How a French wing chun master in Taiwan trained by Ip Man’s nephew went from wayward youth to focused man of wisdom
Thierry Cuvillier arrived in Taipei in 1999 with just a backpack and the address of the wing chun master he wanted to learn from. Now, nearly 20 years later and having taught over 200 of his own students, he is planning his return home
It is a late winter’s night in Taipei, a light drizzle affecting a slick sheen on the clean-swept streets of the city’s affluent Daan District. In a small alley off Si Wei Road, near a traditional wet market hanging on amid a growing crop of glitzy new apartment buildings, another place holds true to ways honoured for decades.
The Thierry Cuvillier International Wing Chun Academy has the air of a secret society to it. To get in, visitors must buzz the basement floor of a nondescript residential building. Walking down a flight of stairs, the sights, sounds and smells of the martial arts gym invade the senses: the bright overhead tube lighting, the gleaming hardwood floor, the musk of sweat, and the sound of flesh thudding against the wooden arms and legs of the muk yan jong.
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On this night, half a dozen students of varying skill levels in wing chun kung fu, a Southern Chinese form of close combat, go through their paces. Individually they work various aspects of their craft, then pair off to engage in hand-fighting exercises of focus and technique. Watching over them, providing guidance on proper form and mindful execution, is the man after which the academy is named.
Thierry Cuvillier, 45, is the sifu – the master. He is a man sought out by students from around the world, some of whom have made the journey to Taiwan just to study under him at this humble training ground. But there was a time when the affable Parisian was like those who have come to find him – not much more than a kid with the name of a master on his lips, the address of a Taipei gym written down on a scrap of paper, and a dream of taking his training to the next level.
As a child growing up in the Parisian suburb of Villejuif, just a few kilometres from the city centre, Cuvillier was, by his own admission, a restless youth. By the time he was in his teens, it was clear traditional schooling held little for him.