Meet Li Lau

Li Lau is a full-time professional magician, escape artist and sideshow performer from Port Elizabeth. A qualified criminologist, Li also volunteers for a non-profit organisation to train those in the frontline of DNA projects how to secure a crime scene.

Read more about why Li is proud to be Chinese and a South African.

"Don’t be afraid of embracing who you are and learning as much about your heritage as you can and to always following your dreams and passions" ~ Li Lau

Name: Lee Ah Kun (Professional stage name: Li Lau)

Occupation: Magician, escape artist and sideshow performer

1. Where were you born?

Boksburg, Gauteng.

2. What school/college/university did you attend?

I attended Alexander Road High School in Port Elizabeth and later graduated from UNISA with a Bachelor of Arts in Criminology.

3. What is your fondest childhood memory, growing up as a Chinese child?

Growing up half Chinese in a predominantly white culture, one of my fondest childhood memories was often visiting and spending time at a family relation’s Chinese restaurant in PE called Silver Lantern (the old one in Parliament Street).
Everything was so very Chinese in terms of decor and atmosphere that it felt like a different world – and one that I very much enjoyed experiencing.

4. What is your favourite Chinese food?

Hmmm... That’s a tough one to answer but I would have to say Chicken Chow Mein and most definitely Char Siu Bao (lots and lots of bao *lol*).

5. Where do you live?

Port Elizabeth, Eastern Cape.

6. What work do you do?

I work full time as a professional magician, escape artist and sideshow performer – which pretty much involves me doing some rather bizarre and traditional type magic and attempting dangerous escapes and crazy carnival sideshow stunts such as eating fire and walking on broken glass.
I also volunteer as a DNA Awareness and Crime Scene Preservation Trainer (Eastern Cape) for the DNA Project , a non-profit organisation committed to advancing justice through the expanded use of DNA evidence in conjunction with a national DNA criminal intelligence database.

7. What made you want to become a magician?

Well, I've loved magic since I was a kid and remember watching a lot of magic shows on TV, but at the time it was mostly an interest and hobby for me and never imagined I would one day become a full time magician and escape artist as a job.
I had a magic set while in primary school and even performed for a class once where I did my own version of a Houdini straitjacket escape using a school jersey and some rope as well as daringly putting out a lit match on my tongue (I was crazy even back then).
But I think it was only after living in London years later that I really started getting back into magic and learning more about escapology (or the art of escape), as that was of particular interest to me since childhood (who remembers watching MacGyver escaping various death traps using only his quick thinking and Swiss Army knife?), that I really began thinking about performing.
I delved more and more into escapes and eventually sideshow and mentalism over the years, but it was only after coming back to South Africa and being asked one day to perform a small escape show at a local Animal Welfare Society club meeting by a neighbour that the performance bug really bit me and felt I wanted to try and pursue it as a career... and the rest is history.

Cape Town Buskers Festival - 2018

8. What do you love about your job?

I really love being able to wow and amaze audiences with all of the uniquely bizarre, daring and seemingly impossible things that I do as a magician, escape artist and sideshow performer. Not many people can do what I do as I’m amongst the very few such performers in South Africa.
Being a magician is a very creative process and I like developing new ideas, re-imagining old ones and pushing the boundaries of what I think is possible in order to produce effects and stunts I feel people will enjoy watching (I have to live up to being known as “One Crazy China!”)

9. What is your proudest achievement?

Another tough question to answer... I would have to say that my proudest achievement is rather my proudest moment in life – which would be the first time I ever publicly performed as a professional escape artist and magician.

Click here for the official Online World Records entry recognition.

10. Why are you proud to be South African?

I spent several years living abroad in the UK after leaving high school and as such had the opportunity to really learn what it means to be South African after experiencing other cultures from around the world.
This led me to appreciate what makes us who we are. SA is definitely a unique and quirky place and one that is filled with such diversity that a little from everyone has come together to form our identity as South Africans.

11. Why are you proud to be Chinese?

I’m proud that we have such a rich and spiritual heritage filled with so many remarkable accomplishments and a wealth of knowledge to share spanning thousands of years - knowledge that is increasingly being discovered and utilised in many of today’s Western cultures.... and let’s not forget Kung Fu movies and the LEGEND that is Bruce Lee!

12. Name one Chinese tradition that you’d like future generations to continue with?

I hope future generations will continue the tradition of celebrating Chinese New Year with amazing displays of Lion and Dragon dancing and keeping the art form alive and strong in SA as well as the tradition of handing out red envelopes as gifts of good luck.

13. What advice would you give to the Chinese youth today in South Africa?