Wing Chun is a concept-based fighting art, a form of Southern Chinese kung fu, and a close-quarters system of self-defense.
Bruce Lee was a Hong Kong and American martial artist, actor and philosopher. He was the founder of Jeet Kune Do, a hybrid martial arts philosophy drawing from different combat disciplines that is often credited with paving the way for modern mixed martial arts (MMA). Lee is considered by critics, media, and other martial artists to be the most influential martial artist of all time and a pop culture icon of the 20th century, who bridged the gap between East and West. He is credited with promoting Hong Kong action cinema and helping to change the way Asians were presented in American films.
Ip Man, also known as Yip Man, was a Hong Kong-based Cantonese martial artist and a grandmaster of the martial art of Wing Chun when he was 20. He had several students who later became martial arts masters in their own right, the most famous among them being Bruce Lee.
Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story is a 1993 American biographical drama film directed by Rob Cohen. The film stars Jason Scott Lee, with a supporting cast including Lauren Holly, Nancy Kwan and Robert Wagner. The film follows the life of actor and martial artist Bruce Lee (Jason) from his relocation to the United States from Hong Kong to his career as a martial arts teacher, and then as a television and film actor. It also focuses on the relationship between Bruce and his wife Linda Lee Cadwell, and the racism to which Bruce was subjected.
Chopsocky is a colloquial term for martial arts films and kung fu films made primarily by Hong Kong action cinema between the late 1960s and early 1980s. The term was coined by the American motion picture trade magazine Variety following the explosion of films in the genre released in 1973 in the U.S. after the success of Five Fingers of Death. The word is a play on chop suey, combining "chop" and "sock".
Donnie Yen Ji-dan is a Hong Kong actor, martial artist, and action director. Regarded as one of Hong Kong's top action stars, Yen is widely credited for bringing mixed martial arts (MMA) into mainstream Asian cinema by choreographing MMA in many of his films since the early 2000s. The first Chinese UFC champion Zhang Weili stated that Yen's films introduced her to MMA. Yen has displayed skill in an array of martial arts, being well-versed in Tai Chi, Boxing, Kickboxing, Jeet Kune Do, Hapkido, Mixed martial arts, Taekwondo, Karate, Muay Thai, Wrestling, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, Hung Ga, Sanda, Judo, Wing Chun, and Wushu. One of the most popular film stars in Asia of the early 2000s, Yen is consistently one of the highest-paid actors in Asia. Yen earned HK$220 million (US$28.4 million) from four films and six advertisements in 2013.
Hong Kong action cinema is the principal source of the Hong Kong film industry's global fame. Action films from Hong Kong have roots in Chinese and Hong Kong cultures including Chinese opera, storytelling and aesthetic traditions, which Hong Kong filmmakers combined with elements from Hollywood and Japanese cinema along with new action choreography and filmmaking techniques, to create a culturally distinctive form that went on to have wide transcultural appeal. In turn, Hollywood action films have been heavily influenced by Hong Kong genre conventions, from the 1970s onwards.
Wing Chun is a 1994 Hong Kong martial arts film directed and produced by Yuen Woo-ping. The film stars Michelle Yeoh, Donnie Yen, Waise Lee and Cheng Pei-pei.
Kung Fu Panda is a 2008 American computer-animated martial arts comedy film produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by Paramount Pictures. The first installment in the Kung Fu Panda franchise, it was directed by John Stevenson and co-directed by Mark Osborne, from a screenplay by the writing team of Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger, and a story by Ethan Reiff and Cyrus Voris. The film stars the voices of Jack Black, Dustin Hoffman, Angelina Jolie, Ian McShane, Seth Rogen, Lucy Liu, David Cross, Randall Duk Kim, James Hong, Dan Fogler, Michael Clarke Duncan, and Jackie Chan. The film, set in a version of ancient China populated by anthropomorphic animals, centers on a bumbling panda named Po (Black), a kung-fu enthusiast. When a notorious snow-leopard named Tai Lung (McShane) is foretold to escape at Chorh-Gom Prison, Po is unwittingly named the "Dragon Warrior"—a prophesied hero worthy of reading a scroll said to grant its reader limitless power.
Flying Dragon, known in Japan as Hiryū no Ken Twin, is a fighting game with role-playing video game elements that was developed by Culture Brain and released for the Nintendo 64 in 1998. Part of the Hiryū no Ken series, it was published in Japan by Culture Brain, and by Natsume in North America and Europe.
Heroes of the East, also known as Challenge of the Ninja, Shaolin vs. Ninja and Shaolin Challenges Ninja is a martial arts film produced in 1978. It starred Gordon Liu and was directed by Lau Kar-Leung. Lau Kar-Leung has a cameo role as So Chan, a master of Zui Quan. It's notable for portraying Japanese martial arts alongside the more typical kung fu used in most Hong Kong martial arts films.
Kwai Chang Caine is a fictional character and the protagonist of the ABC 1972–1975 action-adventure western television series Kung Fu. He has been portrayed by David Carradine as an adult, Keith Carradine as a younger Caine, Radames Pera as the child Caine, and Stephen Manley as the youngest Caine.
Kung fu film is a subgenre of martial arts films and Hong Kong action cinema set in the contemporary period and featuring realistic martial arts. It lacks the fantasy elements seen in wuxia, a related martial arts genre that uses historical settings based on ancient China. Swordplay is also less common in kung-fu films than in wuxia and fighting is done through unarmed combat.
Matthew Mullins is an American actor and martial artist. At the age of 16, in 2000, he won his first World Kickboxing Association title in Dublin, Ireland. This would be his first of five championships in the next three years.
Casanova Wong, is a Korea film actor and martial artist born in 1945 Gimje, South Korea. An expert in tae kwon do, he is a leg-fighter, and is well known for his spin kicks and was nicknamed "The Human Tornado" in the Republic of Korea Army. He made many appearances in martial arts movies but is most remembered for his role as Cashier Hua in Warriors Two, where he starred alongside Sammo Hung, with whom he worked several times. Other films included Story of Drunken Master and Rivals of the Silver Fox. One of Wong's last notable movie appearances was as Kang-ho in the 1994 Korean movie Bloody Mafia.
Kung Fu Panda is a video game loosely based on the movie of the same name. Developed in a collaborative effort between Luxoflux, XPEC Entertainment, Beenox Shift, and Vicarious Visions, and published by Activision, the game was released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PlayStation 2, Wii, and Nintendo DS in June 2008. A version for mobile phones developed by IronMonkey Studios and published by EA Mobile was released the same month. A port for Mac OS X was developed by TransGaming and released in March 2009. It is about the quest of a giant panda named Po to become the Dragon Warrior.
Kung Fu Panda is an American media franchise that originally started in 2008 with the release of the animated feature film of the same name, produced by DreamWorks Animation. Following the adventures of the titular Po Ping, a giant panda who is improbably chosen as the prophesied Dragon Warrior and becomes a master of kung fu, the franchise is set in a fantasy wuxia genre version of ancient China populated by anthropomorphic animals. Although his status is initially doubted, Po proves himself worthy as he strives to fulfill his destiny.
There are several Chinese martial arts known as Snake Boxing or Fanged Snake Style which imitate the movements of snakes. It is a style of Shaolin Boxing. Proponents claim that adopting the fluidity of snakes allows them to entwine with their opponents in defense and strike them from angles they would not expect in offense. Snake style is said to especially lend itself to applications with the Chinese straight sword. The snake is also one of the animals imitated in Yang family Taijiquan, Baguazhang and Xingyiquan. The sinuous, fluid motion of the snake lends itself to the practical theory that underlies the "soft" martial arts.
Kung Fu Panda: The Paws of Destiny is an American computer-animated streaming television series produced by DreamWorks Animation Television and premiered its first "part" on Amazon Prime Video on November 16, 2018. The second and final part was released on July 5, 2019. It is the second television series in the Kung Fu Panda franchise following Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness. Developer Mitch Watson has confirmed that Mick Wingert would reprise his role from Legends of Awesomeness as Po.
Chris Yen Tze-ching is a Hong Kong martial artist and actress. She is the younger sister of the actor Donnie Yen. She was noted for her roles in the films Protégé de la Rose Noire, Adventures of Johnny Tao: Rock Around the Dragon, and Give 'Em Hell, Malone.
