Editor's note:
Shanghai has been enriched by the many expats who come from all over the world to put down roots in the city, contributing to its melting pot of ideas and cultures. In this series, we'll introduce you to some of them.
Jiang Xiaowei / SHINE
Battaglia practices kung fu at home.
Italian Clever Battaglia has become a martial arts master after 36 years of training and now runs a kung fu school in Shanghai, where he aims to teach kung fu to the younger generation.
The 45-year-old is the recognised “inheritor” of Wing Chun, a style characterised by lightning-fast punches.
He follows in the footsteps of Master Ip Man and his student Bruce Lee, who popularized Wing Chun in the West. Hollywood stars such as Robert Downey Jr. and Nicolas Cage are also known to be fans of Wing Chun.
Though he is of Italian descent, Battaglia says “my heart is Chinese,” and he has found his calling in teaching kung fu to China's younger generations.
“For me, kung fu is very important because it really is a treasure of mankind,” he told Shanghai Daily.
Ti Gong
Battaglia (right) and his business partner Cirelli with the plaque from their martial arts school.
Mr Battaglia runs the Absolute Kung Fu School in Shanghai and is respectfully referred to by his students as “Sifu Bai” or “Master Bai”. His trademark loose Chinese garb and ponytail make him look like a classic character from an old-school kung fu movie, like Jet Li's Wong Fei Hung.
“A lot of young people in China aren't interested in kung fu anymore,” he says. “I really hope that when they see foreigners doing kung fu, they'll think, 'What's going on? Foreigners? Go and try it!'”
Battaglia became fascinated with kung fu at the age of nine after watching kung fu movies starring famous actors such as Bruce Lee, Jet Li and Jackie Chan.
“If someone asks me why I love kung fu, I don't really have an answer,” he says. “It's like asking me, an Italian, why I love pizza. I don't know. I can only say that I do it with all my heart. Kung fu connects me to my body, to my sense of self.”
Jiang Xiaowei / SHINE
A tribute to Bruce Lee, the hero from the film “Enter the Dragon,” in Battaglia's home.
His parents supported him and sent him to an Italian kung fu teacher, but gradually it began to seem like something was a little off.
“What I was learning was not what I saw in kung fu movies,” he said. “I began to realize that what I really loved was a style that Bruce Lee called Wing Chun.”
However, finding a suitable Wing Chun teacher in Italy was difficult.
“They were only teaching the martial arts aspect and missing the deeper cultural aspect,” he said. “Kung fu is more than a martial art. It's not just a gym workout, it's a lifestyle that you live 24/7.”
After college, Battaglia became a psychologist, but that didn't last long.
Ti Gong
Master Battaglia and Master Wang Kam Leong from Hong Kong.
His life changed in 2009 when he met Wong Kam Leung, a student of Wong Shun Leung, the renowned disciple of Ip Man who is said to have been the person who contributed most to Bruce Lee's training.
“I was blown away,” Battaglia says. “Wan was exactly the type of master I was looking for. Not only did he have incredible technique, but his movements were imbued with Chinese philosophy.”
Six months later, Battaglia quit his job in Europe and followed Wang to Hong Kong, where he trained intensively, six hours a day, and four years later he had risen from obscurity to become Shifu Bai, a respected title derived from his Chinese name, Bai Qi Bai.
Battaglia said he had planned to pursue a kung fu career in the United States, but Wang suggested he go to Shanghai instead.
“He taught me that there is no better place to truly practice this art than mainland China, the birthplace of Chinese kung fu,” he said.
Ti Gong
Mr. Battaglia and Mr. Cirelli and their students.
It was a big challenge for a foreigner to teach kung fu to Chinese people, but he took courage and opened a kung fu school.
He opened Absolute Kung Fu in 2013 with some initial trepidation. Many fighters from other schools of kung fu came knocking to challenge the newcomer, but he won their respect with his kicking and punching skills.
The school has grown over the past 11 years, moving several times to larger premises.
Paolo Cirelli, a fellow native of Huangshan who he met at a kung fu event in Huangshan, joined him as co-management of the school in 2018.
“I've taught at least 1,000 students,” Battaglia estimates, “ranging in age from 25 to 45.”
Ti Gong
Battaglia is training under Master Guo Weihuang in Foshan.
He has traveled throughout China for many years and studied under such renowned masters as Guo Weizhan.
When he's in Shanghai, he often practices in parks popular with kung fu enthusiasts, and since moving to a nearby old neighborhood, Zhongshan Park has become his go-to spot.
“There are a lot of people practicing kung fu in the park and I really like interacting with them, especially the elderly,” he says. “That's one of the main reasons I love China. The parks here are very lively.”
Battaglia is a scholar of classical Chinese literature, calligraphy, and ErhuA Chinese two-stringed instrument.
“Chinese philosophy is a mix of Taoism, Buddhism, Confucianism and other disciplines,” he says, “and kung fu is influenced by all of them.”
Jiang Xiaowei / SHINE
Battaglia is working to perfect his calligraphy.
He is currently studying the Chinese classic, “Tao Te Ching,” written around 400 BCE by Laozi, the founder of Taoism.
“China has had a huge influence on me,” Battaglia says, “I believe that everything that happens in life, every person you meet, has a special reason and can teach you something. This may be a very typical Chinese way of thinking.”
But above all, he says, the core of Chinese philosophy is the “art of change.”
“Everything is constantly changing,” he says. “China is changing rapidly right now, and the Chinese can keep up with it better than foreigners because it's part of their mentality in approaching life.”
