Once Upon a Time in China
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Plot
Concerns are growing over the Westerners from America, Britain and France increasing their presence in Foshan (in some DVD releases, the subtitles state that the town in question is Canton, perhaps because it is a more recognizable). The general of the Black Flag Army approaches Wong Fei-Hung (Jet Li) and requests that he recruits and trains a militia of kung fu warriors to help protect the town. Wong recruits the butcher, "Porky" Lang (Kent Cheng) and "Bucktooth So" (Jacky Cheung).
Wong meets up with "Aunt Yee" (aka 13th Aunt, played by Rosamund Kwan) and romantic feelings between the two are stirred. However, Shao Jun's father was a sworn brother to Wong Fei Hung's grandfather. This had made her, technically, Wong Fei Hung's aunt. A romantic relationship between them was considered a taboo among traditional Chinese society, thus this issue kept haunting their relationship.
Leung Foon (or "Fu", played by Yuen Biao) arrives in town with a Chinese Opera group and gets in trouble with a local gang called Sha Ho Bang, who are terrorising local businesses and dealing with the Americans. He accidentally runs into Aunt Yee and falls in love with her. After being kicked out by the opera group, Fu begins training under another master, "Iron Robe" Yim (Yee Kwan Yan).
The Americans, Jackson (Jonathan Isgar) and Tiger (Steve Tartalia) are working for the Sino-Pacific company, exporting Chinese people to the US for virtual slave labour. The Sha Ho gang aids the Americans by kidnapping women to be sold as prostitutes for the Americans.
Sifu Wong attempts to bring the gang to justice but the fearful inhabitants of Foshan do not dare to act as witnesses.
"Iron Robe" Yim decides he must fight and beat Wong in order to make a name for himself in the town, in order to open a successful martial arts school. The Sha Ho gang offers to help Yim if he allies himself with their gang, a move which forces Leung Foon to stand against Wong Fei Hung.
Awards and Nominations
Won: Best Action Choreography
Won: Best Original Film Score (James Wong)
Nominated: Best Picture
Nominated: Best Cinematography
Box office
Once Upon a Time in China is largely credited with starting the period martial arts craze of the early to mid 1990s. It was a box office hit, grossing $29,672,278 HKD in Hong Kong.
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