Italian sinologist Bonino Gabriella and martial arts master He Guangxin hold a livestream class on Southern Chinese Boxing. [Photo/WeChat account: wztiyu]

In celebration of the 2022 China-Italy Year of Culture and Tourism, Bonino Gabriella, an Italian sinologist who has been living in Rui'an, Wenzhou for years, held a cultural promotion livestream class with Florence Chinese School in Italy recently.

Focusing on Southern Chinese Boxing, Gabriella collaborated with martial arts master He Guangxin during the class, with the sinologist introducing the history, development and movements of the martial arts and the master demonstrating boat boxing, the prototype of Southern Chinese Boxing, which uses production and living tools on the boat as weapons to maintain an offensive and defensive advantage.

The boxing was included by Gabriella in her book Rui'an Intangible Cultural Heritage, which features 64 intangible cultural heritage items preserved in Rui'an.

"The class was very interesting. I read an article about Southern Chinese Boxing in Gabriella's book, but was still impressed by the demonstration today," said Huang Chengchao, a child from Rui'an living in Florence. "I gained a deeper understanding of the intangible cultural heritage of my hometown."

The class attracted more than 110,000 online viewers. More cultural classes on topics such as movable-type printing and moon cake-making are expected to be held in the near future.

Gabriella first came to China in 1987 to further her studies due to her love for Chinese culture and art. Over the past 35 years, she has visited many parts of China as well as Central and Western Asia. As an author of several books about Chinese culture, Gabriella has been dubbed by Chinese people the "modern female Marco Polo" due to her extensive travels.