26/02/2026
Following in the footsteps of Chinese New Year, The WA Dragon Boat Festival will be held at Fishing boat Harbour in Fremantle on March 8.
Aside from the dramatic and colourful boats racing, there will be dragon and lion dancers at Mews Park and Bathers Beach, ceremonial drumming, firecrackers and music.
A highlight of the festival is a performance by Sifu Ken Wu, a Yaolin seventh-generation Kung Fu Master.
He’ll be doing battle drums, aerial pole lion dancing and breath-taking martial arts.
“I first got into kung fu and lion dance after watching a performance in our village in Vietnam,” Wu says.
“My brother and I would climb on the roof of a kung fu club to watch them train, then go home and repeat those techniques.
“Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan and Jet Li are my martial art influences, because they are the first three martial artists I watched when I came to Australia.”
Wu leads the Perth-based Yaolin Kung Fu Association, which aims to preserve and promote Chinese culture.
Formed in 1995, it represented Australia at the 6th International Dragon & Lion Dance Championship in Shanghai 2017, and have performed at thousands of events over the past three decades.
In an age of social media and screen-addiction, Wu says it’s a great outlet for young Chinese people.
“Our children make life long friends, learn manners, respect, responsibilities and have fun performing,” he says.
Read full story at https://tinyurl.com/4jam55y4.
