“International” martial arts class in Hanoi

For the past decade, the martial arts class of master Pham Vu Quang has been open every day, from afternoon till evening, and for foreigners only.

The class is on the top floor of an old house, with a plastic ceiling, tile paved floor, and iron fence.

“Don’t call this a foreign martial arts training class. I simply open this home class for foreigners who love martial arts,” master Quang said.

This class was opened accidentally. “In 1995, two Americans and one French person visited the Hoang Tran bodybuilding centre on Nguyen Thai Hoc Street to ask the owner to find a martial arts master for them. I was absent from the bodybuilding centre that day but the next day I met them and we studied martial arts thereafter,” Quang said.

Quang learnt martial arts at the age of 8 and won his first gold medal at 16. He taught martial arts to foreigners to earn his living. Through this job, he also knows the cultures of many countries and his English is better.

The class opens every day, from the afternoon to 9pm. The time for each class is one hour. Beginners study respiratory training and hand exercises. Trainees of the higher standards practice with weapons. Trainees can learn Shaolin or Tai Chi Chuan martial arts.

Ivo, a trainee from the Czech Republic, said: “My leg was broken in an accident so it is shaky. I came to Quang’s class through my friends’ recommendation. Quang told me that I needed to practice Tai Chi Chuan and I do. Now I can keep balance on my legs.”

Foreign trainees come to Quang’s class for the same goal: practising kung fu to have good health, to discover foreign cultures and to maintain fitness. Some stay with the class for several years and some study just one week and return home.

They know this class through oral introductions. Quang said that trainees are mainly foreign experts, staffs of foreign embassies or international organisations in Vietnam.

Melody and Karin, French, who are employees of the French Development Agency (AFD) in Vietnam, said that their friends introduced this class to them.

Quang said that some female trainees have expressed their love for him. “I was surprised and did not know how to behave because I’m married already. But now I’m familiar with this,” he said.

Some foreign trainees don’t pay fees, Quang said. “Many, not rare examples. I still remember a young foreign man who studied one month and quit without paying, though he is still in Hanoi now; and an overseas Vietnamese girl, who I met later in a bar,” the master added.

Though he teaches martial arts to foreigners, the Vietnamese master suffers a lot of things. “He is very serious and isn’t pleased if any trainee comes late or hasn’t practiced at home,” said Britta Merklinghaus, a German trainee.
 (VNN)