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Qi Champion
When it comes to the big director Zhang Che, fans who like kung fu movies believe that they are familiar with it. He is an indispensable hero of Shaw Films who once dominated the film industry, and he is also a god-level director in the minds of veteran action fans.
In addition to being able to direct high-quality action films, what is more admirable is that Zhang Che has a pair of "pearl" eyes, and has cultivated and won countless kung fu stars in his life. The most representative is Chen Guantai, Dillon, David Jiang, Fu Sheng, etc., it is precisely because of their hard work that they have created the glory of "Oriental Hollywood".
Today, let's talk about Zhang Che's proud protégé champion, talking about his story, you can use "great wisdom and foolishness" to describe...
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In 1950, a little boy was born in a family surnamed Wu in Panyu, Guangdong Province, and the husband and wife were very happy for Tim Ding, and named him "Dongcai", which means to be able to be "the talent of Dongliang" in the future.
As we all know, Guangdong has been able to produce many people since ancient times, especially the most kung fu masters, and a generation of grandmasters Huang Feihong and Ip Man are from this.
Born in the land of martial arts, Wu Dongcai liked to learn martial arts since he was a child, and his parents saw that he was so obsessed, so they sent him to the "Hong Fist" master Zhao Wei to practice. This year, Wu Dong was only 11 years old.
With a clear skeleton, he learned a strong kung fu under the careful guidance of his master, laying a solid foundation for his future career.
When it comes to "Hong Fist", kung fu fans believe that it is very clear, this is a traditional Chinese boxing art, which combines the advantages of wuzhiquan, wufeng fist, twelve bridge hand and twelve bridge horse, and is one of the representatives of the southern school of boxing, and Liu, Li, Cai and Mo are collectively known as the "Five Famous Fists of Guangdong".
In the past bingo works, we have discussed the difference between "actual combat star fighting" and "performance type star fighting", and from Wu Dongcai's systematic martial arts learning experience, he undoubtedly belongs to the latter.
Net diagram
In the 1960s, Shaw films accounted for half of hong Kong's film and television industry, and even overtime could not meet the growing market demand.
In 1968, the 18-year-old Qi Guanjun not only had a superb martial art, but also dreamed of becoming a film and television star shining on the screen in the future.
This year, Qi Guanjun had a dream and applied for a martial arts training class held by Cathay Pacific to learn traditional martial arts more comprehensively. In the time since, he not only practiced "Hong Fist" to perfection, but also got to know Liu Jialiang, Feng Ke'an and other kung fu masters, and learned kung fu from other schools such as the Southern Sect Leg Method and Mantis Fist.
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After several years of study, Qi Guanjun, who has become obsessed with martial arts, won the first place in the kung fu movie "Man" selection competition held by the "Yangtze River Film Company", and thought that he would henceforth get acquainted with film and television and shine! Who thought that it backfired, and after waiting for a long time, he still did not wait for the olive branch from a film company, and he had no choice but to die completely.
In fact, combined with the actual situation at that time, the reason why Qi Champion, who was a stunt, could not receive the scene should be mainly attributed to the sluggish kung fu films in the mainland film and television industry, and it was difficult to find a place for the strength to play stars.
In order to get closer to his dream, Wu Dong came to shaw's "Longbow Pictures" to try his luck, and the director of the longbow at that time was Zhang Che, who was known as the "Hong Kong Film Generation Tyrant".
As a newcomer, and still a "mainland boy", although the threshold for entering the circle was very low at that time, Wu Dongcai could only run the dragon set at the beginning. When there is no role playing, it can only do hard work such as chores and drama.
Group photo of former Shaw artists The fourth from the right is Qi Champion
In the early stage of his dragon set career, Wu Dongcai participated in movies such as "Marco Polo" and "Eight-Nation Alliance", but they were all small people who flashed by and were not well known to everyone. Even so, he still worked diligently and meticulously. It was also during this period that his profound martial arts skills and diligent spirit were slowly discovered.
In order to have a loud name in the circle, Wu Dongcai took the stage name "Qi Champion" and began to spare no effort to compete in the show business circle.
In 1972, Zhang Che was preparing to make a martial arts film called "Children of Shaolin", and because there was a shortage of martial arts actors, he recruited kung fu masters everywhere. As soon as the opportunity came, Qi Champion naturally did not let go easily, after a year of repeated auditions, with superb martial arts and better appearance conditions, he finally entered the "magic eye" of the great director Zhang Che, and was able to participate in this movie that opened his dream journey.
"Children of Shaolin" movie poster
Compared with the "dry son" Fu Sheng, who was praised by Zhang Che (for details, see Bingo's previous work "Playing the Star" Fu Sheng: Zhang Che's most proud disciple, but the starlight only shines for a few short years"), Qi Guanjun has been appreciated by Zhang Che after a year-long test, and along the way, relying entirely on personal efforts and strength!
In the film "Children of Shaolin", Qi Guanjun played the role of "Hu Huiqian", a disciple of the Humble and honest Shaolin layman, and Hong Xiguan, played by Chen Guantai, and "Fang Shiyu" played by Fang Fusheng, the three kung fu kings joined forces to stage a jianghu war with the villain led by Wu Sangui.
Photo
This film is a representative work of Zhang Che who set off a boom in kung fu films in the 1970s, achieving a double harvest at the box office and word of mouth.
Just as the so-called "plum blossom fragrance comes from the bitter cold", following the release of the fire in 1974, Zhang Che was even more fond of this kung fu disciple. Friends who like to watch action movies, you can relive this hard bridge hard horse, fist to flesh kung fu masterpiece, will definitely give you a good look.
In the same year, in the film "Hong Fist and Wing Chun" directed by Zhang Che, Qi Guanjun joined hands with Fu Sheng, Chen Yiling, etc., to stage a kung fu feast again. While winning the box office for Shaw, it also opened up its popularity.
Movie poster for Hong Quan and Wing Chun
Friends who had seen "Hong Fist Boy" in the early days should have a faint sense of sadness about Fu Sheng's ending at that time. In the film, Fu Sheng played a martial arts master with extraordinary skills, "Guan Fengyi", but repeatedly did not listen to the advice of his master brother Huang Han (Qi Guanjun), exposed his skills many times, and eventually became involved in a dispute, becoming a victim in the struggle between the two hostile cloth factories...
Movie poster for "The Hong Fist Kid"
It is worth mentioning that although Fu Sheng is the absolute protagonist of the film, Qi Guanjun is already good at "Hong Fist", especially the "Hong Fist Three Roads" he used.
"Tiger Crane Double Fist" is the most memorable.
At that time, the most cooperative with Qi Champion was Zhang Che's most popular Shaw star Fu Sheng, the two of them were clever and generous, and the cooperation was seamless, which could be called Shaw's "twin stars". Kung Fu masterpieces such as "Eight Dao Louzi", "Five Ancestors of Shaolin", "Fang Shiyu and Hu Huiqian", and "Shaolin Temple" are the works of the two.
Movie poster for "Fang Shiyu and Hu Huiqian"
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There is a saying: "No one has a thousand days, and no flowers have a hundred days of red!" ”
In the mid-to-late 1970s, in order to cultivate a new generation of disciples, Zhang Che snubbed Chen Guantai and Qi Guanjun, and positioned their roles from absolute protagonists at the beginning to supporting roles.
In 1977, in order to find better development, after participating in the filming of "Hu Huiqian's Blood Battle west Zen Temple", Qi Guanjun officially terminated his contract with Shaw Film Company and became a freelance actor. And he set his sights on Taiwan, a treasure island with a good market prospect.
Movie poster of "Hu Huiqian's Blood Battle at The Western Zen Temple"
Although he left his mentor Zhang Che, he had to say that the feelings of the master and apprentice were like father and son, and when the "wings" of the proud protégé hardened, he did not impose retention, but did everything in his power to encourage him, hoping that he could break out of a new world of his own.
Qi Champion, who has been in the show business circle for many years, created his own film and television company in Taiwan with his own stage name, and in 1979, he wrote and directed his own action film "The Big Villain", but after all, he was a newcomer in the directorial world, and the works he shot were so childish that they failed at the box office and lost everything.
Movie poster for The Big Bad Guy
After the failure of the film company, Qi Guanjun was not discouraged, but forced by reality, he could only return to the identity of the actor at ease, and participated in the filming of kung fu films such as "Guningtou Battle", "Hundred Battles to Protect Mountains and Rivers", "Crazy Fist and Crazy Legs", "Red Lama" and so on, but they were not very popular, so that the reputation accumulated in the past suffered "Waterloo".
In the mid-1980s, as new genres swept the screen, Shaw's kung fu films were no longer thriving. In 1984, Zhang Che carefully planned an iron-blooded film called "The Thirteen Taibao of Shanghai Beach". After learning this news, Qi Guanjun gladly went there, and zero film remuneration helped the memorial work of the mentor.
Movie poster of "Shanghai Beach Thirteen Taibao"
Friends who have watched the film should be impressed, this is a large-scale kung fu film that brings together Shaw's boss wang yu, Chen Guantai, Qi Guanjun, Jiang Sheng, Dillon, Jiang David and other stars, and Andy Lau at that time is still just a small role that is not well known.
This movie, the grand situation can be said to be "unprecedented", in today's star-studded, there should be no "comers". Unfortunately, Fu Sheng died in a car accident in 1983, which is a great pity.
In the late 1980s, with the increasing saturation of film production capacity and the impact of the global financial crisis, the film market was hit hard as never before, and the "Hollywood of the East" was no longer the glory it once was.
At this time, Qi Guanjun chose to retreat from the rapids, faded out of the film and television circle and opened his own martial arts hall in Taiwan, thinking of teaching Hong Quan.
In 2003, invited by the "master brother" Liu Jialiang, Qi Guanjun, who has been in the film for many years, participated in the action movie "Drunken Horse Horse", in which he played the main villain "Yu Haiyang", and played a "wire fist" with one hand, which was frightening.
It is worth mentioning that in this movie, the mainland star Wu Jinggang arrived in Hong Kong to develop not long ago, and it is also Liu Jiahui and his brother Liu Jialiang who have worked together again after many years, which has aroused the precious memories of many old film fans.
Movie poster for Drunken Horse
Qi Guanjun, who is obsessed with teaching kung fu, once missed the role of "tailor" in Stephen Chow's movie "Kung Fu", although "Kung Fu" has achieved great success, and the "tailor" played by Zhao Zhiling also shines, but for Qi Guanjun, it is quite regrettable.
It is reported that when Zhou Xingchi invited Qi Guanjun to play the role, it coincided with the special period of "SARS", coupled with the fact that his daughter had just been born, for many reasons, he could only endure the pain of cutting love.
Here, I would like to ask friends, if the "tailor" played in "Kung Fu" is Qi Guanjun, will it bring different visual effects?
After the millennium, the film market began to pick up, and it is reasonable to say that kung fu masters such as Qi Champion should return to action movies to shine, but he is no longer here, and will only occasionally make cameos to enjoy the drama. For example, in the martial arts film "Seven Swords" directed by Xu Ke, he played the role of "Qiu Dongluo". Since then, in films such as "A Generation of Grandmasters" and "Magic Police", it has been short-lived and has few scenes.
epilogue:
Roughly calculated, today's Qi Champion is in his ancient years, he is bent on running a family life, he will occasionally appear in front of the media, but he still looks energetic, unable to think of him and an old man with a broken candle. As a former star, although the starlight is no longer there, you can think about it, he has a double harvest of marriage and career, living plainly and happily, life is like this, what does the husband want?
As the old saying goes, "Years don't spare people", but how can I feel that I have spared him?
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