to an audience outside of those who practice TCMA. The change he describes includes those who practice the modern sport variants and...