Kung Fu Night - Dec 15 2018 - Santa Clara CA

[GeneChing]

I just posted pix from the Kung Fu Night Press Conference on our facebook album SF Bay Area School Grand Openings, Anniversaries & Shows. Gigi and I attended, along with a few journalists from various Chinese press outlets. Our cover masters Zhao Qingjian and Xu Dezheng were there. This centers around a touring Shandong team.

Kung Fu Night: December 15, 2018, Great American Ballroom, Santa Clara Convention Center, Santa Clara CA fuji2018nnw@gmail.com 669-207-7777

Tuesday, December 11, 2018
Kung Fu gala expected to promote Chinese culture in U.S.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-12-11 18:12:17|Editor: mym

SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 10 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese Kung Fu gala, performed by Chinese and U.S. Kung Fu masters in the San Francisco Bay Area, is expected to ignite the local people's enthusiasm for Chinese martial arts and promote cultural exchange between China and California, said organizers on Monday.

The "Kung Fu Night" will be presented by 10 teachers and students from China's Capital Institute of Physical Education and nearly 20 Kung Fu schools in the Bay Area on Dec. 15 in Santa Clara, California.

Organized by the Fuji Foundation and the American Shandong Chamber of Commerce, the event has been held five times in the Bay Area to promote the culture of Chinese Wushu, or martial arts, and bring the essence of Chinese Wushu to larger overseas audience.

"As a Wushu practitioner, I always regard promotion of Wushu spirit as my responsibility. The gala provides a platform for Wushu practitioners in China and the United States to exchange ideas and skills," Zhao Qingjian, director of the gala, told a press conference held on Monday in San Jose, California.

"I also hope it will stimulate people's enthusiasm in the Bay Area and provide an opportunity for the American people to better understand Chinese martial arts culture," he said.

"Chinese Wushu is a treasure of Chinese traditional culture. With a long history, profound meaning and unique glamor, Chinese Wushu is well known in the world," Chinese Consul General in San Francisco Wang Donghua said in a letter dated Dec. 3 to the organizers.

"Kung Fu Night gathers friends through exchanging skills and promotes the spirit and wisdom of Chinese Wushu overseas as well as athletic exchanges between Chinese and American peoples," said Wang.

The gala, which will last nearly two hours, will show more than 20 performances with distinct skills and attracts an audience of 500 people, according to Zhao, also Wushu champion of 2008 Olympics and a teacher at Capital Institute of Physical Education.

Each of the participating Kung Fu schools, including Thunder Kungfu Academy, Dragon Rhythm Shaolin Kung Fu, and Feishifu Kungfu, will display their own unique skills, such as combative form, competitive form and health-preserving Qigong, said Zhao.

All the performances follow the principle of "high quality, difficulty, beauty and innovation," and adopt the skills of dancing to highlight the visual effect, he said.

Zhao himself will join the teachers and students of Capital Institute of Physical Education to perform the finale "Soul of Wushu." The 30-minute program will feature broadsword, spear, sword and staff styles.

Since July, Zhao has been visiting U.S. cities of San Francisco, Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Houston to exchange skills with local Kung Fu schools and train local Kung Fu learners. He has established contacts with more than 30 Kung Fu schools in those cities.

The organizers' efforts also won the recognition of California Assembly Member Kansen Chu.

In a certificate of recognition, Chu, on behalf of California State Assembly, commends their "dedicated efforts in our community to promote Chinese culture, martial arts and assist in Chinese American friendship."

[GeneChing]

Chinese martial arts connect China, US by diversifying community cultures
Source:Xinhua Published: 2018/12/17 18:33:41


International students learn kung fu at the Shajiamen Martial Arts School in Cangzhou, Heibei Province, on May 12. Photo: VCG


Inset: NBA Star Stephen Curry (right) learns tai chi in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, on August 8, 2017. Photo: VCG

Chinese martial arts, or kung fu, are a perfect platform for connecting Chinese and Americans and contributes a lot to the diversified cultures of various communities in San Francisco's Bay Area, organizers of a martial arts event said on Sunday.

The art of kung fu is part of the heritage of the splendid traditional Chinese cultural, which can be integrated with the diversified cultures of various communities in the Bay Area, said Qian Chengfei, one of the organizers of the Kung Fu Night Gala that drew more than 500 visitors in the Bay Area on Friday night.

More than 200 Chinese and US kung fu practitioners, aged between 5 and 60 years old, from about 20 kung fu schools in the Bay Area took part in the festive kung fu gala Friday night in Santa Clara, northern California.

The two-hour gala featured more than 20 performances showing off the distinct martial arts skills and breath-taking fighting techniques of many Chinese melee weapons such as swords, nunchaku, the monkey staff, machetes, double swords and long spears.

Each of the participating kung fu schools, including the Thunder Kungfu Academy, Dragon Rhythm Shaolin Kung Fu and Feishifu Kungfu, also displayed their own unique martial arts forms, such as combative forms, competitive forms and health-preserving qigong.

All the performances followed the principle of "high quality, difficulty, beauty and innovation," and incorporated dance moves for added visual effect, said Zhao Qingjian, director of the gala and champion of the Wushu Tournament Beijing event held alongside the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympic Games.

The gala was also joined by 10 teachers and students from China's Capital Institute of Physical Education, whose performance brought to life magical and mysterious kung fu skills passed down from Chinese kung fu masters hundreds of years ago.

Their finale pushed the gala night to a climax that won thunderous applause from the enthusiastic audience, which broke out in cheers of joy and excitement.

"Many Americans showed a genuine passion for kung fu and they were so fascinated with it that they were reluctant to leave the school even after classes had ended," Zhao noted.

He added that hundreds of thousands of people in the US have studied kung fu at various martial arts schools in the Bay Area over the past several decades.

"We're celebrating the cultural event here. Kung fu is not something limited to Asia, but rather something that really crosses boundaries. We're really excited to have it here in Santa Clara tonight," said Santa Clara Vice Mayer Kathy Watanabe.

"Kung fu is a treasured part of Chinese traditional culture. With a long history, profound meaning and unique glamor, kung fu is well known around the world," Chinese Consul General in San Francisco Wang Donghua said in a letter to the organizers.

Organized by the Fuji Foundation and the American Shandong Chamber of Commerce, the event has been held five times in the Bay Area to promote kung fu culture and bring the essence of Chinese martial arts to a larger overseas audience.

The organizers' efforts have won the recognition of California Assembly Member Kansen Chu.

In a certificate of recognition, Chu, on behalf of the California State Assembly, commended the organizer's "dedicated efforts in our community to promote Chinese culture, martial arts and assist in Chinese-American friendship."

If it wasn't for the holidays and my need to gift shop, I might have gone and taken pix.