text: what is kungfu and what do you do? what's kungfu? what do you do when you practice it? what kind of moves do you do that helps u defend urself? kung fu is the general term that refers to all chinese martial arts. it is also pronounced "gong fu" in the southern provinces (china is united through written language, not spoken!). the actual translation would roughly be "work", or "hard work", so it is not a very good label! i actually prefer to use the term "chinese boxing", and another answerer mentioned "shaolin boxing", which i suppose could be appropriate as well, but gives the impression of being directly related to shaolin. stance training, conditioning drills, weapons (long-range, mid-range, short-range, and projectile), striking, kicks, grappling, in-fighting, ground-fighting, and various types of stretches are all incorporated in training. the moves are many and varied.