The humble Chinese Slippers are known by various names i.e. Tai Chi slippers, Kung Fu slippers, Yip Man Slippers, Bruce Lee slippers or simply Chinese slippers. It implies a martial arts connection to these slippers. The truth is that the Chinese slippers are worn by every walk of society from the poor peasant to the rich landlord. They can be worn indoor or outdoor, as bedroom or bathroom slippers, or in a kung fu (gong fu) or tai chi (taiji) class. They are cheap, light, comfortable and easy to put on or take off.

The reason why Chinese slippers are so connected to martial arts is because they were worn in kung fu films by actors and extras. Kwan Tak Hing, who potrayed the famous Wong Fei Hung wore them in the days when films were in black & white. Bruce Lee, Jacky Chan or Samo Hung all wore these slippers in their films. There were cheap and enonomical to do so.

Most Tai Chi or Taiji practitioners refer to these slippers as Tai Chi (Taiji) Slippers. Some of them could not practice their art without the pyschology of wearing one of those cotton-sole slippers. They could be very awkward & demanding and would turn down the rubber-sole ones because their feet could not feel the 'energy' while gliding along the floor. They needed a pair of energised Tai Chi slippers even though their Tai Chi had yet to progress beyond beginners stage. One down side about cotton-sole ones is that they could not be worn on wet surfaces. It would not be advisible to wear them on slippery floors or coming down wooden stairs as they could cause serious accidents.

Kung Fu slippers were all the rage during the seventies. They could be either rubber, plastic or cotton soles. Whenever there was a late night double-billed kung fu filmss at London Leicester Square, there would be a lot of kung fu enthusiasts wearing these slippers. Some would put on their kung fu jackets as well.

Wing Chun practitioners would call the V-neck slippers 'Yip Man' slippers. This is because he wore one in his photographs. These V-neck slippers could be seen in Chinese films, including non-martial arts films long before we even heard of Yip Man.

Some ladies prefer the slippers with a strap and buckle across or a bit of design to go with it. They regard the other types as for male rather than female.