Brendan Lai's Martial Arts Supply Co

HAPPY MAY DAY! - An ancient spring festival of dance and song, as well as a modern, international holiday paying tribute to workers around the world.

Happy Lunar New Year! Wishing everyone a very healthy and prosperous 2021!

Happy Lunar New Year of the Rat!

Happy Lunar New Year to everyone! We wish you a very prosperous year filled with great health, fortune and happiness - the Lai family.

On a perfect Spring Friday falls this year’s globally celebrated May Day — International Workers’ Day. How fitting that the ancient Greeks and Romans believed the Hawthorn tree, commonly associated with the ancient May 1st spring festival, was a symbol of hope and happiness. Today, May 1 is a springboard for individuals, communities and nation-states to honor the dignity of and express respect for workers, to celebrate their achievements . It’s likely that your purchases of martial arts equipment and apparel benefit mainly the merchants, importers and entrepreneurs of your local and national economies. But, how often, if ever, do you reflect on or extensively scrutinize issues of just compensation/benefits and humane working conditions for the very laborers who manufacture these products in faraway lands? Take this occasion to start learning about these issues, as well as those relating to blue-collar, manual and lower-management workers --- the 99% --- in your own country. Seek out and participate in May Day events and festivities in your community — have fun and transform yourself into a global citizen simultaneously!

It's once again May 1 — “May Day” — Long ago, this first day of warmth, halfway between the spring equinox and the summer solstice, was reveled by Celts and Germans with raucous festivities • In modern times this day has taken on a different, more serious connotation — International Workers’ Day, now observed as a public holiday by over 80 nations • Think: nearly all of today’s martial arts equipment, training weaponry and apparel are manufactured abroad, in some cases in countries where working conditions are substandard or even abysmal • Celebrate working-class solidarity --- take the opportunity today to start learning about the plight of workers in countries who heavily export to the U.S; find out how you can actively participate locally/nationally/internationally in improving working conditions and workers’ benefits

Happy Lunar New Year! We thank everyone for your kind words and well wishes. Wishing good health, prosperity and happiness this Year of the Horse - the Lai Family.

Happy new year to all! As some of you may have heard, we have decided to retire and close our doors. Thank you to all our customers throughout the 30 + years for your patronage. We wish you much happiness, good health and success.

R.I.P. Lau Kar-Leung (July 28 1934 - June 25 2013) - Raise a glass in celebrating the venerable lifework of Hong Kong cinema's most famous and prolific action choreographer/filmmaker/martial artist - A 60 year career span including countless Shaw Bros. martial arts films bearing indelible images
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/hong-kong-director-lau-kar-574372
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0514906/?ref_=fn_nm_nm_1

Kung-Fu filmlovers! - If you're in/around Toronto, Ontario June 5-August 11, check out TIFF Cinematheque's presentation of kung-fu classic films rarely screened in 35mm film anywhere in North America! - Including: A Touch of Zen (dir. King Hu): widely regarded as the greatest kung-fu film ever made - The 36th Chamber of Shaolin (dir. Lau Kar-leung): star-making performance by Gordon Liu - Fist of Fury (dir. Lo Wei): legendary Bruce Lee as a Jing Mo disciple avenging his murdered sifu - Drunken Master (dir. Yuen Woo-Ping): YWP's dazzling choreography combined w/Jackie Chan's homage to silent greats Harold Lloyd & Buster Keaton; Jackie Chan is scheduled to appear at screening! T.I.F.F. "A Century of Chinese Cinema"/"The Evolution of Genre Cinema": http://tiff.net/century - http://tiff.net/cinematheque

New arrival! - Once Upon A Time on Dragon Mountain - Jeff Chan's 2008 self-published pictorial memoir/personal chronicle of his lifelong romance with traditional Chinese Lion Dancing - From 1940s ToiShan, China to 1950s Oakland, CA to present day Los Angeles, a colorful, episodic capsule of one man's place in Chinese-American history, as well as a elated celebration of this 1000 year old Chinese performing art - Hundreds of photos, 217 pp., trade paperback $20 (Learn more about founder Jeff Chan's Immortals Awaken Lion Club: www.ImmortalsLionDance.com )

Happy May Day - International Workers' Day! - Take a moment of your life to give due recognition and gratitude to those manual workers, most of whom are in lands far & away earning modest wages, who make the very martial arts training equipment & weaponry you purchase & use to advance your martial skills. ( learn more about this day celebrated in more than 80 countries - visit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Workers%27_Day)