The undeniable Jiu-Jitsu boom in Asia can be gauged by a number of barometers.
For example: the ever-stronger Asian Jiu-Jitsu Championship, in September; the art being taught in the schools of Abu Dhabi; and the massive Gordo-Evolve academy in Singapore, among other signs. The latest evidence cropped up in China in one of the fastest-growing cities on the planet, cosmopolitan Shanghai.
On the 30th and 31st of August, the city hosted a major martial arts exhibition at the 2010 Shanghai Expo, one of the most visited exposition fairs in the world.
“The Expo receives between 350 and 400 thousand people per day. Around seventy million people are expected to pass through the Expo over the total six months,” comments CheckMat professor Chico Mendes, who attended the exhibition. “The event was broadcast live across China.” The presentation was held by the Wrestling Judo Association Jiu-Jitsu Community (WJAJC), and featured kung fu and Jiu-Jitsu demonstrations, with images of Grandmaster Carlos Gracie on the big screen.
The gentle art presentations were performed by fifteen teachers from Emirates Team and three CheckMat stalwart competitors, Leonardo Vieira, Chico Mendes and Marcelo Andreoli.
From the Arab Emirates, Michel Maia Marcelo “Guardinha” Motta, Oscar Junior, Maiky Reiter, Bruno Lopes, among others, were there.
Check out the photos taken by our GMA in Japan, Hashimoto Kinya:
[flickr set=72157624873224910]
“We spent four days at the event and it was great to see the interaction between the people from Brazil, China, the Middle East and Japan. I don’t know what to say about the Brazilians, they even started up playing pagode music on the bus after the Expo. Then the Middle Easterners joined the fun and sang, too,” recounts Chico Mendes. “There was one day where we went to a Brazilian barbecue house to show some of our culture to our new friends…”