Kungfu genius Truong Van Thuan

Thuan performed the act of putting coins in his eyelids and lifting heavy objects off the ground.

Passion for martial arts

For many years, Mr. Truong Van Thuan (born in 1991, residing in Hoa Hoi commune, Chau Thanh district) has been known by many people for his many talents such as teaching Vovinam martial arts and lion dancing. In particular, Mr. Thuan often performs unique circus acts, such as stuffing 2 coins into his eyelids to lift iron weights off the ground, pressing an electric drill into his temple, stabbing a sharp spear into his throat, swallowing swords, swallowing needles, smashing bricks into his head, lying on the road and letting cars run over him...

Thuan was born into a farming family. His parents and siblings earned a living by growing straw mushrooms. None of them pursued martial arts or circus arts. At the age of 9, Thuan was passionate about martial arts. In the evenings, Thuan went to the Traditional Martial Arts Club in Thanh Long Commune (Chau Thanh District) to study.

Later, Thuan went to Master Ba Choi’s Traditional Martial Arts Club in Chau Thanh town to hone his skills. In 2007, he switched to learning Vovinam. Thanks to his foundation in traditional martial arts, after only one year of practicing the new martial art, he became “skilled” and was assigned by his master to be an assistant trainer.

At that time, no one had opened a Vovinam class in Tan Bien and Tan Chau districts. Recognizing the potential, Thuan immediately asked his teacher to open a class in the two districts mentioned above. Before the Covid-19 pandemic broke out, in Tan Bien district alone, Thuan had 6 Vovinam clubs, each with 40-50 students. When the pandemic broke out, these clubs stopped operating, and now only 2 clubs remain in Long Vinh commune (Chau Thanh district) and Tan Phong (Tan Bien district), each with only about 20 students.

In addition to learning martial arts, at the age of 15, Thuan was also a member of the Chau Thanh district lion dance team. In 2009, Thuan founded the Hoa Hoi commune lion dance team. In 2020, he developed two more lion dance teams, named Tu Hung Vovinam in Duong Minh Chau district and Thuan Phong in Tan Chau district.

Thuan performed an electric drill in the throat.

Kungfu circus art

During his time performing with his fellow lion dance troupes in many places, Thuan saw the lion dance troupes Nhon Nghia Duong and Tinh Anh Duong (in Ho Chi Minh City) performing some very beautiful kungfu acts. Returning home, he spent a lot of time studying books and CDs to practice. After that, he went to Ho Chi Minh City to find a teacher to learn more about the secrets of training and performing skills. After a year of hard training, he began to know how to use his energy and perform some simple kungfu circus acts.

“At that time, my internal energy was still weak and I didn’t have much experience, so I was injured many times,” Thuan recalled. Not discouraged, he continued to practice. After 5 years of hard training, Thuan overcame his limitations and performed more than 50 kungfu circus acts.

“In 2012, I was introduced by the lion dance team of Hoa Thanh town to Long Dien Son Eco- tourism Area (Ninh Son ward, Tay Ninh city) to perform circus, with the condition that I perform 7 acts every day and for a whole week without overlapping. In total, I successfully performed 49 acts”- Thuan said.

Talking about the process of practicing and performing this art form, he described: “After a few years of practice, a stream of energy will form in the body. When I need to destroy a hard object or when another object impacts my body, I will use my energy to direct this stream of energy to the necessary place to resist the force.”

To prove his words, Thuan told me to put my finger on his temple. Before he practiced his energy, his temple was normally soft, but when he practiced his energy and directed his energy to his temple, it became as hard as iron. Thanks to that, when he performed the act of inserting an electric drill into his temple, he did not get injured.

Thuan performed the act of threading a needle through his mouth.

However, not all performances go smoothly. There were times when he performed for 3 months straight without rest, his energy was exhausted, and he still got injured. Thuan said that once he performed a act of hitting his head with a brick, and when he returned home he vomited. After going to the hospital for an X-ray, the doctor concluded that he had a head injury. After that, he stopped performing this act for a year.

Another time, he almost lost his life when he swallowed a sword. Before performing, he threw the sword into the air and caught the blade with his hand, but because his grip on the sword was not tight enough, the sword stuck into the cement floor, causing the prop to scratch its tip. When he swallowed the sword, the scratch on the tip of the sword scratched his stomach. When he returned home, Thuan vomited blood. He had to be treated and stayed home for a month to recover. After that, he limited his sword swallowing performances.

Thuan also had a great trick of swallowing a sewing needle into his mouth, then using his internal energy to push the needle into the middle of his stomach, then using pliers to pull it out. However, he once had an accident with this act. When he pulled half of the needle out, the remaining part broke and remained in his stomach. He had to use a razor blade to cut open his stomach skin and take out the broken needle.

In 2020, the International Circus Festival is scheduled to be held in Hanoi . He registered to perform the act of swallowing a sewing needle into his mouth and taking it out of his stomach. Due to the impact of the Covid-19 epidemic, the Festival was postponed. "I am waiting for the International Circus Festival to re-organize to register to perform. I am confident that I will win a gold medal with this act," Thuan said.

Thuan was admitted to the Ho Chi Minh City Theater Association.

Every year, Thuan also has a contract with the Provincial Cultural House, accompanying the Propaganda - Mobile Film Team to perform circus acts all over the province, with a number of 50-60 acts/year. In addition, he also regularly tours in the Western provinces and some Northern provinces. In particular, Ba Ria - Vung Tau province and Can Tho city have become "regular customers", inviting him to perform 2-3 times every year. In 2019, he was invited to participate in the program "Mysterious Person", successfully performing the act of using an iron hook to hook 2 arms to lift 3 beer bottles filled with water, weighing about 45kg off the ground.

Although performing regularly, the income from this profession is not high, just enough to cover daily expenses. “I have determined that circus is not a profession to make money but only a personal hobby. Performing on stage is just to dedicate my products to the audience. When performing with many audiences, I have the motivation to strive. If the audience is not interested, I lose interest and find it difficult to perform” - this artist confided.

Thuan added that it is not easy to survive in this kungfu circus profession. In previous years, he taught 10 members of the lion dance team, each performing one act, but now, these students have all retired. In recent years, he has continued to teach 3 martial arts students. So far, only 2 "disciples" can make a living from this profession. "These students have only learned about 50% of my ability, so they perform light, less dangerous kungfu acts. Every day, they go with the Western trumpet team in the district to perform circus acts at funerals. On average, each child performs about 20 shows per month, earning an income equivalent to 10 million VND, enough to make a living from this profession," Thuan said.

With his contributions to the performing arts, in 2020, circus performer Truong Van Thuan was admitted to the Ho Chi Minh City Theatre Association. Currently, Thuan and his students, along with the Art Troupe of the Provincial Border Guard Command, are touring a number of armed forces units and border communes to promote the 65th anniversary of the Vietnam Border Guard's tradition day and the 35th anniversary of the People's Border Guard Day.

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