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Mention the name of martial arts actor Yu Hai, which may not be familiar to everyone. But as long as you see his face, many people suddenly realize -
This is not Jet Li/Wu Jing's master!
39 years ago, a movie with a ticket price of only 1 cent "Shaolin Temple" set a box office miracle of 160 million yuan and became the childhood memory of countless people.
This movie not only made Jet Li popular, but also made everyone remember his master who can fight mantis fist - Yu Hai.
17 years later, Wu Jing challenged his brother Jet Li in the classic role of Jueyuan Little Monk in "New Shaolin Temple", while Jueyuan's master still used the original actor Yu Hai.
What is the charm of Yu Hai that the directors of the two versions of "Shaolin Temple" can give him such an important role as "master"?
Jet Li and Wu Jing, in addition to being apprentices in his works, how do they relate to him in reality?
Today I want to talk about the story of Yu Hai, a martial arts master and "superstar master".
01
In 1942, Yu Hai was born in Yantai, Shandong Province, to an ordinary family.
Because of his parents' faith problems, he was named "in heaven".
However, in that special era, the name "Yu Heaven" later became the target of attacks by others.
Forced to do so, Yu Hai had to change his name. Thinking that at that time, they all paid attention to "the relationship between cadres and groups is like fish water", so he named himself "Yu Hai" and took the meaning of "fish cannot be separated from water".
When he was 12 years old, Yu Hai had the honor to visit Mr. Lin Jingshan, the fourth generation of the Seven Star Mantis Fist known as the "Strange Man of the Central Plains", and began to learn the authentic Mantis Fist.
Yu Hai was born stronger, his arms and legs were stronger than others, coupled with Lin Jingshan's guidance, so he made rapid progress, which was very prominent among the brothers and masters.
Seeing that the apprentice was so contentious, Lin Jingshan did not hide his secrets, he taught the mantis fist, plum blossom gun, hexagram, big knife, swordplay and other kung fu, and cultivated The Sea into an all-rounder.
However, among the many kung fu, Yu Hai was most interested in and practiced best, or Mantis Fist.
In order to better understand the essence of the mantis fist, Yu Hai often went to the forest to catch the mantis and observe the characteristics of the mantis when attacking.
Once, he actually caught hundreds of praying mantises, and locked himself and these hundreds of praying mantises in the house, just to better improve and innovate the mantis fist method.
Yu Hai's efforts were not in vain, his mantis fist was becoming more and more refined, and he was also more and more valued by the master.
In 1958, Yu Hai was recommended by his master to participate in martial arts competitions.
With solid skills and sharp moves, he broke through the city, province and national three passes, and finally was recruited by the Shandong Provincial Sports And Sports Technical College to become an official national martial arts athlete.
Subsequently, he represented the Shandong Wushu Team for many times and participated in various competitions held across the country, and won many championships such as mantis fist, stick art, and swordplay.
In 1960, Premier Zhou visited Burma, and among the Accompanying Chinese Martial Arts Troupes was Yu Hai.
Later, on behalf of the Chinese Wushu Troupe, he has visited the United States, France and other countries, making great contributions to the promotion of traditional martial arts and the promotion of international friendship.
02
"Shaolin Shaolin, how many heroes Haojie have come to honor you"
"Shaolin Shaolin, how many magical stories have spread you around"
In 1982, when entertainment resources were scarce, the martial arts movie "Shaolin Temple" exploded overnight and created a box office miracle.
Many people think that Jet Li and Yu Hai got together through this movie, but in fact, it is not, as early as "Shaolin Temple", Jet Li and Yu Hai have known each other.
At that time, Jet Li, who was only a teenager, came to prominence in the martial arts industry, and Yu Hai, as a senior in the industry, was naturally deeply impressed by this junior.
In Yu Hai's view, Jet Li is not only solid in martial arts, but also very popular with the audience. Moreover, Jet Li also grew a smiley face, and after each performance, he would smile and thank the audience with a fist, which was very popular with the audience.
In 1975, Yu Hai led a Chinese martial arts team to visit abroad, including Jet Li, who had just won the national martial arts championship, and Yu Hai took good care of this child.
Unfortunately, in 1979, Jet Li withdrew from the martial arts circle due to injury.
But Yu Hai's fate with Jet Li has only just begun.
In 1980, the martial arts movie "Shaolin Temple" began filming. Initially, the Hong Kong director Chen Wen, who was invited by the producers, decided to make the film into a formal drama style, for which Chen Wen also used a large number of Peking Opera actors.
However, the producers were not satisfied with the shooting effect and believed that the essence of Chinese Shaolin Kung Fu was not filmed. So the producer invited director Zhang Xinyan, hoping that he could bring new vitality to this film.
After Zhang Dao entered the group, he directly overturned all the previous shooting results and set the film style as a light comedy.
Subsequently, he resigned from his previous starring role and decided that the martial arts elite in the mainland would complete the film.
With the help of the National Sports Association, Zhang Xinyan recruited martial arts champions Jet Li and Yu Hai, Ji Chunhua, who retired from the Zhejiang Wushu team, and former martial arts champion Yu Chenghui to star.
Because the main actors in the whole group are all martial arts athletes, the crew did not arrange martial arts instructions, and many of the actions in the play were designed by Yu Hai and then completed with other actors.
Among them, while filming a circus, Yu Hai accidentally fell off his horse. Yu Hai was 40 years old at the time, and he had dislocated fractures in his left wrist and elbow. However, in order not to affect the filming of the crew, Yu Hai still gritted his teeth and completed the shooting.
During the shooting, Yu Hai also showed his good mantis fist on the screen.
The ferocious and athletic, lightning-fast mantis fist was vividly interpreted by Yu Hai, and the audience watched it happily.
In the play, Yu Hai is jealous and hateful, and he teaches the young monk Jueyuan played by Jet Li, and Yu Hai outside the play also appreciates Jet Li very much. Jet Li has more respect for the sea.
In the day and night together, the two are also teachers and friends, and later Yu Hai even taught the mantis fist to Jet Li, so that their master-apprentice relationship continued from the play to the outside of the play.
03
In 1982, after the release of the movie "Shaolin Temple", it was immediately a huge success.
Jet Li and Yu Hai were recognized by the audience as a "master-apprentice combination", and then they collaborated on works such as "North and South Shaolin", "Shaolin Boy", "Taiji Zhang Sanfeng" and so on.
At that time, even if the audience could not remember Yu Hai's name, as long as they looked at his face, they would be surprised:
"Jet Li's master!"
However, unfortunately, Jet Li and Yu Hai's drama path and filming concept are different, and the two gradually separated.
After Jet Li, another martial arts boy rose in the circle, he was Wu Jing.
As another national martial arts champion, Wu Jing was also favored by Zhang Xinyan and invited him to shoot the movie "Kung Fu Kid Breaks through the Love Pass". But unfortunately, this movie did not continue the glory of "Shaolin Temple".
However, Zhang Xinyan was still very optimistic about Wu Jing, and then he pulled up his old partner Yuan Heping and used Wu Jing to shoot the TV series "Taiji Grandmaster".
In order to increase the weight of this drama, Zhang Xinyan also invited Yu Hai to play Wu Jing's master.
And this drama really did not live up to Zhang Xinyan's expectations and achieved great success.
The play tells the story of Yang Yuqian, a resourceful and courageous young man who loves martial arts, and after worshipping the taiji master Chen Zhengying as an apprentice, he carries forward tai chi and punishes evil and promotes good.
After the TV series was broadcast, it immediately set off a wave of Tai Chi fever in the mainland, and Wu Jing also became the "heir of Jet Li" in everyone's heart.
Interestingly, the story that happened to Jet Li and Yu Hai was once again staged on Wu Jing and Yu Hai.
As a senior in the martial arts world and the film and television circle, Yu Hai gave Wu Jing a lot of help, especially in kung fu guidance, and also taught him a lot of moves.
Nowadays, although Wu Jing is purple and red, as long as he sees Yu Hai, he will still stand respectfully in front of him and honor him as a "master".
After "Tai Chi Grandmaster", Wu Jing collaborated with Yu Hai on works such as "New Shaolin Temple" and "Shaolin Wu Wang". The image of Yu Hai in the hearts of the audience began to change from "Master Jet Li" to "Master Wu Jing".
04
Yu Hai has a good martial art, and the first work is a national hit such as "Shaolin Temple", why has it appeared in supporting roles for so many years, so that he became a "master professional household"?
In fact, Yu Hai has also starred in the main role of the movie.
In the movie "Elder Tongtian" released in 1990, the male protagonist is Yu Hai.
The TV series was independently filmed and produced by mainland drama crews. The director originally hoped to recreate the glory of "Shaolin Temple" with the help of Shaolin stories and Yu Hai's classic image, but because the production technology was immature, the film hardly got any splash.
And I don't know what the director thinks, many of the wonderful fight scenes that should be in the play have been replaced by "five-cent special effects". So much so that the whole movie looks down, there is only a sense of shoddy.
In the end, Yu Hai could not rely on this movie to completely catch fire.
In addition, Yu Hai entered the circle late, and he was almost 50 years old when he filmed "The Elder of Heaven", so he mostly appeared in the form of supporting roles later.
In addition to making movies, Yu Hai did not give up his martial arts career.
In 2001, Yu Hai also established a martial arts education base in Weihai, Shandong Province, where he taught Chinese martial arts based on mantis fist.
Under the efforts of Yuhai, more and more people are exposed to traditional martial arts, and Chinese martial arts can be inherited and carried forward.
Yu Hai is not only a film actor, but also a generation of martial arts masters. On the basis of Lin Jingshan Mantis Fist, he has improved and innovated, which has greatly improved the ornamental and practical nature of Mantis Fist.
When filming "Kung Fu Kid Breaks through the Pass", Yu Hai met the "boxing king" Zhou Billy.
Zhou Biliduo was very powerful, and when Wu Jing, Jet Li and others fought against him, they were all kicked by his hard legs and grinned, and they had to use protective gear.
So Wu Jing quietly said to Teacher Hai, "Teacher Yu, Zhou Billy has heavy legs and wears protective gear!" ”
Yu Hai didn't care at all, "Oh, I don't bring it." ”
As a result, when the moves were matched, both of them felt that they were playing against each other, and Zhou Billy, who had always been invincible, also felt difficult.
After watching their performance, the director behind the camera excitedly said, "Let's do it again with the two teachers!" ”
At this time, the two did not hold up, and they went to the tool kit to find protective gear, which made Wu Jing laugh.
But it can also be seen from this that both of them are strong kung fu and strong legs and feet, and the real kung fu is admirable.
For decades, although Yu Hai did not have a big hit, his classic "master" image remained in the hearts of the audience.
Now nearly 80 years old, Mr. Yu Hai is still active in the martial arts circle, taking classes and receiving apprentices and promoting Chinese martial arts.
Many directors in the circle have also come to the door, hoping that the image of Teacher Yu will reappear on the screen and bring a Feast of Chinese martial arts to the audience.
I also hope that Mr. Yu Hai can always maintain good health, continue to carry forward Chinese martial arts such as mantis fist, and bring more wonderful works to the audience!