Wong Fei-hung (born Wong Sek-cheung with the
courtesy name
A courtesy name (), also known as a style name, is a name bestowed upon one at adulthood in addition to one's given name. This practice is a tradition in the East Asian cultural sphere, including China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam.Ulrich Theobald ...
Tat-wun; 9 July 1847 – 17 April 1925) was a Chinese martial artist, physician, and
folk hero
A folk hero or national hero is a type of hero – real, fictional or mythological – with their name, personality and deeds embedded in the popular consciousness of a people, mentioned frequently in folk songs, folk tales and other folklore; a ...
. His recent fame was due to becoming the subject of numerous martial arts films and television series. Even though he was considered an expert in the
Hung Ga
Hung Ga (), Hung Kuen (), or Hung Ga Kuen () is a southern Chinese martial art belonging to the southern Shaolin styles. The hallmarks of Hung Ga are strong stances, notably the horse stance, or "si ping ma" (), and strong hand techniques, not ...
style of
Chinese martial arts
Chinese martial arts, often called by the umbrella terms Kung fu (term), kung fu (; ), kuoshu () or wushu (sport), wushu (), are Styles of Chinese martial arts, multiple fighting styles that have developed over the centuries in Greater China. Th ...
, his real public fame was as a physician, who practiced and taught
acupuncture
Acupuncture is a form of alternative medicine and a component of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) in which thin needles are inserted into the body. Acupuncture is a pseudoscience; the theories and practices of TCM are not based on scientifi ...
,
Dit Da
Die da () or dit da, is a traditional Chinese method of bone-setting used to treat trauma and injuries such as bone fractures, sprains, and bruises.
Background
Dit da originated in Guangdong, China, and was usually practiced by martial artists ...
and other forms of
traditional Chinese medicine
Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is an alternative medical practice drawn from traditional medicine in China. It has been described as "fraught with pseudoscience", with the majority of its treatments having no logical mechanism of action ...
in the now famous Po Chi Lam (), a medical clinic in
Canton (Guangzhou),
Kwangtung Province (Guangdong). A museum dedicated to him was built in his birthplace in
Fatshan (Foshan), Kwangtung.
Alternative names
Wong's original given name was Sek-cheung or Xixiang () before it was changed to Fei-hung (Feihong). His
courtesy name
A courtesy name (), also known as a style name, is a name bestowed upon one at adulthood in addition to one's given name. This practice is a tradition in the East Asian cultural sphere, including China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam.Ulrich Theobald ...
was Dat-wan or Dayun ().
Life
Wong was born in Luzhou Hamlet, Lingxi Village, Xiqiao Country, Fatshan, Nanhai County, which is a present day part of
Foshan City
Foshan (, ), alternately romanized as Fatshan, is a prefecture-level city in central Guangdong Province, China. The entire prefecture covers and had a population of 9,498,863 as of the 2020 census. The city is part of the western side of the ...
,
Guangdong Province
Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020) ...
, during the reign of the
Daoguang Emperor
The Daoguang Emperor (; 16 September 1782 – 26 February 1850), also known by his temple name Emperor Xuanxong of Qing, born Mianning, was the seventh Emperor of the Qing dynasty, and the sixth Qing emperor to rule over China proper, reigning ...
in the
Qing dynasty
The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...
. His
ancestral home
An ancestral home is the place of origin of one's extended family, particularly the home owned and preserved by the same family for several generations. The term can refer to an individual house or estate, or to a broader geographic area such as a ...
was in Luzhou Hamlet, Lingxi Village, Xiqiao Country, Fatshan, Nanhai County, Canton Prefecture, Kwangtung Province, which is now part of
Xiqiao Town,
Nanhai District
Nanhai District (), is a District (PRC and ROC), district of Foshan, Guangdong, China. Its government is the first to have developed e-government informatization at the county level in China.
History
Establishment of Nanhai is traditionally at ...
, Foshan City.
At the age of five, Wong started learning
Hung Ga
Hung Ga (), Hung Kuen (), or Hung Ga Kuen () is a southern Chinese martial art belonging to the southern Shaolin styles. The hallmarks of Hung Ga are strong stances, notably the horse stance, or "si ping ma" (), and strong hand techniques, not ...
from his father,
Wong Kei-ying
Wong Kei-ying or Huang Qiying (c. 1815–1886) was a Chinese Hung Ga martial artist and physician of Cantonese ethnicity, who lived during the Qing dynasty. He was one of the Ten Tigers of Canton. He was best known for his use of the Tiger ...
. He often accompanied his father on trips from Foshan to Guangzhou, the provincial capital of Guangdong Province, where his father peddled medicine and performed martial arts in the streets. When he was 13, he encountered Lam Fuk-sing (林福成; Lin Fucheng), an apprentice of "Iron Bridge Three"
Leung Kwan
Leung Kwan (; 1815–1887), popularly nicknamed "Iron Bridge Three" or "Tit Kiu Sam", was known as 'the great master of the Hong Fist' and was one of the Ten Tigers of Canton, a group of ten of the top Chinese martial arts masters in Guangdong t ...
, in Douchi Street in Foshan Town. Lam taught him how to use the
sling and the essential moves of the martial art
Iron Wire Fist.
Later, he learned the
Shadowless Kick from Sung Fai-tong (宋輝鏜; Song Huitang).. Wong Fei Hung was very personable like his father and made many friends in the Martial and Medical World i.e. 10 Tigers of Guandong etc. With these friendships and chance meetings he was able to be exposed to vast amounts of knowledge that were openly shared with him. For this reason he was able to enhance his father's teachings to formulate a style that included much of what is seen in Southern Chinese Styles today.
In 1863, Wong started a martial arts school in Shuijiao () in Saikwan (
Xiguan
Saikwan or Xiguan is an ancient town and an area in the Liwan district of Guangzhou, China, which was located west of the old walled city. The Thirteen Factories trading enclave was located on its southern shore and the Shamian enclave was co ...
), which is a present day location of
Liwan District
Liwan District is one of 11 urban districts of the prefecture-level city of Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong Province, China. The district is split into two parts by the Pearl River: Xiguan in the northeast and Fangcun in the southwest.
...
,
Guangzhou City
Guangzhou (, ; ; or ; ), also known as Canton () and alternatively romanized as Kwongchow or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of Guangdong province in southern China. Located on the Pearl River about north-northwest of Hong Kon ...
. His students were mainly metal labourers and street vendors. In 1886, Wong opened his family's medical clinic, Po Chi Lam (寶芝林; Baozhilin), in Ren'an (), which is a present day part of Xiaobei Road,
Yuexiu District
Yuexiu District is one of 11 urban districts of the prefecture-level city of Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong Province, China, located west of the Tianhe District and east of the Liwan District. It is the commercial, political and cultural c ...
, Guangzhou City.
In legend, around the 1860s or 1870s, Wong was recruited by
Liu Yongfu
Liu Yongfu () (1837–1917) was a Chinese warlord and commander of the celebrated Black Flag Army. Liu won fame as a Chinese patriot fighting against the French Empire in northern Vietnam ( Tonkin) in the 1870s and early 1880s. During the Sin ...
, the commander of the
Black Flag Army
The Black Flag Army (; , chữ Nôm: 軍旗𬹙) was a splinter remnant of a bandit group recruited largely from soldiers of ethnic Zhuang background, who crossed the border in 1865 from Guangxi, China into northern Vietnam, then during the N ...
, to be the medical officer and martial arts instructor for the regular soldiers and the local militia in Guangzhou. He also followed the Black Flag Army to fight the
Imperial Japanese Army
The was the official ground-based armed force of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945. It was controlled by the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office and the Ministry of the Army, both of which were nominally subordinate to the Emperor o ...
during the
Japanese invasion of Taiwan in 1895.
In 1912, the
Republic of China
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northeast ...
was established following the collapse of the
Qing dynasty
The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...
. During the chaotic early years of the Republican era, many businessmen who operated places of entertainment in Guangzhou decided to hire guards (or
bouncer
A bouncer (also known as a doorman or door supervisor) is a type of security guard, employed at venues such as bars, nightclubs, cabaret clubs, stripclubs, casinos, hotels, billiard halls, restaurants, sporting events, schools, concerts, or ...
s) to protect their businesses on-site in case trouble broke out. As Wong was trained in martial arts, he was hired by various businesses to be one of such guards.
In 1919, when the
Chin Woo Athletic Association
Chin Woo Athletic Association (also Jing Wu Athletic Association) is an international martial arts organisation founded in Shanghai, China, on July 7, 1910, but some sources cite dates in 1909. Its name is also spelled in many other ways through ...
opened a branch in Canton, Wong was invited to perform at the opening ceremony.
In the same year, Wong Hon-sam, one of Wong's sons, who was working as a bodyguard in Wuchow (
Wuzhou
Wuzhou (, postal: Wuchow; za, Ngouzcouh / Ŋouƨcouƅ), formerly Ngchow, is a prefecture-level city in the east of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, People's Republic of China.
Geography and climate
Wuzhou is located in eastern Guangxi border ...
), Kwangsi (
Guangxi
Guangxi (; ; Chinese postal romanization, alternately romanized as Kwanghsi; ; za, Gvangjsih, italics=yes), officially the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region (GZAR), is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the People's Republic ...
), was murdered by a rival known as "Devil Eye" Leung (), who was apparently jealous that Wong Hon-sam was better than him in martial arts. Wong was so affected by this incident that he stopped teaching his other sons martial arts.
Between August and October 1924, Wong's medical clinic, Po Chi Lam, was destroyed when the
Nationalist government was suppressing the
uprising
Rebellion, uprising, or insurrection is a refusal of obedience or order. It refers to the open resistance against the orders of an established authority.
A rebellion originates from a sentiment of indignation and disapproval of a situation and ...
by the Guangzhou Merchant Volunteers Corps. Wong felt so dejected and saddened by the loss of Po Chi Lam that he fell into depression and became ill. He died from illness on 17 April 1925 in Chengxi Fangbian Hospital (), which is the present day location of the Guangzhou First People's Hospital () at Panfu Road in Guangzhou's
Yuexiu District
Yuexiu District is one of 11 urban districts of the prefecture-level city of Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong Province, China, located west of the Tianhe District and east of the Liwan District. It is the commercial, political and cultural c ...
. He was buried at the foot of
Baiyun Mountain Baiyun (generally ) may refer to:
Guangzhou
*Baiyun District, Guangzhou
*Baiyun Mountain (Guangdong)
*Baiyun New Town
*Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport, in Huadu District
*Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport (former), closed down in 2004
...
.
Wong's fourth wife,
Mok Kwai-lan
Mok Kwai-lan (; October 15, 1892 – November 3, 1982) was the fourth spouse of Lingnan martial arts grandmaster Wong Fei-hung.
History Early life
Born on October 15, 1892, a native of Nanhai in Guangdong. When Mok was a child, she was adopte ...
, and his sons, along with his students
Lam Sai-wing
Lam Sai-wing (1861? – 1943) was a Hung Gar martial artist. He was a student of the Chinese martial artist, acupuncturer and folk hero of Cantonese ethnicity, Wong Fei-hung.
"Since my young years till now, for 50 years, I have been learning f ...
and Dang Sai-king (鄧世瓊; Deng Shiqiong), moved to
Hong Kong
Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...
and opened martial arts schools there.
Wong's grave location is currently unknown. It is also believed that his grave, along with others within the cemetery were long expunged for future developments.
Fighting style
Wong was a master of
Hung Ga
Hung Ga (), Hung Kuen (), or Hung Ga Kuen () is a southern Chinese martial art belonging to the southern Shaolin styles. The hallmarks of Hung Ga are strong stances, notably the horse stance, or "si ping ma" (), and strong hand techniques, not ...
. He systematised the predominant style of Hung Ga and choreographed its version of the Tiger Crane Paired Form Fist, which incorporates his Ten Special Fist techniques. Wong is famous for using the
Shadowless Kick. He named the techniques of his skills when he performed them.
Wong was adept at using weapons, such as the
staff and
southern tiger fork. One tale, possibly fictional, recounts how Wong defeated a group of 30 gangsters on the docks of Guangzhou with a staff.
Among Wong's students, the more notable ones include
Lam Sai-wing
Lam Sai-wing (1861? – 1943) was a Hung Gar martial artist. He was a student of the Chinese martial artist, acupuncturer and folk hero of Cantonese ethnicity, Wong Fei-hung.
"Since my young years till now, for 50 years, I have been learning f ...
(林世榮; Lin Shirong), Leung Foon (梁寬; Liang Kuan),
Dang Fong
Dang Fong 鄧芳 (1877 or 1879–1955) was a disciple of the Chinese Kung Fu folk hero Wong Fei Hung. It is said that his rigid ways prompted him to follow and document the Hung Ga Kuen teachings of Wong Fei Hung to the letter, thus he was referr ...
(Deng Fang), and Ling Wan-kai (凌雲階; Ling Yunjie).
Wong is sometimes incorrectly identified as one of the "
Ten Tigers of Canton
Ten Tigers of Canton or Ten Tigers of GuangdongKim, Sun-Jin. Tuttle Dictionary of the Martial Arts of Korea, China & Japan. 996(1996). Tuttle publishing. Korea. . refers to a group of ten Chinese martial artists from Guangdong Province lived arou ...
". His father,
Wong Kei-ying
Wong Kei-ying or Huang Qiying (c. 1815–1886) was a Chinese Hung Ga martial artist and physician of Cantonese ethnicity, who lived during the Qing dynasty. He was one of the Ten Tigers of Canton. He was best known for his use of the Tiger ...
, was one of the ten but Wong himself was not. Wong is also sometimes referred to as the "Tiger after the Ten Tigers".
Family
![Wong fei hung](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/45/Wong_fei_hung.jpg)
After his first wife died of illness in 1871, Wong was widowed for 25 years. In 1896, he married his second wife and had two sons and two daughters with her. Some time after she died of illness, Wong remarried again in 1902. His third wife bore him two sons before falling victim to a deadly illness. His fourth and final wife stayed with him from 1915 up till his death. The personal names of his first three wives are unknown. He had four known children.
;Spouses
* Wong's first wife was surnamed "Lo" or "Law" (). She married Wong in 1871 and died of illness three months after their marriage.
* Wong's second wife was surnamed "Ma" (). She married Wong in 1896 and died of illness. She bore Wong two sons and two daughters.
* Wong's third wife was surnamed "Sam" or "Sum" (). She married Wong in 1902 and died of illness. She bore Wong two sons.
* Wong's fourth wife,
Mok Kwai-lan
Mok Kwai-lan (; October 15, 1892 – November 3, 1982) was the fourth spouse of Lingnan martial arts grandmaster Wong Fei-hung.
History Early life
Born on October 15, 1892, a native of Nanhai in Guangdong. When Mok was a child, she was adopte ...
(), married Wong in 1915. She outlived him and died in Hong Kong on 11 March 1982. As Wong believed that his first three wives died because of a curse on him, he never took another formal spouse; Mok was actually his concubine in name.
;Sons
* Wong Hon-syu (), born to Wong's third wife.
* Wong Hon-hei (), also born to Wong's third wife.
* Wong Hon-lam (), born to Wong's second wife.
* Wong Hon-sam (), also born to Wong's second wife.
;Daughters
At present, there is no information on Wong's two daughters.
;Descendants
Wong had at least three grandsons and six granddaughters. His descendants currently live in Australia, Latin America and Southeast Asia.
Legacy
In 1996, the
Wong Fei-hung Lion Dance Martial Arts Museum was built in his hometown in Foshan.
A
Wong Fei-hung Memorial Hall was built in 2000 and was officially opened in January 2001 in his honour in
Foshan
Foshan (, ), alternately romanized as Fatshan, is a prefecture-level city in central Guangdong Province, China. The entire prefecture covers and had a population of 9,498,863 as of the 2020 census. The city is part of the western side of the ...
,
Chancheng District
Chancheng District is a district and the seat of the city of Foshan, Guangdong Province, China. Chancheng is the economic, cultural and political center of the city.
History
Chancheng belonged to the land of Baiyue during the Spring and Autum ...
.
Alleged photos
The first alleged photo was said to have been provided by his fourth spouse Mok Kwai-lan to
Leung Ting
Leung Ting (; born 28 February 1947) was a student of Leung Sheung and later become the last student of grandmasterYip Man. Leung Ting is the founder and president of the International Wing Tsun Association.
Leung chose the spelling of Wing Tsun ...
of the ''Real Kung Fu'' () magazine in 1976. Decades later, it was first exhibited at the Wong Fei-hung Memorial Hall in 2000 and was controversially seen and even promoted by martial artists as a photo of Wong Fei-hong. This was dismissed in 2009 by ''New Martial Heros article that the man in the photo was of that of his fourth son, Wong Hon-hei.
In 2005, another alleged photo of Wong Fei-hung once in procession by one of his students Kwong Kei-tim () was discovered by the museum staff in Hong Kong. The man in the photo bears a close resemblance to his son, whose photo was the first to be often mistaken for his own father's back then. According to his fourth spouse Mok, who once said that her husband was quite superstitious, who believed that taking self photos would shorten one's lifespan, so Wong had a picture of himself taken by his student Kwong, the only one in his lifetime.
In popular culture
Film and television
Over 100 films and television series featuring Wong have been produced since 1949, mostly in
Hong Kong
Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...
. The Hong Kong actor
Kwan Tak-hing
Kwan Tak-hing, MBE (27 June 1905 – 28 June 1996) was a Hong Kong martial artist and actor best known for his portrayal of martial artist folk hero Wong Fei-hung in at least 77 films, between the 1940s and the 1980s. No one else in cinema his ...
starred as Wong in over 70 films between the 1940s and 1980s and earned himself the nickname "Master Wong". Other prominent actors who portrayed Wong on screen include
Jet Li
Li Lianjie (courtesy name Yangzhong; born 26 April 1963), better known by his stage name Jet Li, is a Chinese film actor, film producer, Chinese martial arts, martial artist, and retired wushu (sport), Wushu champion. He is a naturalized Singapo ...
in the
''Once Upon a Time in China'' film series, and
Vincent Zhao
Vincent Zhao Wenzhuo (born 10 April 1972), sometimes credited as Vincent Chiu or Chiu Man-cheuk, is a Chinese actor and martial artist. Zhao is best known for playing the Chinese folk hero Wong Fei-hung in the '' Once Upon a Time in China'' film ...
in the television series ''
Wong Fei Hung Series
The ''Wong Fei Hung Series'' is a 1995 to 1996 Hong Kong–Chinese television film series of five stories about Wong Fei-hung, a Chinese martial artist and folk hero, each told in four episodes. The series was produced by Tsui Hark and starred Vinc ...
''.
* List of notable Wong Fei-hung films:
** ''
Challenge of the Masters
''Challenge of the Masters'' () is a 1976 martial arts-action film released in Hong Kong by Shaw Brothers, and directed by Lau Kar Leung.
Plot
After his father refuses to teach him kung fu and he is constantly being beaten by rival school stude ...
'' (1976), starring
Gordon Liu
Gordon Liu (Lau Kar-fai ); born Sin Kam-hei () August 22, 1951) is a Chinese martial arts film actor and martial artist. He played the lead role of San Te in ''The 36th Chamber of Shaolin'' (1978) and its sequels, and later played two roles in Qu ...
.
** ''
Drunken Master
''Drunken Master'' () is a 1978 Hong Kong martial arts comedy film directed by Yuen Woo-ping, and starring Jackie Chan, Yuen Siu-tien, and Hwang Jang-lee. It was a success at the Hong Kong box office, earning two and a half times the amount o ...
'' (1978), starring
Jackie Chan
Fang Shilong (born 7 April 1954), known professionally in English as Jackie Chan and in Chinese as Cheng Long ( zh, c=成龍, j=Sing4 Lung4; "becoming the dragon"), is a Hong Kong actor, filmmaker, martial artist, and stuntman known for ...
.
Yuen Siu-tien
Yuen Siu-tien () (27 November 1912 – 8 January 1979) (also known as Yuan Xiaotian, Simon Yuen, Sam Seed or "Ol' Dirty") was a Hong Kong actor and martial artist. in the late 1970s, Yuen is perhaps best known as Beggar So (a.k.a. Sam Seed) in ...
co-starred as
Beggar So
So Chan (Su Can), also known by his nickname Beggar So (So Fa-tsz or So Hut-yee), was a Chinese martial artist and folk hero who lived during the late Qing dynasty. One of the Ten Tigers of Canton, he was best known for his drunken boxing.
Bac ...
.
** ''
Magnificent Butcher
''The Magnificent Butcher'' () is a 1979 Hong Kong martial arts comedy film directed by Yuen Woo-ping, and starring Sammo Hung, Kwan Tak-hing, Yuen Biao, and Wei Pai.
The film is based on the story of Lam Sai-wing, one of the students of the ...
'' (1979), starring
Kwan Tak-hing
Kwan Tak-hing, MBE (27 June 1905 – 28 June 1996) was a Hong Kong martial artist and actor best known for his portrayal of martial artist folk hero Wong Fei-hung in at least 77 films, between the 1940s and the 1980s. No one else in cinema his ...
.
Sammo Hung
Sammo Hung Kam-bo ( zh, t=洪金寶, j=Hung4 Gam1-bou2; born 7 January 1952) is a Hong Kong actor, martial artist, film producer and Film director, director, known for his work in martial arts films, Hong Kong action cinema, and as a fight choreog ...
,
Yuen Biao
Yuen Biao (born Ha Lingchun; 26 July 1957) is a Hong Kong actor, martial artist and stuntman. He specialises in acrobatics and Chinese martial arts and has also worked on over 80 films as actor, stuntman and action choreographer. He was one ...
and Wei Pak co-starred as Wong's students Wing, Foon and Chik.
** ''
Martial Club
''Martial Club'' (武館) ( ''Instructors of Death'') is a 1981 Shaw Brothers film directed by Lau Kar Leung, it is another of his lighthearted kung fu films starring Kara Hui, Hsiao Ho, Gordon Liu and Wang Lung Wei in a rare hero role.
Plot
Aft ...
'' (1981), starring
Gordon Liu
Gordon Liu (Lau Kar-fai ); born Sin Kam-hei () August 22, 1951) is a Chinese martial arts film actor and martial artist. He played the lead role of San Te in ''The 36th Chamber of Shaolin'' (1978) and its sequels, and later played two roles in Qu ...
.
** ''
Once Upon a Time in China
''Once Upon a Time in China'' (released in the Philippines as ''Enter the New Game of Death'') is a 1991 Hong Kong martial arts film written and directed by Tsui Hark, starring Jet Li as Chinese martial arts master and folk hero of Cantonese et ...
'' (1991), starring
Jet Li
Li Lianjie (courtesy name Yangzhong; born 26 April 1963), better known by his stage name Jet Li, is a Chinese film actor, film producer, Chinese martial arts, martial artist, and retired wushu (sport), Wushu champion. He is a naturalized Singapo ...
. This is the first part of a
series of six films on Wong Fei-hung.
Vincent Zhao
Vincent Zhao Wenzhuo (born 10 April 1972), sometimes credited as Vincent Chiu or Chiu Man-cheuk, is a Chinese actor and martial artist. Zhao is best known for playing the Chinese folk hero Wong Fei-hung in the '' Once Upon a Time in China'' film ...
took over the role of Wong Fei-hung from Jet Li in two of the movies.
** ''Great Hero From China'' (1992), starring
Chin Kar-lok
Chin Ka-lok, sometimes credited as Chin Kar-lok (Chinese: 錢嘉樂, Pinyin: Qián Jiālè, born 6 August 1965), is a Hong Kong actor, action choreographer, and television presenter.
Chin was born in Hong Kong, the younger brother of actor an ...
.
** ''
Iron Monkey'' (1993), starring
Yu Rongguang
Yu Rongguang (; born 30 August 1958), also known as Ringo Yu, is a Chinese actor and martial artist. He is best known for the title role in '' Iron Monkey'' along with Donnie Yen as well as being featured in films such as '' The East Is Red'', ' ...
as Iron Monkey and
Donnie Yen
Donnie Yen Chi-tan (; born 27 July 1963) is a Hong Kong actor, martial artist, and action director. Yen is one of Hong Kong's top action stars. Yen is widely credited for bringing mixed martial arts (MMA) into the mainstream Asian cinema by cho ...
as
Wong Kei-ying
Wong Kei-ying or Huang Qiying (c. 1815–1886) was a Chinese Hung Ga martial artist and physician of Cantonese ethnicity, who lived during the Qing dynasty. He was one of the Ten Tigers of Canton. He was best known for his use of the Tiger ...
.
Angie Tsang
Angie Tsang Sze-Man (born 1978) is a Hong Kong police officer, former wushu athlete and former child actress. She was best known as an Asian Games silver medalist for Wushu in 2006.
Background
Tsang first started by learning lion dances at the ...
appeared as a young Wong Fei-hung.
** ''
Last Hero in China
''Last Hero in China'' is a 1993 Hong Kong martial arts film written and directed by Wong Jing. It is a derivative of the ''Once Upon a Time in China'' film series, and unlike other imitations, it can be considered a spin-off or parody to some e ...
'' (1993), starring
Jet Li
Li Lianjie (courtesy name Yangzhong; born 26 April 1963), better known by his stage name Jet Li, is a Chinese film actor, film producer, Chinese martial arts, martial artist, and retired wushu (sport), Wushu champion. He is a naturalized Singapo ...
.
** ''
Drunken Master II
''Drunken Master II'' () is a 1994 Hong Kong action-comedy kung fu film directed by Lau Kar-leung and starring Jackie Chan as Chinese martial arts master and a Cantonese folk hero, Wong Fei-hung. It was Chan's first traditional style martial ar ...
'' (1994), starring
Jackie Chan
Fang Shilong (born 7 April 1954), known professionally in English as Jackie Chan and in Chinese as Cheng Long ( zh, c=成龍, j=Sing4 Lung4; "becoming the dragon"), is a Hong Kong actor, filmmaker, martial artist, and stuntman known for ...
.
Ti Lung
Ti Lung (born 19 August 1946) is a Hong Kong actor, known for his numerous starring roles in a string of Shaw Brothers Studio's films, particularly '' The Blood Brothers'', ''The Avenging Eagle'', ''Clans of Intrigue'', '' The Duel'', ''The Sentim ...
co-starred as Wong Kei-ying.
** ''
Around the World in 80 Days
''Around the World in Eighty Days'' (french: link=no, Le tour du monde en quatre-vingts jours) is an adventure novel by the French writer Jules Verne, first published in French in 1872. In the story, Phileas Fogg of London and his newly employe ...
'' (2004),
Sammo Hung
Sammo Hung Kam-bo ( zh, t=洪金寶, j=Hung4 Gam1-bou2; born 7 January 1952) is a Hong Kong actor, martial artist, film producer and Film director, director, known for his work in martial arts films, Hong Kong action cinema, and as a fight choreog ...
appeared briefly as Wong Fei-hung.
** ''
Rise of the Legend
''Rise of the Legend'' ( zh, 黃飛鴻之英雄有夢) is a 2014 Hong Kong-Chinese kung-fu action film directed by Roy Chow and written by Christine To. The film stars Sammo Hung, Eddie Peng, Wang Luodan, Jing Boran, Max Zhang, Wong Cho Lam, T ...
'' (2014), starring
Eddie Peng
Eddie Peng Yu-Yan (; born 24 March 1982) is a Taiwanese actor, singer and model.
Personal life
Peng was born in Penghu, Taiwan. He moved to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada at the age of thirteen. In 2000, he graduated from Sir Winston Church ...
.
* Television series:
** ''
Wong Fei Hung Series
The ''Wong Fei Hung Series'' is a 1995 to 1996 Hong Kong–Chinese television film series of five stories about Wong Fei-hung, a Chinese martial artist and folk hero, each told in four episodes. The series was produced by Tsui Hark and starred Vinc ...
'' (1996) is a Hong Kong television series on five stories about Wong Fei-hung. The series was produced by
Tsui Hark
Tsui Hark (, vi, Từ Khắc, born 15 February 1950), born Tsui Man-kong, is a Hong Kong film director, producer and screenwriter. Tsui has directed several influential Hong Kong films such as ''Zu Warriors from the Magic Mountain'' (1983), the ...
and starred
Vincent Zhao
Vincent Zhao Wenzhuo (born 10 April 1972), sometimes credited as Vincent Chiu or Chiu Man-cheuk, is a Chinese actor and martial artist. Zhao is best known for playing the Chinese folk hero Wong Fei-hung in the '' Once Upon a Time in China'' film ...
as Wong Fei-hung. This television series is sometimes regarded as a television series counterpart to the ''Once Upon a Time in China'' films.
** ''
The Young Wong Fei Hung ''The Young Wong Fei-hung'' () was a 30 episode TV series that aired in China in 2002.
Plot
The series follows the growth of a teenage Huang Feihong (played by Ashton Chen) from being naughty to behaving like a man. During the first 5 episodes Hu ...
'' (2002) is a Chinese television series featuring
Ashton Chen
Ashton Chen Xiaolong (born 6 January 1988 in Dengfeng, Zhengzhou, Henan), also known by his stage name Shi Xiaolong ("Sik Siu-Lung" in Cantonese), is a Chinese actor and martial artist. He is also credited as Xiaolung, Tommy Sik, Shi Xiao-Lu ...
as young Wong Fei-hung.
** ''
Wong Fei Hung – Master of Kung Fu
''Wong Fei Hung – Master of Kung Fung'' (Traditional Chinese: 我師傅係黃飛鴻) is a TVB costume action series released overseas in November 2004 and broadcast on TVB Jade in January 2005.
Synopsis
Wong Fei-hung (Bosco Wong) is a hothead ...
'' (2005) is a Hong Kong television series starring
Bosco Wong
Bosco Wong Chung-chak (; born 13 December 1980) is a Hong Kong actor, singer, and entrepreneur who gained popularity in the modern drama ''Triumph in the Skies'' (2003). Since then, he has played a diverse spectrum of roles in television ser ...
.
** ''
Grace Under Fire
''Grace Under Fire'' is an American sitcom that aired on ABC from September 29, 1993, to February 17, 1998. The show starred Brett Butler as a single mother learning how to cope with raising her three children alone after finally divorcing her ...
'' (2011), a Hong Kong television series about Wong Fei-hung's concubine,
Mok Kwai-lan
Mok Kwai-lan (; October 15, 1892 – November 3, 1982) was the fourth spouse of Lingnan martial arts grandmaster Wong Fei-hung.
History Early life
Born on October 15, 1892, a native of Nanhai in Guangdong. When Mok was a child, she was adopte ...
.
Video games
* Wong is introduced in 2017 as a playable character in ''The Curious Expedition'', a video game released in 2015. In the game, he is an explorer competing with other great minds, and he uses martial arts instead of regular attack methods to fight enemies.
He also appears in its sequel as one of the rival explorers.
* The characters of
Lee Rekka
''The Last Blade'' is a fighting game developed and released by SNK for the Neo Geo system in 1997. It was also ported to several home systems. A sequel, ''The Last Blade 2'', was released in 1998.
The game takes place during the Bakumatsu era i ...
in
SNK
is a Japanese video game hardware and software company. It is the successor to the company Shin Nihon Kikaku and presently owns the SNK video game brand and the Neo Geo video game platform. SNK's predecessor Shin Nihon Kikaku was founded in 1978 ...
's ''
The Last Blade
''The Last Blade'' is a fighting game developed and released by SNK for the Neo Geo (console), Neo Geo system in 1997. It was also ported to several home systems. A sequel, ''The Last Blade 2'', was released in 1998.
The game takes place during t ...
'' series and Master Huang in
IGS's
Martial Masters are based on
Jet Li
Li Lianjie (courtesy name Yangzhong; born 26 April 1963), better known by his stage name Jet Li, is a Chinese film actor, film producer, Chinese martial arts, martial artist, and retired wushu (sport), Wushu champion. He is a naturalized Singapo ...
's portrayal of Wong Fei-hung in the
''Once Upon a Time in China'' film series.
*
Fei Fong Wong, the lead character in the
Square
In Euclidean geometry, a square is a regular quadrilateral, which means that it has four equal sides and four equal angles (90-degree angles, π/2 radian angles, or right angles). It can also be defined as a rectangle with two equal-length adj ...
video game ''
Xenogears
''Xenogears'' is a 1998 role-playing video game developed and published by Square (video game company), Square for the PlayStation (console), PlayStation video game console. It is the debut entry in the larger ''Xeno (series), Xeno'' franchise. ...
'', was named after Wong Fei-hung (his name being written the same in katakana as Wong's name is written). Another protagonist,
Citan Uzuki, closely resembles Wong, being both a physician and martial artist dressed in traditional Chinese garments.
Theme song
The Chinese folk song "On the General's Orders" () is popularly associated with Wong Fei-hung because it was used as the theme song in various Wong Fei-hung movies. It was the opening theme of the 1978 film ''
Drunken Master
''Drunken Master'' () is a 1978 Hong Kong martial arts comedy film directed by Yuen Woo-ping, and starring Jackie Chan, Yuen Siu-tien, and Hwang Jang-lee. It was a success at the Hong Kong box office, earning two and a half times the amount o ...
'', starring
Jackie Chan
Fang Shilong (born 7 April 1954), known professionally in English as Jackie Chan and in Chinese as Cheng Long ( zh, c=成龍, j=Sing4 Lung4; "becoming the dragon"), is a Hong Kong actor, filmmaker, martial artist, and stuntman known for ...
. In the
''Once Upon a Time in China'' film series, the song's title was changed to ''A Man Should Better Himself'' (). It was sung in Cantonese by
George Lam
George Lam Tsz-Cheung (born 12 October 1947), also known professionally by his surname Lam, is a Hong Kong-based veteran Cantopop singer, singer-songwriter, music producer and actor, with a career that has so far lasted more than four decades. Lam ...
and its lyrics were written by
James Wong.
Jackie Chan
Fang Shilong (born 7 April 1954), known professionally in English as Jackie Chan and in Chinese as Cheng Long ( zh, c=成龍, j=Sing4 Lung4; "becoming the dragon"), is a Hong Kong actor, filmmaker, martial artist, and stuntman known for ...
sang the song in Mandarin in the second film. The version "A Man Should Better Himself" is the best known rendition of the song to date.
A rearranged version was rewritten and sung by
Dayo Wong as the theme song of ''
Men Don't Cry
''Men Don't Cry'' (Traditional Chinese: 奸人堅) is a TVB period comedy series broadcast in October 2007, to celebrate TVB's 40th Anniversary. The shown was rerun from Thursday, January 29, 2009, to February 26, 2009, from Monday to Friday at ...
''.
Other appearances
* In
Will Thomas' third mystery novel, ''The Limehouse Text'', his Victorian detective Cyrus Barker trained in martial arts in Guangdong by Wong Fei-hung.
*
Stan Sakai
is a Japanese-born American cartoonist and comic book creator. He is best known as the creator of the comic series ''Usagi Yojimbo''.
Career
He began his career by lettering comic books (notably ''Groo the Wanderer'' by Sergio Aragonés and Mar ...
has mentioned his plans to include a character based on Wong Fei-hung in a future issue of his comic book ''
Usagi Yojimbo
is a comic book series created by Stan Sakai. It is set primarily at the beginning of the Edo period of Japanese history and features anthropomorphic animals replacing humans. The main character is a rabbit ''rōnin'', Miyamoto Usagi, whom Sak ...
''.
* Wong Fei Hong is a character in the collectible card game ''
Shadowfist
''Shadowfist'' was created by Robin Laws and Jose Garcia. It was released in June 1995 as a collectible card game (CCG), but was shifted to a fixed distribution of cards as of 2013. It shares the same background as the ''Feng Shui'' role-pla ...
''.
See also
*
Wong Kei-ying
Wong Kei-ying or Huang Qiying (c. 1815–1886) was a Chinese Hung Ga martial artist and physician of Cantonese ethnicity, who lived during the Qing dynasty. He was one of the Ten Tigers of Canton. He was best known for his use of the Tiger ...
*
Ten Tigers of Canton
Ten Tigers of Canton or Ten Tigers of GuangdongKim, Sun-Jin. Tuttle Dictionary of the Martial Arts of Korea, China & Japan. 996(1996). Tuttle publishing. Korea. . refers to a group of ten Chinese martial artists from Guangdong Province lived arou ...
*
Wong Fei-hung filmography This is a list of films featuring the Chinese martial arts master and folk hero of Cantonese ethnicity, Wong Fei-hung. There are 123 in total. Where possible alternative titles have been included, particularly the official English language titles or ...
References
External links
www.wongfeihung.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wong, Fei-Hung
1847 births
1925 deaths
Acupuncturists
Cantonese folklore
Chinese Hung Gar practitioners
Chinese warriors
People from Nanhai District
Physicians from Guangdong
Sportspeople from Guangdong
Traditional Chinese medicine practitioners