Thank you for visiting my "Kung Fu Glossary". This is a project I have been working on privately for many years, and have now made public via Obsidian. I believe that in order for Chinese martial arts to thrive in China and around the world, *written* knowledge of the arts must be shared, in addition to the oral tradition that martial arts students have been accustomed to for centuries. We are all only as strong as our collective knowledge. A few notes: 1. **This is a work in progress**. It is not a finished product and I will likely be updating it indefinitely. 2. While all the martial arts teachers who came before us play a role in contributing to our knowledge, I want to acknowledge that for this project I am very much standing on the shoulders of the great Andrea Falk. Her book "[Falk's Dictionary of the Chinese Martial Arts](https://bookshop.org/p/books/falk-s-dictionary-of-chinese-martial-arts-deluxe-soft-cover-andrea-falk/38eefcb723bcf83c?ean=9780987902856&next=t)" is a must-have for any practitioner of the Chinese martial arts. Without her incredibly hard labor of researching and translating for decades, this project would likely not exist. I found the book extremely helpful, I call it my "bible". I eagerly purchased the accompanying PDF for reference on my computer, but thought that the ability to link references internally would make it even more helpful. 3. Andrea Falk's work is not the only source material, although at the moment it makes up the bulk of it. I cite my sources in every entry. Too many martial arts teachers mislead their students; either unintentionally through their lack of research and misunderstanding, or unfortunately, obscuring information to protect their own egos or reputations. Therefore it is very important to me to be transparent about where all this information came from, and not to present myself as some sort of fount of mystical knowledge. 4. I am a full time Kung Fu and Tai Chi teacher. I am also a husband, father, and activist. That means I'm busy; therefore, updates here may be sporadic. 5. I am not getting paid for this. I share this information for the love of Chinese martial arts and in the hope that the work makes the Chinese martial arts stronger. Kung Fu (including Tai Chi) is an indigenous art to China. Therefore you cannot have a complete understanding of Kung Fu without some understanding of Chinese culture, history, and language, It is my hope that this glossary helps to broaden some of this important understanding, particularly for Westerners. Thank you! ~ Shifu Eliot Prisby (June 19th 2026)