Martial Arts Odyssey: Shan Kung Fu — Calling attention to the genocide with a martial arts video

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Using martial arts to educate the world about the plight of the Shan people of Burma. A lot of fight fans don’t get very involved with international politics. Hopefully featuring the Kung Fu of the Shan people will help call attention to the genocide in Burma.

Inside the war zone of Burma, under protection of the Shan State rebel army, Host, Antonio Graceffo is one of the first foreigners ever to experience Lai Tai or Shan Kung Fu. The Shan are one of Burma’s many ethnic minorities being subjected to genocide at the hands of heir own government. Meet young Master Kawn Wan, whose parents were murdered by the SPDC Burmese government army. Now, he lives on the Shan State Army base, teaching Lai Tai Kung Fu to the war orphans in the hopes of preserving the Shan culture. One of the Shan army lieutenants ominously told Antonio, “If the world doesn’t come to help us soon, your video will be the last record of our people.”

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Watch it for free on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1Yb5LTYSFg  

Antonio Graceffo is a martial arts and adventure author living in Asia. He is the host “Martial Arts Odyssey,” a web TV show which traces his ongoing journey through Asia, learning martial arts in various countries.

His books are available on amazon.com

Contact him: [email protected]  

Join him on facebook.com

His website is www.speakingadventure.com  

This episode was edited by Antonio Garceffo and features the official Martial Arts Odyssey intro and outro by Andy To.

Article written by Antonio Graceffo

Antonio Graceffo PhD China-MBA, works as an economics researcher and university professor in China. He holds a PhD from Shanghai University of Sport Wushu Department where he wrote his dissertation “A Cross Cultural Comparison of Chinese and Western Wrestling” in Chinese. He is the author of 8 books, including Warrior Odyssey and The Monk from Brooklyn. His regular column, Destinations, has been running in Black Belt Magazine since 2009. He has fought professionally as a boxer and MMA fighter as well as fighting as an amateur in boxing, sanda, and wrestling. Having spent over 15 years studying martial arts in Asia, he holds black belts in Cambodian Bokator, Filipino Kuntaw and Cambodian traditional kick boxing. In Malaysia, he was the first non-Malay to be awarded the title of Pahlawan Kalam (warrior of Silat Kalam). Currently, he is pursuing a second PhD in economics at Shanghai University, specializing in US-China Trade, China’s Belt and Road Initiative, and Trump-China economics. His China economic reports are featured regularly in The Foreign Policy Journal and published in Chinese at The Shanghai Institute of American Studies, a Chinese government think tank.