On April 27th, the ninth graders gathered in the Zhentao Building Lecture Hall to attend their weekly Assembly that takes place every Tuesday morning. This week, Xabat gave an insightful presentation on Chinese martial arts.

Xabat first went through a brief introduction of Chinese martial arts, explaining the origins and purpose of this art form. He talked about the need for self-defense in ancient China and explored the history and philosophies that created martial arts. Xabat then delved into the different types of Chinese martial arts and introduced some major ones, including Shaolin, Taichi, Wing Chun, Eight Extremities Fist, and Drunken Master. Notably, Xabat discussed how the Shaolin style of kung fu is regarded as one of the first institutionalized Chinese martial arts as well as one of the oldest, largest, and most famous styles of wushu. He also included an impressive video of Drunken Master martial arts.

Along with the presentation, Xabat told students that Chinese martial arts is a personal passion of his, and that many of his peers remember seeing him perform at the art festival. To end the talk, he asked a volunteer from the audience to come up and assist him in demonstrating a few of his moves.

(Written by Miranda Wu Picture by Katherine Xu Supervised by Hazel Gu)