However, Wong Fei-Hung, with varying levels of accuracy, has featured as the protagonist of classics like Drunken Master (Jackie Chan), Last Hero In China (Jet Li, spoofing his own role from OUATIC), and the stunningly underrated Martial Club (Gordon Liu).
Male kung fu fighter of the 70s series#
The definitive onscreen depiction of Wong Fei-Hung is Tsui Hark’s mammoth six-film series Once Upon A Time In China, which stars Jet Li (1, 2, 3, 6) and Vincent Zhao (4, 5 and the spin-off TV series) as our hero. And all that’s without even mentioning his prodigal acupuncture skills and influence on Chinese medicine. He taught kung fu to the navy in Canton, became right hand man to General Tong Gin, a resistance fighter of the Ching Dynasty and, after the founding of the Republic in 1912, became head instructor of martial arts for the Special Forces elite military unit. From there, he became a key figure in the development of the Hung Ga technique of fighting, inventing many styles still used today, like the Tiger Crane Fist. In his early teens, Fei-Hung defeated a famous pole fighter and his fame began to spread. Born in 1850 to Wong Kei-Ying (himself a legendary martial artist and one of the Ten Tigers of Canton), Wong Fei-Hung began his martial training at the age of five. Wong Fei-Hung has perhaps more films, TV shows and novels written about him than any other martial artist. Selected films: Once Upon A Time In China 1 – 6, Drunken Master 1 & 2, Last Hero In China, Martial Club In addition to Bruce Lee and, uh, Bruce Li ( Fist Of Fury 2), Chen Zhen has been played by no less than Jackie Chan ( New Fist Of Fury), Jet Li ( Fist Of Legend 1 & 2), and Donnie Yen ( Legend Of The Fist). With the film such a success, Chen Zhen – the myth – took on a life of his own, reappearing in numerous stories and being played by many of the great martial arts superstars. While the real Liu Zhensheng died in poverty, Bruce Lee’s classic film reinvents him as a martyr and, in doing so, helped reignite a sense of strong national identity for China. Not a great deal is known about Liu Zhensheng’s real life but it’s said that he was a great admirer of Huo and, after much persistence, was accepted as his disciple, eventually becoming his star pupil and a prominent teacher himself within Jing Wu. While Chen Zhen’s story in the film is fictional, he was inspired by one of Huo’s real life students, Liu Zhensheng (although the “Sick Men of Asia” scene is based on something a Russian fighter once said to Huo Yuanjia, just to make things confusing). Selected films: Fist Of Fury 1 & 2, New Fist Of Fury, Fist Of Legend 1 & 2, Legend Of The Fist.įist Of Fury – fittingly, one of the films that kicked off a new Golden Age of martial arts cinema – begins with the death of Huo Yuanjia and then focuses on one of his students at the Jing Wu school, Chen Zhen.
He also founded the Jing Wu (Chin Woo) Athletic Association which is now one of the largest martial arts schools in the world. In doing this, he became admired by many as an emblem of anti-imperialism. He took on many challengers and remained undefeated, making a name for himself by defeating fighters from the foreign countries who occupied parts of China at the time. On account of his chronic asthma, Huo’s father forbade him to learn kung fu but he practiced by himself at night and soon became more accomplished than any of his brothers. A textbook underdog, Huo grew up as one of ten children in a family who escorted merchant caravans for a living. Huo Yuanjia was a martial artist in the late Qing dynasty whose story practically begs to be turned into a movie. Selected films: Legend Of A Fighter, Fearless Several of them appear in many films – and have been played by some of the greatest onscreen martial artists – so this month in our martial arts special, we’re taking a look at the real people who inspired some classic movies. They take liberties with the truth sometimes but these are films that praise the achievements of real life masters who’ve reached an almost legendary status. While martial arts films can often be outlandish or fantasy-themed, there are many rooted in true stories of kung fu through the ages.
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