The day before yesterday (August 22) was the 65th birthday of Master Lau Ka Fai, who had made countless popular martial arts movies. And to count the most classic works, "Shaolin Thirty-Six Rooms" is definitely one of them. It not only created a peak in the history of Hong Kong cinema, but also made the name of Shaw further penetrate the international arena and become the benchmark for action movies around the world.
Hereby wish Master Liu Jiahui good health and a speedy recovery!
Make a piece of heaven for the folk disciples
"36th Chamber of Shaolin" is directed by Master Liu Jialiang and starred Liu Jiahui, Xu Shaoqiang, Wang Yu and others. The story tells that Liu Yude (Liu Jiahui), a shaodong of the seafood shop, was tragically robbed of his home by assisting a private school teacher in transporting anti-Qing materials. The whole family was slaughtered by the officers and soldiers, but he was the only one who was injured and escaped from danger, and ran to the Shaolin Temple in a panic to avoid trouble.
He was allowed to become a monk in the temple and received the Dharma title of "Three Virtues". In order to avenge his hatred, he wants to learn the best martial arts in Shaolin, the "Martial Sect of the World". At that time, the Shaolin Temple divided the different techniques into "thirty-five rooms", and he began from the most basic "canteen" and practiced all the way to improve. In the end, he not only passed all the tests of the thirty-five rooms, but also defeated the abbot of the Discipline Academy (Li Haisheng) with a self-created three-section stick and became the steward of the first room.
Licorice actor Li Haisheng (left) in the TVB series, who is also a martial arts actor, tests the Three Virtues Kung Fu with a lancet in this film, which is one of the climaxes of the whole film
However, The Three Virtues, who still had their hearts set in mind for their homeland, proposed to the abbot that they should create the "Thirty-Six Rooms" for the Shaolin Temple to recruit lay disciples. The abbot, who understood The Ambition of the Three Virtues, "expelled" the Three Virtues from Shaolin and asked him to return after the mundane affairs.
Sande, who returned to his hometown, once again launched his own anti-Qing plan. He killed several Qing court officials in succession with his strong martial arts, and on the way, he took in Gang Mi Liu (Wang Yu), Lu Acai (Xu Shaoqiang), Hong Xiguan (Yu Yang) and others as apprentices. Together, they use a trick to make the Qing soldiers mistakenly fall into the trap, and Sande also successfully blades the enemy General Tianda (Luo Lie), returning to the Shaolin Temple to create the Thirty-Six Houses, and making Shaolin martial arts famous all over the world.
Integrate life into martial arts
To be fair, in terms of story line, "Shaolin Thirty-Six Rooms" is not new. The highlight of its innovation is that it divides different martial arts into categories, such as boxing room, eye force room, knife room, etc., and then establishes a complete promotion system, so that the audience can accurately feel the progress of the three virtues and the comprehensiveness of Shaolin martial arts.
Another interesting thing is that the training equipment in each room is related to daily life. For example, the arm room requires the disciple to carry water, during which they must tie a short knife to their arm to ensure that their hands remain level. The Eye Force Room requires the disciple to fix his head and look directly at the candlelight with his eyes.
Regardless of whether it is in line with reality, these unique training methods have really added a lot of color to this film. And as the plot progresses, the director has not forgotten their laying. For example, in the first fight between the three des just descending the mountain, it can be seen that the techniques of the three des are applied to the enemy truthfully.
The arm room asks the disciples to carry water, during which they must tie a short knife to their arms to ensure that their hands remain level
Development of three-section sticks
Another plot focus of this film is to portray Sande as the founder of the three-section stick. As mentioned above, the abbot of the Discipline Academy, played by Li Haisheng, in order to test the martial arts level of the three virtues, used the lancet method (in fact, it is the eight chopping knives) to duel with it. At first, Sando chose to engage with a long stick, but was easily attacked by the Lancet method. Later, he tried to use the crescent shovel to take away Li Haisheng's double knife, but it also failed.
By chance, Sande came up with the three-section stick system. The Gein Three-Section Stick contains the use of a long whip and a double short stick, and even if buried by a lancet, it can still have self-preservation. A short stick in the middle can be matched with the other two ends to clip away the opponent's weapon. Its usage can be summed up in four points:
1. If the practitioner holds the ends of the knot in both hands, it is used as a short stick, and then the middle section is blocked or suppressed. At the same time, the three sections can also cooperate with each other, twisting and clamping each other's weapons.
2. If you choose one hand and the middle knot, you can use it like a stick, sweeping the enemy with the frontmost knot, and occasionally you can use the end of the back hand knot to hit the opponent. It is said that this style is the mainstream use of the three-section stick, and scholars must be proficient in it.
3. If you hold the middle joint with both hands, it is the so-called "flower method", that is, by rotating the stick body to make various difficult movements. This style is mainly used for performance, and it is not excluded that it can disturb the enemy in a fight, or occasionally sweep the opponent.
4. If you hold one hand or two hands on one side of the knot, it is used for long-range attacks, and can also be used to pass the enemy block like a whip. However, this usage is more labor-intensive and excessively large, and should not be used commonly
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Innovative scene design, complemented by wonderful martial arts action, made the film a huge hit when it was released in 1978. In addition to becoming one of the top 10 high-grossing films in Hong Kong that year, it also won the Best Action Effects Award at the 24th Asian Film Festival, making it the highest-paid work in the history of Shaw.
In the following decades, the film continued to be marketed overseas, and had excellent echoes in France, Spain, Germany, Denmark, Colombia, etc. And Shaw Company has also launched "Shaolin Temple Tent Master", "Thunderbolt Ten Jie", etc., as a companion work to this film, its achievements are absolutely unquestionable.
Once again, I wish Master Liu Jiahui a happy birthday and good health! Thank you for giving us one set after another of martial arts classics!