I always begin my posts with a brief intro phrase like “if you haven’t seen this, where have you been”, and this one is no exception. Kung Fu Hustle (功夫, Gōng Fū) is a 2004 film by Stephen Chow. Kung Fu Hustle is a martial arts comedy unlike any other that came before. Stephen Chow had been doing comedy films in Hong Kong for a while (that’s basically his entire career). Even mixing some martial arts in them like in his Chinese Odyssey films. But it wasn’t until Shaolin Soccer (his previous film) that he found the balance between his style of humor and classic kung-fu lore. So, in a similar vein to what I did with Avatar, I thought I’d talk about the martial arts represented in this film. Both the real life and the fictional ones. As a warning, this will not be spoiler free.
In this first part, I’ll cover the real world martial arts shown in the movie and leave the fictional ones for the second part.
What’s Kung Fu Hustle about?
The film follows the misadventures of Sing (Stephen Chow himself) in 1940s Shanghai. He’s a loser who wants to become a gangster. In his attempts to become a member of the infamous Axe Gang he comes across Pig Sty Alley, a rundown slum, and tries (and fails) to extort the residents. To everyone’s surprise, some of the slum’s residents turn up to be amazing kung fu masters. This starts an escalation of violence between from the Axe Gang who start sending even more powerful assassins. Sing must eventually decide if he really wants to become a gangster or help the residents.
Kung Fu Hustle’s real world martial arts
All but one the kung fu masters from Pig Sty Alley represent real world martial arts, one of them in a more fictionalized way. The first two are depicted in a very accurate way, while the third one has been embellished for the film. Still the film transmits the essence of the three styles.
Hung Gar Kuen
Hung Gar Kuen (Hung Family Fist) is one of Southern China’s more famous and widespread styles. And is represented by one of its foremost representatives, Master Chiu Chi Ling who plays Tailor. I’ve talked about it before in my article on Avatar, but basically it focuses on low, strong stances, it combines techniques based on five animals with an emphasis on tiger and crane. The tiger represents harder techniques to overwhelm the opponent. Crane is the opposite, soft and nimble, combining deflections and dodges with more precise attacks. The character of Tailor fights using iron rings on his arms. Those rings are actually training tools but he uses them as a sort of armor/weapon. In the film it’s identified as Iron Wire Fist. Iron Wire is a specific form within the style.
Tan Tui
Following the trend of famous well represented styles we have Tan Tui (弹腿), literally spring leg. One of Northern China’s staple boxing styles. Closely related to Ku Yu Cheung’s Northern Shaolin, Zhaquan, Muslim styles and Shaolin related styles. The character of Coolie is played by Xing Yu, an actual Shaolin Temple alumni. Tan Tui doesn’t have forms as most Chinese systems do but short combination sequences practiced in lines, that you can later combine. Its main focus is leg techniques, though the system contains punches, throws and locks. That said, Coolie fights using his kicks almost exclusively. Again we repeat a pattern, these masters use a subset of their style which is a common idea in Chinese martial arts (I’ll get back to this in pt2).
Eight Trigram Staff
Wu Lang Bagua Gun (五郎八卦棍) or Fifth Son’s Eight Trigram Staff is less a style than a specific form from the Hung Gar style. According to legend this staff form was designed by a member of the Yang family that lived back in the Song dynasty. They were all in the military and their weapon of choice was the spear. The fifth son of the family became a monk later in life. As spears and bladed weapons weren’t allowed in the temple he developed the staff form from his own experience with the spear. This is why the character Donut uses a staff at first and a spear later.
Tai Chi Chuan
I’ve talked at length about this particular style of Chinese martial arts in a previous post. In summary, it is a, so called, soft style, emphasizing grappling and controlling your opponent in close combat. Tai Chi Chuan trains relaxation, but that doesn’t mean loose. The idea being that in a relaxed state you can feel what your opponent does and react faster. Of course you use tension when necessary. In this movie we see a fictionalized exaggerated version of Tai Chi. The main idea and the principles are there but it’s closer to a wuxia version of the style. The character of the landlord, played by the great Yuen Wah, throws around two deadly kung fu assassins using this “soft” skill.
Next up in part 2
In part two I’ll address the fictional kung fu depicted in the film. This film contains A LOT of references to classic kung fu films, and classic wuxia novels. Stay tuned for the next part, next month. As always, feel free to leave a comment below.
- Hidden applications in traditional martial arts - October 30, 2023
- The Kung Fu in Kung Fu Hustle (part 2) - November 1, 2022
- The Kung Fu in Kung Fu Hustle (Part 1) - October 5, 2022
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