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In 1984, Jet Li was filming the final fight scene of "North and South Shaolin".
- Mantis Fist.
North and South Shaolin
His whole set of actions is strong and powerful, and the director Liu Jialiang did not find any problems.
Only Yu Hai, who was standing on the sidelines and watching the battle with his back, found that his movements were a little wrong.
"Your movements have been completed, and it seems very deliberate to shake again at this time." It should shake naturally, like a spring. ”
Yu Hai demonstrated the sealing action of the mantis fist, and sure enough, it was different from jet Li's just now, and it was more one-stop.
It turned out that although Jet Li had learned martial arts since he was a child, he had a specialty in the art industry, and martial arts were no exception, and Mantis Fist was just his "knowledge blind spot".
Ordinary viewers may not be able to see it, but when the insider looks at it, he knows that he is not playing authentically and authentically.
Fortunately, Jet Li has a solid foundation in martial arts skills and is talented, and under the guidance of Yu Hai, he quickly ate through this set of actions.
Watching Jet Li beat this set of punches to the ground, Yu Hai showed a happy smile on the side.
In the play, he is the master and father of Jet Li and Wu Jing, two generations of kung fu superstars. Outside the play, he is a highly prestigious Seven-Star Mantis Fist Master.
He was widely known for his participation in "Tanzong" in "Shaolin Temple", and now that he has entered the age of 80, what kind of life does Yu Hai live?
01, the fate of the mantis fist
Born in 1942 in Yantai, Shandong Province, Yu Hai's "specialty" is not only apples, but also the intangible cultural heritage mantis fist.
Yu Hai's father was a blacksmith, and from an early age his ears were filled with the sound of "ding-ding", which was the sound of his father striking iron next door.
With a poor family and wars, Yu Hai's childhood life was very difficult, often hungry and full.
Perhaps because of malnutrition since childhood, Yu Hai was particularly weak when he was a child, and even suffered from diphtheria, which was almost life-threatening in that era of scarce medical resources.
Yu Hai walked around outside the ghost gate and finally survived, but his younger brothers and sisters all died prematurely due to illness, and only he was the eldest son left in the family.
This fragile family could no longer afford to suffer a major blow. His parents were uneasy all day, so they listened to the advice of others and sent him to a nearby boxing gym to learn martial arts, which can not only strengthen his body, but also use it as a livelihood skill in the future.
Unexpectedly, as soon as he touched the mantis fist, Yu Hai completely fell into it.
At the age of 12, Yu Haibai Mantis Fist inheritor Lin Jingshan as his teacher, officially took Mantis Fist as his lifelong career.
Mantis punching requires strong finger strength, and Master let them grasp the pickle jar with their fingers every day, and then maintain a gripping posture and walk in a half-day of practicing in the courtyard.
At first, Master gave them empty jars, and when their arm strength and finger strength improved, they poured sand into the jar to increase the weight, and the heaviest jar Yu Hai had ever grabbed was 20 pounds.
Practicing every day, Yu Hai is always the one who is the most serious and hardworking, and he is by no means a boring and stupid practice, whenever he encounters difficulties in practicing, he will think of ways to overcome it himself.
Gradually, Yu Hai discovered that it was obviously the same set of boxing techniques, and he always practiced with half the effort, and the original problem was on his flat feet!
Because of this pair of flat feet, his bouncing power is inherently worse than the average person, so it is particularly difficult to practice. In order to strengthen the strength of the lower limbs, Yu Hai frantically practiced squats, practicing every day until his legs were sore and trembling.
It wasn't until his knee joint was injured due to overweight exercise that it was difficult to walk on the flat ground that Yu Hai realized that he had found the wrong way, and instead of drilling the tip of the horn himself, it was better to go to Master to point out the mystery.
Hearing Yu Hai's confusion, Master looked into the distance and pondered silently for a while, and replied, "If people can be heroes in heaven, can't you be a good man underground?" ”
Master's implication is that since you have discovered your shortcomings, you should use your strengths to make up for your shortcomings and use your strengths to avoid your weaknesses.
Yu Hai returned to the dormitory to think carefully, and immediately felt enlightened. Since then, he has begun to work the figure of the mantis fist.
One day, he grabbed a praying mantis in the garden, took a leaf and played with the praying mantis, carefully observed its movements, and then integrated it into his own boxing.
When he was most fascinated, Yu Hai once shared a room with hundreds of praying mantises, and almost became a "praying mantis essence" in the eyes of others.
Yu Hai's martial arts improved by leaps and bounds under painstaking study, and in 1958, Yu Hai won a good result in martial arts competitions, and was immediately recruited by the sports school to become a professional martial arts athlete.
Two years later, Yu Hai, as a representative of the Chinese martial arts troupe, visited Myanmar with Premier Zhou Enlai. At just 18 years old, he stood on the tip of the pyramid of the Chinese martial arts world.
In 1966, Yu Hai was appointed as the head coach of the Shandong Wushu Team, and at the same time became a recognized descendant of the Seven Stars Mantis Fist, and he had become a legend in the martial arts world as a young and promising mantis.
At a young age, Yu Hai, 24 years old, seems to have completed most of his goals in life.
To his surprise, his life would change drastically at the age of forty.
02, nearly forty years old electrocution screen
In 1979, the Great Wall Company wanted to make a martial arts movie, so it specially hired an experienced Hong Kong director, and after shooting for a while, it was found that it was not ideal.
The producer attached great importance to this film, and seeing that the shooting effect was not good, they stopped the loss in time to replace the original director Chen Wen and found a mainland director Zhang Xinyan to take over.
The characters in the play were originally mainly played by Peking Opera actors, but Zhang Xinyan wanted to make an original martial arts film, and only professional martial artists could play the spirit.
Just received the invitation from director Zhang Xinyan, Yu Hai's heart was full of worry. Filming is something he never thought about, of course, acting kung fu is not a problem, but can he grasp those line expressions accurately?
With a worried and uneasy heart, Yu Hai stepped into the set of "Shaolin Temple", and at a glance, he saw Jet Li, who was only 16 years old at the time, and the two met and smiled.
It turned out that a few years ago, they had traveled overseas on behalf of the martial arts troupe, and when they saw the old acquaintances in the crew, the uneasy mood was immediately reduced by half.
The people who practice martial arts are not afraid of suffering, even if they are filming, Yu Hai is also ready to be injured, but he did not expect that what awaited him was an accident that almost killed him.
Due to the time spent on changing directors and changing actors, the shooting time of "Shaolin Temple" was tight, and many preliminary preparations could only be greatly reduced.
Yu Hai has a lot of circus in the film, he originally could not ride a horse, only followed the teacher for two mornings, and had to shoot hard.
It didn't take long for a thrilling scene to take place.
As soon as Yu Hai got on his horse, he found that the speed was very fast, and he did not know how to slow down. Yu Hai found that there was a tree in front of him blocking the way, and it was too late to collect the frontier, only to see the horse trip over the trunk, and he was thrown straight out by inertia.
If he hadn't covered his head with his arms in time, the result would have been that his head was bleeding and his life was in danger.
Even so, Yu Hai's arm was also hit and fractured, and both wrists and elbows were dislocated, and he was sent to the hospital for emergency treatment by the staff.
As the saying goes, it hurts a hundred days, but Yu Haicai didn't take long to recuperate, and then returned to the crew to continue shooting. Every movement hurts the bone, but the Haiwu fight scenes are not wrong.
In 1982, "Shaolin Temple" was released with unprecedented success. The average ticket price of the movie that year was only one or two cents, but "Shaolin Temple" created a box office miracle of 160 million yuan, which was popular all over China.
Almost everyone has seen "Shaolin Temple" in the north and south of the river. Yu Hai, who played Jet Li's master in the film, also became a household martial arts star.
"Shaolin Temple" is so popular that Yu Hai did not expect it, he went out shopping, went to the vegetable market to buy vegetables, will be recognized by passers-by, ask him to sign a group photo. Many people could not call him by his name, but called him directly: "Master! ”
At the age of confusion, his life suddenly turned a new page.
A question always comes to the mind of the sea: Should I insist on the path of an actor?
03, played the male lead once
Following the success of "Shaolin Temple", Yu Hai and Jet Li collaborated on films such as "Shaolin Kid" and "North and South Shaolin". If you name the most popular screen duo of the 80s, the mentor-apprentice duo is bound to be at the top of the list.
When filming "North and South Shaolin", Yu Hai taught Jet Li to play a set of mantis fists, and according to the rules of the martial arts world of "one day as a teacher, lifelong as a teacher", Jet Li was his apprentice inside and outside the play.
It's just that Yu Hai has always been modest, and he does not dare to think of himself as a "martial arts superstar master", thinking that he is at best a "guest teacher" of Jet Li.
Of course, relying solely on his fist and foot kung fu and humility cannot make Yu Hai active in the film industry for decades.
Yu Hai's most outstanding advantage is his playing, and as a non-science actor, he is not ambiguous at all when he plays a literary drama.
When he was most popular, he even played the male number one.
It's just that the blessings and misfortunes depend on each other, and the male number one starring Yu Hai almost ruined his reputation.
In 1990, "The Elder of Heaven" was released.
Yu Hai's biggest advantage in the film world is his good martial arts, real kung fu fist to flesh.
However, "Tongtian Elder" made Yu Hai a "melee warrior" become a "ranged mage".
The whole film is full of immature special effects, so that Yu Hai's martial arts have no place at all.
"Elder Tongtian waved his cuff lightly, and a row of bandits fell to the ground in response."
The movie "The Elder of Heaven" is full of such mysterious fight scenes, which makes many admiring audiences disappointed.
At the same time, this play also made Yu Hai realize:
Not everyone can become a film and television superstar with a martial art like Jet Li.
Promoting martial arts culture through film and television dramas should be the ultimate goal he pursues.
04. Cooperate with Wu Jing
He was nearly forty years old when he made his debut, and most of the characters played by Yu Hai were masters and elders.
Among the actors who played The Sea Apprentice, two became world-famous film and television superstars, one was Jet Li and the other was Wu Jing.
In 1995, Yu Hai first collaborated with Wu Jing in "Kung Fu Kid Breaks Through".
At this time, Wu Jing did not have any filming experience, equivalent to a blank piece of paper, and Yu Hai, who was also a martial arts athlete, often shared his experience with him: how to calmly face the camera, how to play a wonderful play, and not to hurt his opponent.
Yu Hai has a fight scene in the film, to play against world fighting champion Zhou Billy.
Wu Jing was worried that the two were too involved in the fight, and as a result, both of them were injured, so he quietly whispered in Yu Hai's ear first: "Zhou Billy's leg strength is too heavy, and he needs to bring protective gear." ”
Then he went to Zhou Billy's side and said, "Teacher Yu is heavy, remember to bring protective gear."
However, when the filming officially began, Yu Hai and Zhou Billy did not wear protective gear, because they both held the dignity of a warrior and had full trust in each other.
Fighting against the fighting champion is a piece of cake for Hai, and the biggest difficulty in making this movie is that he has to act in an emotional drama for the first time.
In previous works, Yu Hai's characters were mostly monks.
After acting for more than ten years, he finally had a "lady" in "Kung Fu Kid Breaks into Love", or a bright and beautiful woman Hu Huizhong.
In fact, in this film, the two do not have much role in Qingqing and me, and the only thing that can be regarded as an "intimate scene" is a picture of Yang Chongwu rubbing his wife's feet.
Yu Hai had been in the industry for such a long time, he had never filmed a scene with an actress who had physical contact, and when he held Hu Huizhong's foot, he immediately felt uncomfortable and his limbs became stiff.
Years later, Yu Hai recalled in the interview program: Perhaps this is the so-called "opposite sex attraction".
After saying this, he hastened to explain that he had never thought of anything wrong, just because he was not used to playing with actresses, and if he really had an idea, it was impossible to say it blatantly.
Yu Hai's simple and cute speech caused the scene to laugh loudly, and Wu Jing sat on the sofa and laughed straight.
After this play, Wu Jing replaced Jet Li as Yu Hai's "apprentice professional household", and cooperated to create many screen master-apprentice images.
In the 1999 TV drama version of "New Shaolin Temple", Wu Jing played Jet Li's role of "Jueyuan" that year, and the master was still played by Yu Hai.
"The apprentice of flowing water, the master of iron beating", for the audience, when they see the master played by Yu Hai, they taste an original feeling.
05. Dormitory in the old age
From the first "Shaolin Temple" to the latest work in 2021, "The Legend of Debao of Shaolin Temple", Yu Hai's career as an actor has run through nearly forty years.
Yu Hai belongs to the veritable "old predecessor" in the film industry, but for her, filming is at best a side business, and studying and inheriting martial arts is still his lifelong pursuit.
In 2015, a reporter made a special trip to visit Yu Hai's home.
He originally thought that with Yu Hai's popularity and prestige in the circle, his residence, even if it was not a villa mansion, was definitely a high-end community.
Following the address given by Yu Hai all the way to the past, the reporter was stunned and stunned, his residence has nothing to do with "luxury" and "luxury", it is a very ordinary "Shandong Sports School Staff Dormitory".
Yu Hai and his wife, who are over seventy years old, warmly received the reporter.
Yu Hai said that his son Yu Tao learned mantis boxing since he was a child, and has swept the championships of various competitions, perfectly inheriting the mantle and becoming a new generation of mantis boxing masters.
In addition to entering the group to shoot, Yu Hai's job is still a sports school coach.
He never forgot the identity of the mantis fist and passed on this traditional martial art.
Even when he reached retirement age, he would have to go around the sports school from time to time and teach by example.
Filming fame is only a "small episode" in Yu Hai's life, and the theme song of life is always a martial art, so he can resist the temptation of the entertainment industry.
Having experienced the red all over the country, he can also be indifferent to fame and fortune, cultivate his heart, and yu Hai can bear the title of "Martial Arts Grandmaster".
Resources:
1. Interview program "Flowing Golden Years"
2. Documentary "Pop Unlimited"
3. Zhao Wenyin's "Yu Hai - A Generation of Martial Arts Masters Returning to the Hidden Spring City of Jinan"