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Centennial of China's Kung Fu Film

Updated: 2014-12-02 10:44:30

( Chinaculture.org )

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 1970s: Li Xiaolong 's Times

From 1970 to the mid 1970's, kung fu film strode into the Bruce Lee Era, with films like Tang Shan Da XionG (The Big Boss), Jing Wu Men (Fist of Fury), Long Zheng Hu Dou (Enter theDragon), and Meng Long Guo Jiang (Way of the Dragon), as well as his unfinished Si Wang You Xi.

Besides being high box office hits in Hong Kong, Li's films also became the first Hong Kong films to enter the international market. Hence, a hot Chinese kung fu wind swept the whole world.

 Late 1970s---Early 1980s: Two Genres Appeared

After Bruce Lee's death in 1973, Hong Kong and Taiwan kung fu films struggled for a while but were later successfully revitalized by the introduction of humor that seemed more appropriate for contemporary comedies than for period epics.

Shao Lin San Shi Liu Fang

In 1978, Yuan Heping directed the film She Xing Diao Shou (Snake in the Eagle's Shadow), and cast Jackie Chan as the leading actor. They introduced humor into the fighting and plot, and initiate a kind of new genre -- kung fu comedy.

Moreover, another Yuan Heping and Jackie Chan film, Zui Quan (Drunken Master), became a classic in kung fu film history.

In the same year, Liu Jialiang's film, Shao Lin San Shi Liu Fang, made a great coup, with its massive depiction of shamans exercising martial arts.



 

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