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Thuy Phap - Vietnamese martial arts in Belgium

Thuy Phap is a Vietnamese martial art founded in Belgium by martial arts master Huynh Chieu Duong. It has soft but strong actions like water movements and has attracted many international students.
Huynh Chieu Duong wanted to learn Vietnamese ancient martial arts to improve his health and endurance when he was a little boy with poor health. Seeing the traditional martial arts’ good effects on his health, Duong, a native of Binh Duong southern province, collected knowledge from various martial art masters and summarized them into a martial arts textbook.

On a business trip to Belgium in 2000, Huynh Chieu Duong’s friends, who work in the health sector there, encouraged him to open a martial arts class because they thought that the martial arts could be used for health and physical therapy. In 2002, master Huynh Chieu Duong officially launched Thuy Phap martial art in Brussels and began to enroll students for his classes.

Thuy Phap martial art exercises combine flexible, soft and continuous actions like water movements. The exercises help strengthen endurance and well-being and are ideal for the elderly.
  


Thuy Phap is a Vietnamese martial art founded in Belgium by martial arts master Huynh Chieu Duong.


Master Huynh Chieu Duong learnt traditional martial arts when he was a little boy. 


Master Duong instructs his students an exercise with sword. 


Many of master Duong's students are foreigners. 


Brugidou Jeremie from Belgium performs basic movements. 


The Thuy Phap martial art provides competitive exercises with the principles built upon the water’s force.


Thuy Phap helps strengthen endurance and well-being. 


Brugidou Jeremie and Marcandella Boris (right) perform a Thuy Phap exercise. 


An effective attack.  


An arm lock.


 Luciana Angela (left) and Sens Véronique in an exercise.


Brugidou Jérémie has learnt Thuy Phap from master Huynh Chieu Duong for 15 years. 


Practicing Thuy Phap helps improve health. 


Brugidou Jérémie's performance at the Vietnamese traditional martial arts festival in Ho Chi Minh City in July 2018. 


Thuy Phap martial art exercises combine flexible, soft and continuous actions like water movements.


A barehand exercise.


Coaching his students. 


Thuy Phap martial artists win many prizes at the Vietnamese traditional martial arts festival
in Ho Chi Minh City in July 2018. 


Thuy Phap martial artists pose with martial artists from other schools
at the Vietnamese traditional martial arts festival in Ho Chi Minh City in July 2018. 
  
This martial arts also provides competitive exercises with the principles built upon the water’s force. Compared with Aikido, Thuy Phap practitioners don’t take down their opponents but rather, control them. Weapons used in Thuy Phap include cudgel, knife, sword and fan.

Thuy Phap school in Brussels has some 100 students. The martial art has another school in France, which is taught by a student of master Duong. Thuy Phap has been included in the curriculums of a few secondary schools and universities in Belgium.
“Thuy Phap, which is for physical training and self-defense, focuses on soft actions like water movements to protect the practitioner from the opponent without hurting them,” Duong said.

“I have been doing Thuy Phap for half a year, while my husband, Crevecoeur Jean-Philippe, has been studying with master Duong for 15 years. Practicing this martial arts helps us improve both our health and body’s resistance,” said Dang Thi Thuy Quyen, a 31-year-old overseas Vietnamese living in Belgium.

Being members of the Vietnamese Traditional Martial Arts Federation, Thuy Phap learners often join competitions and performances in Vietnam, including the biannual Vietnamese Martial Arts Festival in Binh Dinh, and the International Vietnam Traditional Martial Arts Festival in Ho Chi Minh City, where they won prizes.
 
By Son Nghia

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