The Chinese Club here at Cerritos hosted a demonstration of Kung Fu in the Dance Studio on April 29, with an attempt to show what real kung fu is really like.

“Many people know kung fu but not the real kung fu,” said Yiran Zhou, associate professor of Chinese, “We really want to promote kung fu culture on campus.”

The start of the demonstration was led by Cerrito’s alumni Timothy Keadhey.

Keadhey started learning kung fu at 19 years old but it’s not his first martial art.

“I started learning a Brazilian martial art capoeira and used it to audition for the martial art at the University of California Irvine,” Keadhey said, where he also met with another instructor Daniel Mah.

“This summer will be 22 years since I started training,” Mah said.

Both Mah and Keadhey demonstrated many kung fu styles such as the kung fu mantis style which works for close-ranged fighting, dates back to the 16th century and was developed by the outsiders of the Kwangsi province of China, Hakka Chinese.

The Kung Fu demonstration continued with Dr. Garica who started to do tai chi to bring a piece of Chinese culture back home after living in China for 12 years.

“I started in 2007 at the age of 29,” said Dr. Garica, “Something about living in China was that I didn’t know how long I’d be living there… So before I left I wanted to have something about Chinese culture to bring back home.”

Garica demonstrated tai chi, a very popular and ancient style of kung fu that dates back to the T’ang Dynasty.

Like Garica, many people got a taste of how Chinese martial arts work, “Not only are they learning Chinese martial arts but the culture of China and the history,” said Mah.

Many people have their own idea of what Chinese martial arts are but not many people know what real kung fu is.

Attendees not only learned about different styles in kung fu but also learned about the culture, history, and influence of kung fu.

“What you see in Chinese martial arts movies is not the actual martial art,” said Mah however, he did mention how influential Chinese martial arts has been within the world of martial arts.

“Kung fu is the reason why we have the UFC and many MMA movies,” Daniel stated.

Kung Fu is one of the oldest martial arts in the world, originating in China and having been portrayed in many movies such as Kung Fu Panda, Kung Fu Hustle, and Fearless.

The martial art has had many practitioners, with Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, and Jet Li being among the more famously known.

Although less popular than it was before many people still take an interest in the martial art.