More Than Martial Arts — A Living Tradition

Sifu George Michielsen

Head Instructor and Founder

Sifu George Michielsen began his kung fu journey at 17, walking into a school above a Perth laneway that would change the direction of his life. He planned to stay 3 months. He ended up staying 7 years.

That school was Cremorne Arcade, run by Masters Vince and Dave Lacey, half-Chinese brothers who had trained in Hong Kong under Kong Hing, a master whose lineage traced directly back to the founder of Buk Sing Choy Li Fut.

In 1982, George travelled to Hong Kong to compete in the World Tournament and spent a month training at Kong Hing’s home. He wrote down everything Kong Hing said. That notebook became his foundation, and he came home with a clarity about what he wanted to do with his life.

Over the decades that followed, he pursued genuine kung fu knowledge with the patience and persistence the Chinese martial arts world demands, particularly from a Westerner. In 2015, he became Sifu Vince Lacey’s only formal disciple. In 2017, he travelled to Shenyang and was accepted as the first foreign disciple of Master Sun Xue Zhong, the 12th generation inheritor of the Taoist Hunyuan Tai Chi Chuan system.

His pursuit has always been about preserving knowledge that is in danger of disappearing forever.

As Sifu George says

“This is what I love to do and I will always be doing it.”

Today he runs the Chinese Kung Fu and Tai Chi Academy in Balcatta, Perth, where he teaches the arts he has spent a lifetime earning the right to pass on.