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By Christine Ng
Jet Li, who took up Singapore citizenship last June ought to know
we’ve our own Prince of Wushu here. Vincent Ng, born and bred
in Singapore was a very active kid. Since kindergarten, he just
wouldn’t sit still. Like a superhero, he discovered he had
extraordinary jumping powers. If then, had he decided to go the
superhero route; he would have been known as The Frog Prince.
Good thing he didn’t.
Vincent started as a sports athlete in Primary school. His seniors
took note of his never-ending energy and cajoled him to join the
lion dance club at a tender age. While helming the Lion’s head,
his teacher discovered his potential for something greater and
took him out of school to train in a proper Wushu school.
There, he met his mentor, Mdm Chua. Just like out of a period
kung-fu �ick Mdm Chua and her husband, the then childless
couple, immediately took a liking to this young boy. They sincerely
wanted to groom him to be the martial artist they thought him
capable of becoming. They trained him without letting up, and
even had him sleep over for early morning regimes.
Even now, the slogan “No Pain, No Gain” is Vincent’s favourite.
He loves feeling his muscles ache; knowing his body is
responding to the punishing regime. Vincent admires Bruce Lee,
perhaps the greatest martial arts icon of all time. To him, Bruce
Lee is a legend who epitomised what being Chinese really meant.
This made the West sit up and take notice of Chinese culture.
The opportunity to compete in the World Wushu championships
has given him a broader perspective of life. Vincent feels that the
present generation is too preoccupied with technology that is
detrimental to a young person’s development. Wushu has helped
him both mentally and physically. His short attention span has
been corrected by the need for focus in Wushu. He also feels that
martial arts have instilled a discipline in him which would have
otherwise been sorely lacking.
Vincent’s martial arts training school “Wu Fang” currently has 800
students all over Singapore. Having received valuable guidance
from his mentor decades ago, he wants to now pass it on. He
�nds mentoring challenging and ful�lling. Wu Fang has
instructors teaching in schools, community centers as well as
country clubs. Vincent remembers a school teacher who,
intrigued by her student’s change in behaviour, found herself
following him into Wu Fang. The boy had been a notorious bully
in school, weak in his studies.