The martial arts actors who came out in the last century are all real kung fu, and any one of them is a martial arts champion.
This is true of smash hit martial arts stars, as are unknown stand-ins and martial arts instructors.
"Ghost Feet Seven" is one of them.
In 1974, 12-year-old Xiong Xinxin began to learn martial arts, from the famous food city of Liuzhou to Nanning, studying hard for 8 years.
Because of her excellent talent in Xi martial arts, Xiong Xinxin has won many martial arts championships.
What did a martial arts champion of the 80s do?
Most of them are sports school coaches, and Xiong Xinxin is no exception, but what is unexpected is that Xiong Xinxin later changed from a sports school coach to a nationally famous "Ghost Foot Seven".
How did he run from Liuzhou to Hong Kong to develop? and what made him get involved with the bigwig director Tsui Hark and become a sweetheart in martial arts movies?
Today we will talk about the story of the "Ghost Feet Seven" in the martial arts rivers and lakes.
In 1983, Xiao Xiong, who had been practicing martial arts for 8 years, successfully retired, and although he wore the name of many martial arts champions, he could only return to Liuzhou as a martial arts coach.
In order to relieve the pressure of life, Xiong Xinxin occasionally teaches some foreign students martial arts.
Day after day, he saw another way out of life. Otherwise, learn English, international students are generous and not short of money, so it's good to go abroad as a translator.
In this way, the first goal of the martial arts champion in life was to learn Xi English and work abroad.
If you develop well, you can also realize your dream of traveling around the world.
But fate quietly gave him a big gift.
One day, the senior brother of the martial arts school called him and asked him to go to Beijing to be a stand-in for a few days, and he went without thinking too much.
What is that film that needs a stand-in? It is "North and South Shaolin" starring Jet Li.
This movie is very important to Xiong Xinxin, not because he is Jet Li's stand-in, but because he met the future Bole Liu Jialiang.
Liu Jialiang is also a teacher and friend to Xiong Xinxin.
During the filming of "North and South Shaolin", Liu Jialiang taught him not to care whether he was tired or not, and to seize the opportunity to express himself more.
The first meeting between the two lasted only five minutes, but he was deeply impressed by the majesty of Liu Jialiang, and everyone was respectful when they saw the director.
What he didn't know was that this somewhat serious and talkative person had given him a completely different life.
During filming, Xiong Xinxin's solid martial arts movements left a deep impression on the director, and told him to wait for his news, and promised to have the opportunity to take him to Hong Kong to film in the future.
Anyone who hears this will feel that it is a casual promise, and Xiong Xinxin is no exception.
When they parted, Liu Jialiang's wife Weng Jingjing gave him a pair of brand-name sneakers, which was the first pair of brand-name shoes in his life.
As the saying goes, read 10,000 books, travel 10,000 miles.
Xiong Xinxin's 10,000-mile journey began with these shoes.
Three years later, Liu Jialiang's assistant called, it turned out that Director Liu was preparing to shoot a movie, and he needed martial arts instructors and stand-ins, and asked Xiong Xinxin if he was still willing.
Of course he wanted to go, this guy from Liuzhou, who had been waiting for three years, did not hesitate to pack his bags and went to Hong Kong the next day.
From the moment he stepped into Hong Kong, Liu Jialiang was not Xiong Xinxin's director, but his teacher, who cared about everything in his food, clothing, housing, transportation, career and life.
Many years later, Xiong Xinxin recalled those days with great gratitude.
A mainland boy, who is not familiar with life, is the master who drove himself to drink tea and eat, knowing that he is at a loss, he often does psychological work, he must persevere, don't care what others say, don't embarrass martial arts athletes.
Speaking of director Liu Jialiang, it is very big.
He was the first Chinese martial arts instructor-turned-director, and won the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Hong Kong Film Awards in 2010.
Since joining the film festival in 1950, it has played an important role in the development of Chinese martial arts films. In 1981, the movie "Elders" became popular with Hui Yinghong, and in 1990, he was a martial arts instructor for the American movie "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles", and he was also the first Chinese to go to Hollywood as a martial arts instructor.
It can be said that he is the founder of Chinese martial arts instruction.
Hong Kong, the mainland, Taiwan, and the United States have all left him to make movies, so that the essence of Chinese martial arts is spread all over the world.
What's more worth mentioning is that he is the fourth-generation disciple of Huang Feihong and the descendant of Hong Jiaquan.
In 1988, "Tiger Guard" was released, which was the movie that Liu Jialiang called to invite Xiong Xinxin to be a martial arts instructor, and it was also his first step into the Hong Kong film industry.
If Liu Jialiang is Xiong Xinxin's guide, then Tsui Hark is the pioneer of his life path.
In the first few years of his arrival in Hong Kong, his most famous identity was Jet Li's stand-in, and Tsui Hark was the first person to hand him an invitation to be an actor.
During the filming of "Once Upon a Time 2", Tsui Hark took the initiative to ask if he was willing to be an actor, and Xiong Xinxin agreed without thinking about it.
In this way, he is not only the villain Jiugong Zhenren in the movie, but also the stand-in of the starring Jet Li, who wears two hats and earns two money.
Once born and twice cooked, during the filming of "Once Upon a Time 3", Tsui Hark came again, and this time gave him a more important role, Ghost Feet Seven.
Xiong Xinxin has been playing supporting roles for most of his life, and Ghost Foot Seven is the most outstanding of his many roles.
Later, some people played this role again, but it was difficult to surpass him.
Especially his crying scene in "Once Upon a Time: The Lion Fight", which made the audience deeply feel the confusion and despair of Ghost Feet Seven and the stubbornness frozen in the blood.
Xiong Xinxin said in a later interview that he integrated his experience in Hong Kong into this role.
He is not good-looking, and he is from the mainland, and he is struggling to survive in Hong Kong, where handsomeness is the most important at that time, and what about Jet Li's stand-in, after all, it is just a stand-in.
The scene where he slapped Huang Feihong and then hugged him and cried was so touching that people couldn't help crying.
The brilliant interpretation of this role has established his image in the hearts of the audience.
The role is too successful, and it's not a good thing, after "Ghost Feet Seven" became famous, everyone in the industry regarded him as an actor, and no one asked him to be a martial arts instructor as a stand-in.
Without the previous dozen or so hours of continuous rotation, Xiong Xinxin was very disappointed and a little unaccustomed to Xi it.
No job means no money, and he is Xi to the mode of making money with physical strength.
This has to say how Xiong Xinxin used to live.
I just want to make money, run four races a day, this one for that, and don't sleep for more than 36 hours.
Although he always fights and kills in Jianghu movies, he doesn't know what Jianghu is, and it has nothing to do with him, he just concentrates on doing a good job of martial arts stand-ins.
At his peak, he worked as a stand-in for 7 people in one night. He is from the mainland, and his salary is lower than that of Hong Kong locals, and over time, it is rumored in the circle that there is a Xiong Xinxin from the mainland, who is very good at being a stand-in, can fall and flip, and the price is cheap.
At that time, there were many martial arts practitioners in Hong Kong who could do difficult movements, but there were not many who had received formal martial arts training like Xiong Xinxin.
In this way, under the commonplace injuries such as muscle tears, ankle sprains, and broken bones, Xiong Xinxin opened up her popularity.
In "Once Upon a Time 1", he was a stand-in for more than ten hours in a row, and he finished filming the bamboo ladder battle alone.
When he was lying on the ground in prostration, Tsui Hark asked him, do you want to be an actor, Xiong Xinxin replied What do you think I am working so hard for, I want to make money.
This mainland boy in Hong Kong has won one job after another by desperately trying his best.
Xiong Xinxin's success is a result of solid efforts.
Wu Xing drank tea and ate during the break, and also chatted about some gossip, but they talked about whose actions were better.
If you do martial arts and appear in the mouth of your peers, you can be considered a cow, and Xiong Xinxin is counted as one.
He once said that when a good martial arts stand-in is filming, the actors from the crew next door will come to see the play, which is a huge honor for the stand-in.
By chance, he and Tsui Hark went to France to make a movie, and Xiong Xinxin got the opportunity to be an independent martial arts instructor for the first time, and it was this success that allowed him to stay abroad.
From 1996 to 2003, he has been working as a martial arts instructor for Hollywood movies for 7 years, "Full-time Swordsman", "Immortal Hidden Dragon" and so on, a total of more than a dozen, and the praise continues.
In 2004, Tsui Hark wanted to shoot "Seven Swords", so he specially invited Xiong Xinxin back from the United States, and also invited his teacher Liu Jialiang, and the two worked together as film directors.
In the end, the film won the Hong Kong Film Awards for Best Action Design, and Liu Jialiang gave the opportunity to Xiong Xinxin, which was the first time he stood on the podium of the Academy Awards.
For Tsui Hark's "Seven Swords", Xiong Xinxin pushed two jobs that had already been confirmed, and American companies were very dissatisfied. After thinking about it left and right, he decided to leave Hollywood and return to the mainland where he had been away for a long time.
Xiong Xinxin, as a mature martial arts instructor, started the idea of making action movies.
In 2009, he directed "Warriors" and in 2013, "Glory Years". Because he is a martial arts instructor, it is inevitable that the movie will have a phenomenon that martial arts is greater than literary drama, but for an action actor, it is good to dare to try.
Nowadays, "Ghost Feet Seven" is still active in front of and behind the scenes, as a martial arts instructor of the older generation, or from a formal martial arts school, it is too precious in today's fancy entertainment industry.
With such old martial artists here, Chinese action movies will not be completely lonely.
In 2023, the movie "Bagua Grandmaster" featuring the Baguazhang generation of grandmasters will be filmed, and Xiong Xinxin and another veteran star will give the audience a video on the spot to resist the phenomenon of "fake fighting" that is now prevalent.
Chinese kung fu filmmakers can't disappear, and the current little fresh meat should really learn from the old actors in the past, promote the quintessence of the country, and advocate real kung fu.