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Text | Sven Talk
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preface
In the Hong Kong film industry in the 80s and 90s, a group of martial arts superstars appeared, who used their agile skills and exquisite kung fu to bring traditional Chinese martial arts to the screen, showing Chinese romantic side.
Bruce Lee perfectly combines Jeet Kune Do with Chinese Kung Fu, Jackie Chan's comedic action elements have been repeatedly successful, and the gorgeous moves in Sammo Hung's martial arts films are still unforgettable.
They spread the ancient Chinese martial arts to the world, and also let the audience of that era see Chinese unique spiritual style.
Kung Fu movies carry Chinese's yearning for strength and beauty, which is a major symbol of Chinese culture, and also allows the world to see the strength and agility of Chinese.
However, the martial arts stars we loved when we were young have quietly left us, and it's not that they can't move, but many of them have left us.
Hong Kong martial arts films Lin Zhengying and Wang Yu
Lin Zhengying, born in Hong Kong in 1952, speaking of Lin Zhengying, the first thing people think of is the "zombie movie" he filmed, and the image of his old Taoist priest in a zodiac robe has long been deeply imprinted in people's hearts.
In fact, Lin Zhengying was also a Peking Opera actor in the early days, and since 1963, Lin Zhengying has studied Peking Opera performance with famous opera masters.
After that, the local film industry slowly rose, many theater actors turned into the film industry to develop, Lin Zhengying also embarked on the same path, he first started in the film industry with martial arts guidance, relying on solid martial arts achievements, soon became famous in this circle, and was thus taken by Bruce Lee and participated in many Bruce Lee movies.
In 1971, Lin Zhengying was invited to join the crew of "Brother Tangshan", in addition to serving as a martial arts instructor, he also made a cameo appearance in the film, and has been starring in movies with Bruce Lee ever since.
As his career continued to develop, Lin Zhengying's "Loser Boy" brought him the Best Action Direction Award, and then he starred in the ghost-hunting series, which became a work that pioneered the horror movie genre.
What really made Lin Zhengying popular was the "Mr. Zombie" series of movies starring him, and Lin Zhengying successfully created a well-known image of "Taoist chief".
Subsequently, he also starred in many TV series, such as "Zombie Taoist", and his career also reached its peak, but in November 1997, Lin Zhengying died of liver cancer at the age of 45, which was difficult for the audience to accept.
To this day, the various images created by Lin Zhengying are still deeply rooted in people's hearts, and he is a legendary superstar in the Hong Kong film industry.
Wang Yu, born in Shanghai in 1942, entered the entertainment industry in 1964 with "Tiger Hero Revenge" fame, in order to better interpret action roles, Wang Yu devoted himself to martial arts training, without using a stand-in to complete all action scenes.
He showed superb acting skills in the movie "One-Armed Knife", which was loved by the audience, and this film has also become a classic of Hong Kong martial arts movies.
In fact, these heroic martial arts images created by Wang Yu had an important influence on the later action superstar Donnie Yen, who once said that his dream of becoming an actor came from the movie "One-Armed Knife".
Wang Yu starred in many other Hong Kong martial arts classics, such as "Jianghu Qixia", "Dragon and Tiger King Kong", etc., box office revenue often makes peers unmatched, Hong Kong in the sixties, it can be said that Wang Yu is the chief martial arts movie student.
As he grew older, Wang Yu gradually turned to behind-the-scenes work and appeared less on camera. In 2019, he received the Taiwan Golden Horse Award for Lifetime Achievement in recognition of his contribution to the film industry.
However, in 2022, Wang Yu died of illness at the age of 80, and Wang Yu's death marked the end of a legendary era of martial arts movies in Hong Kong.
Then Lin Zhengying and Wang Yu can be described as the two superstars of early Hong Kong martial arts movies, each of them with their unique acting skills and martial arts, they created and promoted the development of this era, leaving countless immortal classics and blooming dazzling in film history.
Despite the passage of time, the heroic, funny and terrifying screen images created by Lin Zhengying and Wang Yu are still deeply imprinted in the hearts of the audience, and they are two eternal stars in the history of Hong Kong cinema.
There are also two kung fu superstars who have brought many classic works to everyone, they are Hui Tianci and Qiu Jianguo.
Hui Tianci and Qiu Jianguo, two kung fu superstars, unfortunately passed away
Hui Tianci and Yau Jianguo are both well-known stars in the Hong Kong kung fu film industry, they practiced martial arts when they were young, and later broke out in the film industry with their excellent kung fu performances.
Hui Tianci, born in Shandong Province in 1957, he started in the film and television industry by running tricks, and in the 80s, he finally ushered in a turning point in his life and starred in many popular martial arts films, such as "Hong Xiguan" and "Thirteen Taibao".
After that, Hui Tianci even rose to prominence with the play "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" and opened the peak period of his acting career, and in the following years, he successfully created Ximen Chuixue, a cold and domineering villain, in "Lu Xiaofeng's Phoenix Dance for Nine Days", and became famous for a while and became a popular student.
However, just when his career was in full swing, Hui Tianci chose to fade out of the entertainment industry, one of the reasons may be two failed married lives.
He married ATV executive Chen Betty and actor Banban, and had three children, but all ended in divorce. In 2012, Hui Tianci, who was already living in Beijing, suddenly died at home at the age of 55, and the cause of death is still unknown.
There are rumors that he lost too much weight in order to return to the stage, but Hui Tianci's mysterious death undoubtedly dealt a heavy blow to fans and the Hong Kong film industry.
Compared with Hui Tianci, Qiu Jianguo took a different path, in the 70s of the 20th century, Qiu Jianguo won the national southern boxing championship many times with his excellent southern boxing kung fu, and was revered as the "southern boxing king".
With such prestige, he soon entered the Hong Kong film industry, and his first work was the action film "Southern Boxing King" known for his southern boxing, Qiu Jianguo successfully created a vivid image of a southern boxing master with his solid strength and superb acting skills, and became famous in one fell swoop.
After that, Qiu Jianguo played the villain in "Huang Feihong", and his plain appearance and excellent acting skills allowed him to successfully transform and become a first-class "big evil" on the screen.
Due to the enthusiastic response, Qiu Jianguo's acting career has since embarked on the villain route, however, he has always longed in his heart to one day change his evil and transform into a positive role, but this wish has never been realized, and he suffered from nasopharyngeal carcinoma.
In 1998, when Qiu Jianguo was filming the new drama "New Shaolin Temple", he unfortunately died of nasopharyngeal cancer due to recurrence that year, only 41 years old, Hong Kong kung fu movies lost this brilliant pearl, and people can't help but sigh that there is too much helplessness behind the success of stars.
Hui Tianci and Yau Jianguo can be described as the two pearls of Hong Kong kung fu movies, they have shone in the film industry, but they have also experienced marital frustration and disease erosion.
Both died suddenly at the peak of their careers, which is undoubtedly a great loss for the Hong Kong film industry for the majority of fans, and their unfortunate death makes people sigh that although stars enjoy glory, they cannot escape the shackles of mortal bodies after all.
Although the two achieved success and fame during their lifetimes, they did not escape the arrangement of fate, leaving the world with infinite regrets.
And the following two actors, with their own kung fu strength, wrote their legendary lives very well, they are Ji Chunhua and Yu Suqiu.
The legendary lives of two kung fu actors
Ji Chunhua and Yu Suqiu are both legendary actors in Chinese kung fu movies, each with their own unique life experiences and acting styles.
Born in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province and graduated from Shanghai TV University, Ji Chunhua is known for his unique bald image, and there are countless classic villains.
In 1987, Ji Chunhua played the role of the villain Bald Three Cannons in the movie "Red Sorghum" directed by Zhang Yimou, the role was full of threat, making the audience worry about whether the decent character could defeat him, which also made Ji Chunhua famous in one fell swoop and regarded as a "big villain".
In fact, Ji Chunhua was not bald at the beginning, he originally had black hair, but due to improper treatment of fractures when he was young, he drank aluminum water cups for a long time, resulting in all his hair falling out, which made him a unique villain style.
In many film and television works, Ji Chunhua has successfully created villains with different personalities, such as the vulture in "Shaolin Temple" and the bald three cannons in "Red Sorghum", which have been loved by the audience.
Despite the great success, Ji Chunhua has always maintained a humble and cautious attitude, believing that this is the professional quality that an actor should have, and in 2018, 57-year-old Ji Chunhua died of illness, contributing his life to the screen.
Yu Suqiu, a generation of Hong Kong martial arts actresses, was born into a theatrical family and studied opera and martial arts since she was a child, and she made her stage debut at the age of 9.
After that, Yu Suqiu became the senior sister of Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung, guided them to practice martial arts, began to make movies at the age of 18, and participated in the filming of more than 200 movies in his acting career, mostly action movies.
Her most famous work is "Rulai Shenpalm", released in 1964, which was well received by the audience and also established Yu Suqiu's status as an action actress.
It was not until she got married that she slowly and officially retired, and occasionally reunited with her apprentices in her later years, and in 2017, 87-year-old Yu Suqiu died of pneumonia, and she made important contributions to the development of Chinese films.
The two kung fu actors have their own strengths, Ji Chunhua is known as a villain, and Yu Suqiu is a representative of action actresses, both of whom made outstanding contributions to the golden age of Hong Kong cinema that year, and their acting careers are brilliant and still admirable and remembered today.
Then Yu Chenghui used his life to write his obsession with martial arts, and he is a classic representative of a generation.
Yu Chenghui's life as a martial arts sage
Yu Chenghui, as one of the giants of contemporary Chinese martial arts, known as "China's last sword saint", dedicated his life to martial arts and made important contributions to the inheritance and development of Chinese martial arts.
At the age of 21, Yu Chenghui participated in the wushu competition held in Qingdao, won the championship with excellent results, and was selected into the wushu team of Shandong Sports Institute.
This perseverance made him constantly break through himself on the road of martial arts, and later retired due to injury, but he did not give up his pursuit of martial arts.
In 1982, Yu Chenghui began his career as a martial arts actor and successfully created a villain image loved by the audience in the movie "Shaolin Temple".
In the shooting, in order to make his movements more delicate and rich, Yu Chenghui has repeatedly watched his performance videos, analyzed the shortcomings of each action, and at the same time, he also strives to break through himself and create more actions with personal characteristics.
Since then, he has successively played important roles in many kung fu action films, creating many classic characters, such as Hu Yanzan in "Mu Guiying Hangs the Commander", Dongxie Huang Lao Evil in "The Condor Heroes", Zhang Sanfeng in "The Legend of Relying on the Sky and Slaying the Dragon", etc.
His acting skills are pure and vivid, and he has brought his decades of honed martial arts to the fullest, and the audience has responded enthusiastically, and many action fans have said that without Yu Chenghui, there would be no such classic characters.
Yu Chenghui devoted his life to the study of martial arts, he devoted himself to the study of martial arts, and brought great contributions to martial arts, and in 2015, Yu Chenghui passed away at the age of 76.
Although he has passed away for many years, his contribution to Chinese martial arts will be remembered by history, and many classic martial arts images he created will remain in the hearts of movie audiences.
epilogue
Life is like a white horse passing through the gap, fleeting, although these martial arts superstars have passed away, but the works and spirit they left behind will be passed down forever, when we remember the fallen heroes, perhaps we should be more glad that they have come and lit up countless movie dreams with martial arts.
However, with the rapid development of science and technology today, will the audience's aesthetics still stay in the past? Can kung fu movies survive a variety of high-tech visual effects? These questions are worth pondering, let us jointly guard this precious cultural treasure, and pass on the painstaking efforts and wisdom of these martial arts predecessors.