WAH LUM KUNG FU AND TAICHI ACADEMY OF MALDEN AND QUINCY brings together thousands of years of cultural tradition with modern cultural awareness and community activism. A queer- and women-led establishment, we comprise an extraordinarily diverse, inclusive, and multigenerational community of close to three hundred members, not only bringing the opportunity to learn Chinese martial arts and dragon & lion dance to everybody who desires to do so, but also promoting wellness, self-defense, and cultural and spiritual practice throughout the Greater Boston area and beyond. We have continuously won national and international championships in kung fu, tai chi, and dragon and lion dance competitions since 2012. We have represented Team USA in Hong Kong, China, Argentina, USA, and Italy, medaling in the top three each time. 

Over the years, Wah Lum Kung Fu and Tai Chi Academy has not only has served as a convening space for healthy practices for mind, body, and spirit, community care, education, community organizing, and social and political advocacy for positive social change, but we have also intentionally taken our values into new and unconventional spaces to claim cultural, artistic, and community power and belonging. In close to two decades of dedication and collaborative practices, we have performed to over 200,000 people in live audiences as part of prominent cultural festivals in Massachusetts and New England. We have given performances in 50 major corporate spaces including John Hancock, Takeda, and Salesforce to promote DEI in the workplace. We’ve brought our lions and kung fu performers to a plethora of museums and major Massachusetts institutions such as the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and the Boston Red Sox, as well as over a dozen New England universities and colleges and countless Massachusetts K-12 schools and nonprofit organizations to uplift the lived experiences and heritage of AAPI students and residents and bring cultural awareness to all. We perform at temples and churches and an abundance of weddings and birthday celebrations, including the legendary Auntie Helen Chin-Schlitche’s 90th birthday celebration. 

Wah Lum Kung Fu and Tai Chi Academy has represented traditional martial arts culture for interviews for major prints and news outlets such as the Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Patriot Ledger, Malden Observer, WBZ4, WCVB5, WHDH7, FOX25, NECN, GBH’s Boston Public Radio with Jim and Margery, and many local cable access programs to speak on various newsworthy topics regarding the significance of Lunar New Year celebration, dragon and lion dance art, and need within the AAPI community to defend against anti-Asian hate and violence. Wah Lum Malden & Quincy is a co-founder of the United States Dragon and Lion Dance Federation and was the first martial arts school in the country to host the historic United States Dragon and Lion Dance Championships in Boston in 2018, bringing together hundreds of dragon and lion dance artists from 13 states for friendly competition to raise the standard of dragon and lion dance arts in America. Along with this occasion, Wah Lum also hosted the historic Dragon and Lion Eye-Dotting Ceremony in the Massachusetts State House participated in by local and state officials, including the Speaker of the House. 

Wah Lum Kung Fu and Tai Chi Academy has raised over $30,000 to help Asian American seniors, Haitian natural disaster victims, unhoused orphans in Vietnam, the American Red Cross, the Jimmy Fund, the Rice Sticks and Tea food pantry supporting elders and children in Chinatown, as well as helping high school graduates in financial need pursue post-high school plans through our Wah Lum Warrior Scholarship Fund. During the pandemic when our martial arts classes went online, we opened the doors of our Malden school space to house Malden Neighbors Helping Neighbors community mutual aid program for over a year, aiding hundreds of Malden neighbors in accesses food, COVID tests, PPE, and other necessary items.
To this very day, Wah Lum Malden & Quincy continues to provide free practice space for a Chinese senior dance group in Malden. 

It has been our honor to speak on the importance of racial equity and inclusion and to fight against racism. Wah Lum Kung Fu and Tai Chi Academy was a leader in the Malden community in publicly addressing racism and police brutality by hosting “An Honest Conversation of Ferguson and Beyond” with Harvard Graduate School of Education and the Malden Mayor and Police Chief. In response to anti-Asian violence towards Asian women and elders both across America and locally here in greater Boston, we also stepped up to teach free community self-defense training to an estimated 1,000 AAPI seniors and youth to empower themselves, thanks to the funding received from the Asian Community Fund at The Boston Foundation and the Massachusetts AAPI Commission. Wah Lum lion dance teams and drummers have rallied for political campaigns and union strikes that promote values of diversity, equity, inclusion, anti-racism, social justice, community safety and empowerment, and fair wages.