Who was the first Chinese martial arts director in Hollywood?

■Yuen Woo-ping: creator of high-tech martial arts

Yuen Woo-ping, the son of first-generation martial arts director Yuen Siu-tin, practiced martial arts with his father from a young age, and spent his early years in Hong Kong movies as an extra and martial arts instructor.In 1978, Yuen Woo-ping made his directorial debut with the kung-fu comedy film Snake Difficulty Hands and rose to stardom. His martial arts design emphasizes on punching to the flesh, and the real in the imaginary. Yuen came to the United States against the backdrop of the decline of the Hong Kong movie market, where purely martial arts films were rarely seen by investors. The movie Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon made his reputation. In recent years, he combined Hong Kong's unique fighting action design with high-tech means, resulting in "The Matrix", "Charlie's Angels" and other films that entered Hollywood theaters, and thus became an internationally renowned martial arts director. This year once again set off the "hacker fever" in the "Matrix 2", starring Keanu Reeves action everywhere to see kung fu, all thanks to its "master" Yuen Woo-ping. Several stars of The Matrix 2 said, "It was Yuen Woo-ping who opened up our potential to make action movies." And in "Charlie's Angels", the three Angels in Yuan Woo-ping's "coaching", also developed a pair of athletic body, can be said to be women.

Review: Yuan Heping himself is very low-key, some comments even think that his low-key is "almost shy". Under the influence of "no first, no second", the movie industry's martial arts masters are generally very few will be humble and low, to be able to eight points of kung fu to do ten points of things, has been very measured. But Yuan Woo-ping is not twelve points of kung fu, is never easy to take over to do ten points of things, so he guided the movie will always be able to bring people a surprise.

Hollywood influence index: ★★★★☆

■Yuen Cheung-yan: flexible and agile Hong Kong-style sign

The famous American film publication "Premiere" magazine this year, a blockbuster by the comic book adaptation of the movie "Daredevil," starring Ben Affleck, Jennifer Garner. In addition to the special effects action that rivals that of Spider-Man, Daredevil features a tangle of male and female relationships that rivals that of Heroes' Broken Sword and Flying Snow. The wonderful action of the hero and heroine, Daredevil and Eliza, was created by Yuen Cheung-yan, a member of the Yuen Family Class and brother of Yuen Woo-ping.

Review: In the movie, Yuan Xiangren brought the audience all kinds of gravity-defying aerial wire fighting and leaping shots, while the actors in the movie have the softness of a circus show, the strength of heavyweight fighters, coupled with the high degree of difficulty of the Chinese martial arts, which makes the audience look at the dizzying, breathtaking. It is reported that the film's male and female protagonists Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner in the "Daredevil" before the casting of the film were subjected to up to six weeks, three hours of kung fu training every day, in order to cope with a large number of action shots in the film. After the film's release in the U.S., Affleck also became one of Hollywood's biggest action stars,

which was inextricably linked to Yuan's guidance. Yuan gave the film's hero a different kind of action than the hard-hitting boxing-style routines that Western heroes used to do, replacing them with nimble Hong Kong-style maneuvers such as take-offs and kicks, which may be visually satisfying to a degree for both Eastern and Western viewers.

Hollywood Influence: ★★★★☆

■Yuan Kui: Jet Li's "Royal Guide"

While Yuan Kui's wife and children had long since moved to the U.S., he didn't initially want to go over there.

Yuan Kui was invited by Jet Li to Hollywood to design the martial arts scenes in Boomtown 4 in 1998. In 1998, Yuan Kui was invited by Jet Li to design the martial arts scenes for him in Boomtown 4. Now Yuan Kui has been in Hollywood for many years, and is the "royal director" of Jet Li's martial arts action. Including the early years in Hong Kong to shoot the "Fong Sai Yuk" and other films, by Jet Li in the United States and has been shot and released in the "Deadly Romeo", "Kiss of the Dragon" and "Salvation" and other films are by its as martial arts director.

Review: Although these films are considered by domestic kung fu fans to have lost the flavor of oriental martial arts, the film caters to the appetite of western audiences. Hong Kong's martial arts or police films have long had their own traditions, and Yuen Kwai, like Yuen Woo-ping, has taken the punch-to-the-flesh route to actual fighting, but unless one is a connoisseur, it's not easy to see the difference between the two. However, the difference is due to the difference in movie budgets and special effects. Jet Li's role in "The Rescuers," in which he plays the role of a man of unearthly skill but able to save mankind, had a smaller budget and the computer special effects could not be fully utilized, and even though Yuen Kwai helped Jet Li design two very different boxing styles, Bagua and Xingyi, the effect was not as pleasing to the eye as Keanu Reeves's moves in "The Matrix 2".

Hollywood influence index: ★★★★

■ Jackie Chan: drawing on the Peking Opera martial arts play

After the 1970s, Hong Jinbao, Jackie Chan, Yuen Biao as the representative of the "Seven Little Fortunes", once galloped in Hong Kong's martial arts movie world, they tend to take care of a movie from the screenwriter, director to the actors, They often took care of all aspects of a movie from screenwriting, directing to acting and martial arts direction, and their fundamental skills came from the martial arts background of the theater troupe in those years. As one of the most famous kung fu stars in international cinema, Jackie Chan's accomplishments don't need to be overstated, as almost all of the action in his films was crafted by his Jackie Chan troupe.

Review: Jackie Chan is a Peking Opera martial arts practitioner, so the action in his films pays close attention to the design of the scenes, and the group fight scenes are borrowed from the Peking Opera stage martial arts play. In addition, he also combines action and acrobatics together to produce a humorous and exciting viewing effect. As one of the more successful Chinese in Hollywood and overseas markets, Jackie Chan's achievements and influence have yet to be matched.

Hollywood influence index: ★★★★★

■ Donnie Yen: fight scenes rich in new ideas

He is the "hero" in the "long sky". With flexible hands and deep martial arts attainments, Donnie Yen has become the successor to Jackie Chan and Jet Li, another Chinese action actor familiar and recognized by Hollywood. From a young age, Donnie Yen practiced martial arts and learned to play the piano from his mother. In Boston's Chinatown, the young Donnie Yen never misses a kung fu movie.

Review: Due to the influence of Bruce Lee from a young age, Donnie Yen not only explored various styles of martial arts, but also established his own unique martial arts system, with his innovatively designed fight scenes demonstrating superior fighting skills.In 1991, Tsui Hark approached Donnie Yen when he was filming "Wong Fei Hung 2", and asked him to act opposite Jet Li. In that scene, Donnie Yen devised the creative move of using a wet cloth as a weapon. It was this movie that established him as a kung fu star. For him, martial arts is not just a tool to make a living, it is a part of his life. Donnie Yen has signed a three-part contract with the U.S. company Miramax, and his TV movie for German TV as martial arts director will continue with a sequel; in addition, he has won the appreciation of Japanese filmmakers for his work as martial arts director for Yumiko Sako's action movie, "Shura Yukiji," as well as for the Japanese version of "Charlie's Angels".

Hollywood Influence Index: ★★★★☆

Zhang Yimou said during the filming of Hero that he wanted foreigners to understand Chinese martial arts. In fact, this mission was taken up by Bruce Lee as early as the 1960s. Strictly speaking, Yuan Heping and many other filmmakers who are being active as movie martial arts directors in Europe, America and other places are merely walking the road not taken by their predecessors. Regardless of what elements have been injected into today's films, perhaps it is with these martial arts directors who are still chasing the dream of martial arts that the martial arts film will not end and be immortalized in the changing paradigm.