If you thought the ‘Kung Fu Panda’ was just a fictional cartoon character from the movies then think again – judging by this video he’s very much alive and well in China!

This CCTV footage comes from the Nanchang Zoo in China’s Jianxi province, home to a 12 year-old panda bear named Mei Ling, which apparently means ‘Beautiful Soul’.

Mei Ling was happily sleeping in his enclosure when a male visitor going by the surname of Chen climbed over the barrier and approached him, reportedly hoping to impress his female companions with the foolish stunt.

As Chen crept over to within touching distance, Mei Ling suddenly rose from his slumber and instantly sprung into action to chase down the unwanted intruder.

The panda bear then showed off his natural wrestling ability as he grabbed hold of a low single leg and took Chen down.

Panda bears are vegetarians and generally considered to be docile, but they are territorial and will attack in self-defense.

Attacks on humans are rare, although in 2006 a drunken man had the same bright idea as Chen and entered a panda’s enclosure at the Beijing Zoo, which led to him being bitten in the leg by the bear.

What that in mind, Chen is lucky that Mei Ling didn’t show the full extent of his no-doubt fearsome Kung Fu skills, and instead, after a few minutes of wrestling, he was able to escape relatively unscathed.

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The young man left the zoo right after he escaped and we could not get in touch with him, said Kuang Huaming, the deputy head of zoo management.

According to witnesses, his trousers were torn a little by the panda, but the man should be ok.

On the other hand, we also arranged medical checks for the panda and told the breeders to closely observe its condition. So far the panda is fine.