FreshWater Cleveland

Trying on history: Silk Road Cultural Collective uses wearable armor to celebrate Asian heritage

Jan 26, 2026

When Johnny K. Wu modeled his first piece of Chinese armor last year at the Cleveland Asian Festival, the filmmaker and festival founder was struck by how many people mistook it for Japanese Samurai gear.

“Two years ago, I bought my first armor, which [cost more than] $1,000—a silver one that we premiered last year at Cleveland Asian Festival,” Wu recalls. “I noticed lots of people kept telling me, ‘This is Samurai armor.’ This is Chinese armor and predates the Samurai armor. So I had to educate everybody like crazy.”