Yuen Biao TV Series

[Sekabin]

Apologies for posting this here as well, but it is relevant and I realise that many of us don't go to the media section often...

Can someone please tell me you can read chinese and give me some more information about this new (?) TV series that contains the (always amazing) Yuen Biao and Wing Chun. I don't read chinese but I can at least make out the characters for wing chun, SNT and the pictures look good, and I really wanna see this! Unfortunately I can' download the clips either for some reason.

http://tvcity.tvb.com/drama/real_kun...age/index.html

Thanks!
Sek.

[marktham]

It is the story of Leung Jan.

[CFT]

You should give the full URL: http://tvcity.tvb.com/drama/real_kung_fu/story/index.html

This is another fictional account of Leung Jan sifu of Fatshan.
Yuen Biao reprises his role as Leung Jan; he last played him in the film "Prodigal Son".

Leung Ga Yun plays his sifu Leung Yee Tai; he played Leung Jan in the film "Warriors Two".

Hung Tin Ming (son of Sammo Hung) plays Chan Wah Sun (Money-Changer Wah) arguably the most famous student of Leung Jan.


================================================== =========

The "History" page regurgitates the theme of Ng Mui --> Yim Wing Chun against a local bandit. Then transmission onto Wong Wah Bo and Leung Yee Tai via her husband.

Interestingly, it is proposed that Wing Chun was designed to neutralise traditional Shaolin arts in order to use it against a Shaolin traitor.

Unique features of Wing Chun:
Short bridges and narrow stance - use of Yee Jee Kim Yeung Ma and Bow-Arrow stance.
Centre-line in relation to attack and defence.
Use of chuen ging (inch-ging).
The use of spontaneity in an encounter - i.e. no fixed shapes or pre-conceived ideas.


If I get some time I'll post the plot synopsis.

[Sekabin]

Thanks for your replies. I don't know why the full link didn't paste properly, so thanks for posting it. A plot synopsis would be great - I can see myself buying it when it's available on DVD/VCD, but my cantonese is not good enough to work out the plot I'm sure. (I'm also sure there won't be an English-subtitled version available).

[CFT]

Typical TVB crap in terms of story line. Maybe the choreography will make up for it.

Leung Jan is a cook in the Opera Troupe and has been learning Wing Chun from Wong Wah Bo since he was young. Since he is willing to help those in trouble (against thugs I guess) his skills come to the attention of a Manchurian elite fighter.

Wong Wah Bo tries many times to avoid a confrontation but is eventually injured in an ambush. Leung Jan in a fit of rage goes round to confront the Manchurian only to find him dead. At this point he gets into a misunderstanding with "Ping Yee" (2nd girl on characters page) thinking she is the assassin.

Wong Wah Bo advises Leung Jan to go to Fatshan and stay with his martial uncle Leung Yee Tai. Leung Jan then gets a job in the Chan Family residence to investigate the Manchurian's death. Only to find his jilted ex-fiancee :eek:

Lots of political intrigue, etc. A load of pap!

[jyu]

I am actually watching this series right now. The Wing Chun looks bad =( The story line is kinda guessable and boring. Even in HK, the rating is not good for this series. Somehow Kung Fu "died" in HK media. So for WC historian, they might enjoy it.

[reneritchie]

Wing Chun Drama is blowin' the f up! :)

[Phil Redmond]

It's good to see Yuen Biao get some play. His KF bros are more widely known. :D
Phil

[Kevin Bell]

Ditto to that Phil, got to admit for me he's the man

[ntc]

I think it's neat seeing Yuen Biao reprising his Leung Jan (though more mature this time around) role from Prodigal Son. He is a good actor and he fits that role so well.

But do remember that this is just a drama made for TV, otherwise you will drive yourself nuts. The shows on TVB over the years typically take on characters from historical events or storybook tales with usually a storyline of its on, oftentimes with little/no relation to the actual truth. This series has 20 episodes.... most of the TV drama series are love stories with a little something on the side, eg..... kung fu, gangster, etc. In fact, they had two other similar drama series over a decade ago.... one called "Choi Lay Fut" (of course about Chan Heung and the CLF system), and the other called "Wing Chun" (and about Yim Wing Chun). If you saw either one of them and you had knowledge of those systems, you would balk at the kung fu you saw. But after all, their motive for these series was not to tell the history of these styles nor to discuss these styles like the Discovery channel - they were merely showcasing love stories of a guy called Chan Heung who started CLF and a gal called Yim Wing Chun who started WC. As to the authenticity of the stories, most of the audiences in Hong Kong know nothing of the systems other than that they exist and their names/effectiveness are well known. Furthermore, they could care less if the story were true or not, or if it was actually CLF or WC they were seeing... they wanted to see a good martial arts based love story, and as far as TVB was concerned, they only want to see the $$ cone in. So, don't be surprised if the WC you see is really bad WC... that would actually be the norm, cause the actors/actresses are not real, hard-core WC practitioners like most of you.

Here is an example... if you've seen Jet Li in the movie "Tai Chi Master", some of you may think his Tai Chi was probably very good and others may think he was really bad. Well, guess what a real Tai Chi person would have rated him...?? Good? Bad?? Great Tai Chi? Terrible Tai Chi? Bottom line was... this is Jet Li, and his martial arts movies make money. And Tai Chi is a good money maker, and so..... why not have him do Tai Chi? For all we know.... he could end up being the leading actor and portraying Wong Wah Bo in a future Wing Chun movie.... who knows???

[Phil Redmond]

NTC is right about those series. I had a few episodes of the Wing Chun series on tape to practice my Cantonese. It was just like soap opera and the WC was "off". ;)
NTC, What is the name of the famous HK soy sauce company (Lee something)? It seems they were the sponsers for the series since there were soo many of their commercials.
Phil

[ntc]

Phil:

Are you thinking about Lee Kam Kei? they make great oyster sauce as well !!!

By the way, I think the people in the US who have DirecTV can get TVB by subscribing to the international package through that service. I think it costs about $50 or so per month... just in case anyone was curious.

And no.... I am not affiliated with DirecTV nor do I make any money through this.... this is just info that I thought some of you might wish to know.

I think the Chinese package provided by Dish network in the US convers ATV, the other major Chinese TV station in Hong Kong.

[Phil Redmond]

Yep NTC, that's the sauce. :)
Phil

[YongChun]

NTC is right about those series. I had a few episodes of the Wing Chun series on tape to practice my Cantonese. It was just like soap opera and the WC was "off". ;)
NTC, What is the name of the famous HK soy sauce company (Lee something)? It seems they were the sponsers for the series since there were soo many of their commercials.
Phil

On the topic of Soy Sauce, you have to be careful these days because it can be made from human hair:

http://www.ispub.com/ostia/index.php?xmlFilePath=journals/ijto/vol2n1/soy.xml

Ray

[Sekabin]

But do remember that this is just a drama made for TV, otherwise you will drive yourself nuts. The shows on TVB over the years typically take on characters from historical events or storybook tales with usually a storyline of its on, oftentimes with little/no relation to the actual truth.
This sounds just like the NHK version of 'musashi' that we had here in Japan. If you wanted to see real swordfighting you would be sorely disappointed - musashi could basically fly, matrix-style :D