''Shaolin and Wu Tang'' is a 1983

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 Delta i ...

martial arts film directed by and starring Gordon Liu. The film is about the rivalry between the Shaolin ( East Asian Mahayana) and Wu-Tang ( Taoist Religion) martial arts schools. It is also called ''Shaolin vs. Wu-Tang'' in the Master Killer Collection.

Plot summary

Master Liu and Master Law are rival masters of Shaolin style kung fu and Wu-Tang style sword fighting, running schools in the same city. Their top students, Chao Fung-wu ( Adam Cheng) and Hung Jun-kit ( Gordon Liu), are actually close friends, with Jun-kit's sister, Yan-ling (

Idy Chan Idy Chan Yuk Lin (born 25 March 1960) is a popular Hong Kong TV actress, especially during the 1980s and was named as one of the Five Beauties of TVB. Career She joined showbiz in 1977. She is most famous for her portrayal of three of the char ...

), having a crush on Fung-wu. After observing the two students fighting at a brothel, two of the local Qing Lord's ( Johnny Wang) soldiers report the power of the styles to him. The Lord determines that the two styles are dangerous and that he must learn both. After being poisoned by the Lord, Master Law lets Fung-wu stab him. For this, Fung-wu is sent to prison. Attempting to rescue Fung-wu, Jun-kit teaches a prisoner ( Li Ching) the Shaolin Chin kang fist, not knowing the prisoner is the Lord's spy. After their escape from prison, the four of them (the spy, Yan-ling, Fung-wu and Jun-kit) are ambushed. To overcome the Lord's men, Fung-wu teaches the spy some Wu-Tang sword techniques. As they are still being overpowered, Fung-wu and Yan-ling have to flee the scene, only to be captured by the Wu-Tang who came to prosecute Fung-wu for killing Master Law. As they leave for Wu-Tang temple, Yan-ling gets shot and dies in Fung-wu arms. The Wu-Tang leave the dead body behind. Jun-kit finds it, believing the Wu-Tang killed his sister. Hoping to avenge Yan-ling's death, Jun-kit returns to the Shaolin temple for training as a monk. Meanwhile, Fung-wu is being held at the Wu-tang temple. The Qing Lord has since learned both the styles from the spy, but because he did not learn either from a master, his grasp on both styles is imperfect. To overcome this deficiency, he decides to have the Wu-Tang and the Shaolin destroy each other so that he may be the only master of both styles. To do this, he stages a martial arts contest between the two temples, hoping to appeal to the traditional rivalry between the Shaolin and the Wu-Tang. Jun-kit (now called Tat-chi), and Fung-wu (now called Ming-kai), are selected by their respective temples as the representatives. During the contest, the Qing Lord, in his impatience to see both Wu-Tang and Shaolin destroyed, admits his true motives and his role in Yan-ling and Master Law's deaths. Tat-chi and Ming-kai must then combine Shaolin Chin kang fist and Wu-Tang Sword style to defeat him.

Cast

* Gordon Liu as Hung Jun-kit, later Tat-chi, Master Liu's top student * Adam Cheng as Chao Fung-wu, later Ming-kai, Master Law's top student who is secret friends with Jun-kit *

as Yang-Lin, Jung-kit's sister who has a crush on Fung-wu * Johnny Wang as the local Qing Lord who conspires against Master Liu and Master Law * Li Ching as Yue Lam, the Qing Lord's spy learns the Shaolin and Wu-Tang styles from the Masters's disciples * Chan Sen as a Shaolin abbot * Han Chiang as Master Liu * Kwan Hoi-san as Master Law, Master Liu's rival

Legacy

East Coast hip-hop group Wu-Tang Clan has cited the film as an early inspiration. The film is one of Wu-Tang Clan founder

RZA Robert Fitzgerald Diggs (born July 5, 1969), better known by his stage name the RZA ( ), is an American rapper, actor, filmmaker, and record producer. He is the ''de facto'' leader of the hip hop group Wu-Tang Clan, having produced most albums ...

's favorite films of all time. Founders RZA and Ol' Dirty Bastard first saw the film in 1992 in a grindhouse cinema on

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the List of co ...

's 42nd Street and would found the group shortly after with GZA. The group would release its debut album '' Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)'', featuring samples from the film's English dub; the album's namesake is an amalgamation of '' Enter the Dragon'' (1973), Shaolin and Wu Tang, and '' The 36th Chamber of Shaolin'' (1978). Rapper

Logic Logic is the study of correct reasoning. It includes both formal and informal logic. Formal logic is the science of deductively valid inferences or of logical truths. It is a formal science investigating how conclusions follow from premis ...

samples the film in his song Wu Tang Forever from his ''

YSIV ''YSIV'' (abbreviation of ''Young Sinatra IV'') is the fourth studio album by American rapper Logic, released on September 28, 2018, by Visionary Music Group and Def Jam Recordings. The album art, featuring a mugshot of Logic, is stylized simi ...

'' album, which features all living Wu-Tang members at the time of its release.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Shaolin And Wu Tang 1983 films 1983 action films 1983 martial arts films 1980s Cantonese-language films Films set in the Qing dynasty Hong Kong action films Hong Kong martial arts films Kung fu films Shaw Brothers Studio films 1980s Hong Kong films