Shaolin Temple 2: Kids from Shaolin
Encyclopedia
Kids From Shaolin is a 1984
Hong Kong
/Chinese
action
-comedy
kung fu film directed by Chang Hsin-yen.
It stars Jet Li
, Yu Chenghui
, Yu Hai and Ding Lan from the original 1982 Shaolin Temple film, which is also directed by Chang. However, the plot has no bearing with the first movie and hence Kids from Shaolin is a sequel to the original in name only.
The film also stars Jet Li's first wife Huang Qiuyan (黃秋燕) as his rival and later love interest. Li first met Huang, also a martial artist, in martial school and they went on to have two daughters. (The couple is now divorce
d and Li is now married to Nina Li Chi
, a former Hong Kong
actress.)
", played by Yu Hai), and his younger brother, Di Long ("Earth Chinese Dragon
", Hu Jianqiang), raise eight orphan
boys whom they saved from murdering bandits ravaging their home village. The children refer to Tian Long as their father and Di Long as their uncle and are taught Shaolin kungfu by the two. All have taken the last character name of Long
(龙/龍). They settle at the mountainous area at Lijiang where they stay in a hut.
The Long boys are playful and often bicker and fight with the daughters of the Feng (凤/鳳, "Phoenix") family who live just across the river and practice the Wudangquan style of martial arts
. The mischievous San Long ("Third Dragon", Jet Li
), the oldest of the Long children, likes to tease the third sister of the Feng family, San Feng ("Third Phoenix", Huang Qiuyan) who is a tomboy
in her late teens and who has a nasty temper.
The Feng patriarch Bao Feng (Yu Chenghui
) is trying for a boy heir, yet he has only nine daughters. Meanwhile, the Long family are saving up in order to pay the bride price
- ten oxen - so that Tian Long can marry the eldest Feng girl. The marriage plans are met with some resistance: the Feng matriarch likes Tian Long, but Bao Feng believes he is out to steal his Wudang martial arts. Nonetheless, he agrees to marry off his eldest daughter if his wife gives birth to a son.
Meanwhile, the vicious bandits who orphaned the eight Long boys have been training in secret for ten years to revenge the Shaolin counter-attack which injure them when they looted the village. A cross-eyed
member of the bandits poses as a Taoist soothsayer to infiltrate the Fengs to learn their martial arts and abduct their daughters.
The Feng matriarch manages to conceive and bear a male son. The bogus priest now dupes Bao Feng into believing the Long family is his nemesis. The Long family, he claims, has been throwing off the yin and yang
balance for the Fengs, making it impossible for the wife to bear a male heir.
Bao Feng changes his mind and refuses to accept the Long family's bride price. Di Long is in love with Er Feng (Ding Lan), the second daughter, and to fulfil the couple, San Long and San Feng help the two elope
. For their disobedience against feudal
rules, San Feng and San Long are sentenced to be drowned. But the two manage to escape underwater.
San Long hides San Feng in a cave. San Long is struck by San Feng's beauty in female clothes and San Feng is grateful to San Long for rescuing her. The two develop romantic feelings for each other.
The bogus priest informs Bao Feng where his daughter is hiding and Bao Feng pursues her, then fights San Feng in the cave, accusing the latter of abducting his daughter and stealing his swordplay style. Tian Long finds the two fighting, breaks them up and allows Bao Feng to bring San Feng home.
Meanwhile, the Long boys are maligned by the bogus priest for abducting the Feng newborn. The Long family vow never to step into the Feng residence again.
Once their evil plot has become successful, the bandits burn down the Long's hut and show their true colors to Bao Feng. They attempt to kidnap his daughters. The Feng family tries desperately to fight them until the Long family arrives. By combining their martial arts expertise, the two families roundly defeat and kill all remaining bandits.
The film ends with a dual marriage: Tian Long marries Da Feng (the eldest daughter) while Di Long marries Er Feng. The families are reconciled. Bao Feng readily admits his folly and San Long and San Feng have also become a couple.
Hong Kong films of 1984
A list of films produced in Hong Kong in 1984:.-1984:-External links:* * Hong Kong films of 1984 at...
Hong Kong
Cinema of Hong Kong
The cinema of Hong Kong is one of the three major threads in the history of Chinese language cinema, alongside the cinema of China, and the cinema of Taiwan...
/Chinese
Cinema of China
The Chinese-language cinema has three distinct historical threads: Cinema of Hong Kong, Cinema of China, and Cinema of Taiwan. Since 1949 the cinema of mainland China has operated under restrictions imposed by the Communist Party of China's State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television and...
action
Hong Kong action cinema
Hong Kong action cinema is the principal source of the Hong Kong film industry's global fame. It combines elements from the action film, as codified by Hollywood, with Chinese storytelling and aesthetic traditions, to create a culturally distinctive form that nevertheless has a wide transcultural...
-comedy
Comedy
Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...
kung fu film directed by Chang Hsin-yen.
It stars Jet Li
Jet Li
The fame gained by his sports winnings led to a career as a martial arts film star, beginning in mainland China and then continuing into Hong Kong. Li acquired his screen name in 1982 in the Philippines when a publicity company thought his real name was too hard to pronounce...
, Yu Chenghui
Yu Chenghui
Yu Chenghui , sometimes credited as Yue Sing-wai, is a Chinese actor, action director and martial artist.-Martial arts career:...
, Yu Hai and Ding Lan from the original 1982 Shaolin Temple film, which is also directed by Chang. However, the plot has no bearing with the first movie and hence Kids from Shaolin is a sequel to the original in name only.
The film also stars Jet Li's first wife Huang Qiuyan (黃秋燕) as his rival and later love interest. Li first met Huang, also a martial artist, in martial school and they went on to have two daughters. (The couple is now divorce
Divorce
Divorce is the final termination of a marital union, canceling the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage and dissolving the bonds of matrimony between the parties...
d and Li is now married to Nina Li Chi
Nina Li Chi
Nina Li Chi is a retired former Hong Kong actress. She is currently married to Chinese action superstar Jet Li. They have two children together, including daughter Jada...
, a former Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
actress.)
Plot
A former Shaolin monk, Tian Long ("Heaven Chinese DragonChinese dragon
Chinese dragons are legendary creatures in Chinese mythology and folklore, with mythic counterparts among Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Bhutanese, Western and Turkic dragons. In Chinese art, dragons are typically portrayed as long, scaled, serpentine creatures with four legs...
", played by Yu Hai), and his younger brother, Di Long ("Earth Chinese Dragon
Chinese dragon
Chinese dragons are legendary creatures in Chinese mythology and folklore, with mythic counterparts among Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Bhutanese, Western and Turkic dragons. In Chinese art, dragons are typically portrayed as long, scaled, serpentine creatures with four legs...
", Hu Jianqiang), raise eight orphan
Orphan
An orphan is a child permanently bereaved of or abandoned by his or her parents. In common usage, only a child who has lost both parents is called an orphan...
boys whom they saved from murdering bandits ravaging their home village. The children refer to Tian Long as their father and Di Long as their uncle and are taught Shaolin kungfu by the two. All have taken the last character name of Long
Chinese dragon
Chinese dragons are legendary creatures in Chinese mythology and folklore, with mythic counterparts among Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Bhutanese, Western and Turkic dragons. In Chinese art, dragons are typically portrayed as long, scaled, serpentine creatures with four legs...
(龙/龍). They settle at the mountainous area at Lijiang where they stay in a hut.
The Long boys are playful and often bicker and fight with the daughters of the Feng (凤/鳳, "Phoenix") family who live just across the river and practice the Wudangquan style of martial arts
Martial arts
Martial arts are extensive systems of codified practices and traditions of combat, practiced for a variety of reasons, including self-defense, competition, physical health and fitness, as well as mental and spiritual development....
. The mischievous San Long ("Third Dragon", Jet Li
Jet Li
The fame gained by his sports winnings led to a career as a martial arts film star, beginning in mainland China and then continuing into Hong Kong. Li acquired his screen name in 1982 in the Philippines when a publicity company thought his real name was too hard to pronounce...
), the oldest of the Long children, likes to tease the third sister of the Feng family, San Feng ("Third Phoenix", Huang Qiuyan) who is a tomboy
Tomboy
A tomboy is a girl who exhibits characteristics or behaviors considered typical of the gender role of a boy, including the wearing of typically masculine-oriented clothes and engaging in games and activities that are often physical in nature, and which are considered in many cultures to be the...
in her late teens and who has a nasty temper.
The Feng patriarch Bao Feng (Yu Chenghui
Yu Chenghui
Yu Chenghui , sometimes credited as Yue Sing-wai, is a Chinese actor, action director and martial artist.-Martial arts career:...
) is trying for a boy heir, yet he has only nine daughters. Meanwhile, the Long family are saving up in order to pay the bride price
Bride price
Bride price, also known as bride wealth, is an amount of money or property or wealth paid by the groom or his family to the parents of a woman upon the marriage of their daughter to the groom...
- ten oxen - so that Tian Long can marry the eldest Feng girl. The marriage plans are met with some resistance: the Feng matriarch likes Tian Long, but Bao Feng believes he is out to steal his Wudang martial arts. Nonetheless, he agrees to marry off his eldest daughter if his wife gives birth to a son.
Meanwhile, the vicious bandits who orphaned the eight Long boys have been training in secret for ten years to revenge the Shaolin counter-attack which injure them when they looted the village. A cross-eyed
Strabismus
Strabismus is a condition in which the eyes are not properly aligned with each other. It typically involves a lack of coordination between the extraocular muscles, which prevents bringing the gaze of each eye to the same point in space and preventing proper binocular vision, which may adversely...
member of the bandits poses as a Taoist soothsayer to infiltrate the Fengs to learn their martial arts and abduct their daughters.
The Feng matriarch manages to conceive and bear a male son. The bogus priest now dupes Bao Feng into believing the Long family is his nemesis. The Long family, he claims, has been throwing off the yin and yang
Yin and yang
In Asian philosophy, the concept of yin yang , which is often referred to in the West as "yin and yang", is used to describe how polar opposites or seemingly contrary forces are interconnected and interdependent in the natural world, and how they give rise to each other in turn. Opposites thus only...
balance for the Fengs, making it impossible for the wife to bear a male heir.
Bao Feng changes his mind and refuses to accept the Long family's bride price. Di Long is in love with Er Feng (Ding Lan), the second daughter, and to fulfil the couple, San Long and San Feng help the two elope
Elope
To elope, most literally, merely means to run away with a girl and to not come back to the point of origination. More specifically, elopement is often used to refer to a marriage conducted in sudden and secretive fashion, usually involving hurried flight away from one's place of residence together...
. For their disobedience against feudal
Feudalism
Feudalism was a set of legal and military customs in medieval Europe that flourished between the 9th and 15th centuries, which, broadly defined, was a system for ordering society around relationships derived from the holding of land in exchange for service or labour.Although derived from the...
rules, San Feng and San Long are sentenced to be drowned. But the two manage to escape underwater.
San Long hides San Feng in a cave. San Long is struck by San Feng's beauty in female clothes and San Feng is grateful to San Long for rescuing her. The two develop romantic feelings for each other.
The bogus priest informs Bao Feng where his daughter is hiding and Bao Feng pursues her, then fights San Feng in the cave, accusing the latter of abducting his daughter and stealing his swordplay style. Tian Long finds the two fighting, breaks them up and allows Bao Feng to bring San Feng home.
Meanwhile, the Long boys are maligned by the bogus priest for abducting the Feng newborn. The Long family vow never to step into the Feng residence again.
Once their evil plot has become successful, the bandits burn down the Long's hut and show their true colors to Bao Feng. They attempt to kidnap his daughters. The Feng family tries desperately to fight them until the Long family arrives. By combining their martial arts expertise, the two families roundly defeat and kill all remaining bandits.
The film ends with a dual marriage: Tian Long marries Da Feng (the eldest daughter) while Di Long marries Er Feng. The families are reconciled. Bao Feng readily admits his folly and San Long and San Feng have also become a couple.
External links
- Kids From Shaolin at Hong Kong CinemagicHong Kong CinemagicHong Kong Cinemagic, sometimes referred to as HKCinemagic, is a bilingual website providing a repository for information about Chinese language films from Hong Kong, China and Taiwan, and the people that created them. The website contains news, interviews, film reviews and a database of people,...