Spokesmen of Chinese Kungfu and their movies

In China, there are many Kung fu masters and action movie stars. The most famous must be Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan and Jet Lee, renowned Kung fu stars both at home and abroad. They are the spokesmen of Chinese Kung Fu. People can really marvel at and admire the charm of Chinese martial arts from their marvellous works.

Bruce Lee, regarded as the 'King of Kungfu', stirred a sensation in US from 1960s to 1970s, changing Chinese image in America where "the Chinese were stereotyped as meek house servants and railroad workers". His steely sinew redeem Chinese image. But it’s regretful that he lived a transient life of 32 years and died in 1973. His death was a loss to Chinese people and Kungfu movies.

In his transient life, Bruce Lee made great contribution to the development of Chinese Kungfu movies. The representative work must be: The Big Boss(Also known as Fists of Fury in the United States), FIST OF FURY(known as The Chinese Connection in the United States), Way Of The Dragon, Enter the Dragon, Game Of Death.

A good news for the fans of Bruce Lee is that a TV series “The Legend of Bruce Lee” will be staged in 2008. Based on the life of Bruce Lee, the TV series will reveal many untold stories about the superstar for the first time.

Jackie Chan is noted for his outstanding kungfu skills in the film industry at home and abroad. He has his own acting style, combining comedy and action, as well as solid martial arts skills while acting. The following list may be the movies that show off the best he has offered.

Drunken Master--- an early example of the comedic kung fu style for which he became famous
Rush Hour--- the pair of Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker makes for a perfect comedy, The film was successful, becoming the 7th top grossing film of 1998, with a gross of over $140 million dollars at the U.S. box office.
The Fearless Hyena--- This film was Jackie Chan's first as director.
Armour of God AKA Operation Condor 2--- the film nearly killed Jackie while acting.
The Young Master--- the first film Jackie Chan worked on for Golden Harvest
Wheels On Meals--- the famous trio of Jackie Chan, Yuen Biao and Sammo Hung.
Police Story--- the first of a series featuring Chan as a Hong Kong police detective named "Kevin" Chan Ka-Kui.
Supercop AKA Police Story 3--- This film also stars Maggie Cheung and Michelle Yeoh.
Rumble In The Bronx--- brought Chan into the American mainstream.
Mr. Nice Guy--- a film that has more of the comedy styling of Jackie Chan.

Jet Li, is also a brilliant Kung fu star, has successfully developed many Kungfu figures in a number of blockbusters. His acting skills are no doubt world-class. Jet Li has so many successful Kungfu movies, maybe the following list can offer you a greater appreciation of all things Jet Li.

The Shaolin Temple
Fist of Legend
My Father is a Hero---also known as The Enforcer
Once Upon a Time in China--- Where he plays Chinese folk hero Wong Fei Hung.
The Legend of the Swordsmen II
The Legend of Fong Sai Yuk
Fearless
Hero
Black Mask
The Tai Chi Master
Lethal Weapon 4

What’s Chinese Kungfu?

Have you ever watched movies about Chinese Kungfu? Do you know Bruce Lee, Jet Li or Jackie Chan, all famous Chinese film stars adept in Kung Fu? Wow, how magic and terrific! Anyone who has seen classical Chinese Kung Fu movies will be deeply impressed by the Chinese Kung Fu. Today we'll come to talk about this topic.

Chinese Kungfu, also known as Wu Shu or Chinese martial arts, becomes a precious element of China's cultural heritage, winnig its name all around the world for its broad and deep meanings. Actually, it is a traditional Chinese physical activity with thousands of years of history. According to some historical records and antique discoveries, it can be dated back even to prehistoric times. In order to survive the extremely hostile environment, primitive Chinese ancestors learned some primary means of attack and defence such as leaping, tumbling and kicking. Moreover, they generally knew how to fight with weapons made from stones and wood or bare-hand fighting. This is considered to be the origin of martial arts.

The movements in Chinese Kungfu include kicking, boxing, wresting and seizing, which are performed by rules. Sects of Kungfu are various, such as Shaolin, Wudang, E-mei, Kunlun, Kongtong. Generally speaking, Shaolin Sect and Wudang Sect are the two most famous sects. As the old Chinese saying goes 'In the north, Shaolin Kungfu is primarily recommended. While in the south, Wudang Kungfu is especially valued.'

Shaolin Kungfu is considered to be the authentic Chinese kungfu. Originally, Shaolin Kungfu was developed from the Shaolin Temple, in the region of MT Songshan (click here to get information in our former article). Still having monks living and exercising Kungfu, a travel to the temple will give you a better understanding of Chinese Kungfu. While cultivating in the thick forest of the high mountains, monks created a set of body-building exercises by learning the postures of flying, jumping and running from birds, beasts and fish. Gradually, these body-building exercises developed into a sort of boxing through long practice and improvement, which is generally called 'Shaolin boxing'.

Wudang Kungfu is greatly related to the Chinese native religion - Taoism. It is said that Zhang Sanfeng, a Taoist who lived in the Song Dynasty (960-1279) created Wudang martial arts. The Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) saw the formal popularity of Wudang Kungfu. In order to promote Wudang Taoism all over China, Emperor Yongle of the Ming Dynasty assembled 300,000 civilian workers to build 33 Taoist complexes in Mt. Wudang. It took them 13 years to finish the whole construction. Wudang Kungfu emphasizes the strengthening of bones and muscles and internal cultivation, and encourages the use of softness to conquer the unyielding. It doesn't advocate attack but at the same time it is hard to defeat.

Although developed from fighting and conquering of the opponent, Chinese Kungfu has progressed to the conquering of the self. Even at the Shaolin Temple, Kung Fu is only part of the teaching, other Buddhist teachings there are considered of great importance. The basic spirit of Kungfu is to value martial arts while at the same time upholding virtue, which has been advocated by Kungfu performers from generation to generation. Today many people practice Wushu to pursue health, defense skills, mental discipline, entertainment and competition.

Want to learn Chinese Kungfu? Searching from internet, you will find a lot of schools both in China and other countries. But I have to tell you that the road to Kung Fu is lonely, tough and never ending. Kungfu, literally meaning "achievement through great effort", which is an appropriate description of what it takes to learn. The Kung Fu student is therefore expected to put in considerable hard work to condition the body, and build up endurance, stamina and a strong will to succeed. Motivation and self-discipline are essential attributes for the student's "achievement through great effort".