Martial arts festival kicks off in Hong Kong

( China Daily )

Updated: 2012-02-29

The 10th Hong Kong International Martial Arts Festival opened at the Asia World-Expo, Hong Kong on Feb 25. Chinese kungfu actor Zhao Wenzhuo appeared at the opening ceremony as the spokesperson. It's the sixth time Zhao has been chosen as the annual event's spokesperson.

Zhao began to learn martial arts at age 8 and won his first national award at 12. In 1991, the 19-year-old was champion of the National Martial Arts Competition.

He rose to fame when he was invited to play the title role of the Hong Kong kungfu flick New Fong Sai-Yuk in 1992. He has since become one of the hottest kungfu stars, after Jacky Chan and Jet Li. His latest two movies, Big Wudang and Special Identity, will be released this year.

Nearly 900 teams from 25 countries joined this year's festival. The oldest participant is 83, while the youngest is 4.