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Richard James Havis

Jet Li Lianjie shot to fame in mainland China in 1982 in the film Shaolin Temple, but it was his portrayal of Chinese folk hero Wong Fei-hung in Tsui Hark’s Once Upon a Time in China series that made him a star across Asia.
In Hong Kong, the actor became the face of the new-style martial arts boom of the early 1990s, and his best work dates from this period, mainly because directors were always pushing him to excel and innovate.
Li’s later work in the United States pales by comparison, and he has never been given the chance to demonstrate his skills to the full in Hollywood.
We rank Li’s 10 best films to date, from good to great.


10. Last Hero in China (directed by Wong Jing, 1993)
Intended as a shameless attempt to cash in on the Once Upon a Time in China series, this film ended up forging its own personality.
Hong Kong martial arts cinema – everything you need to know
Directed by Wong Jing, Last Hero in China sees Li return as Wong Fei-hung in a thin story which involves courtesans, corrupt officials, and evil monks.
Li plays Wong Fei-hung in the manner of the Tsui films, but Wong injects crude humour and violence, which is sometimes unpalatable. Martial arts choreography by Yuen Woo-ping emphasises acrobatics, and the action is plentiful.
The film was popular when it opened in Hong Kong, as the audience wanted as much Jet Li as they could get.


9. Swordsman II (dir. Ching Siu-tung, 1992)
The second film in producer Tsui Hark’s Swordsman trilogy, based on novelist Louis Cha’s The Smiling Proud Wanderer, modernised the fantasy wuxia genre in the same way that his Once Upon a Time in China reinvigorated kung fu films.
Li plays Ling, a womanising master swordsman with a penchant for wine who’s caught up in a conflict between the murderous Sun Moon Sect and their rivals. Li’s character has affairs with characters played by Michelle Reis, Rosamund Kwan Chi-lam and Brigitte Lin Ching-hsia, who plays hermaphrodite sorceress Asia The Invincible.
The film is glorious fun, although Li’s martial arts skills were often masked by the special effects and wirework and he wasn’t happy with the moral laxity of his character. Li didn’t return for part three, The East is Red.


8. Hero (dir. Zhang Yimou, 2003)
Li risked being upstaged by Christopher Doyle’s ravishing cinematography in Chinese director Zhang Yimou’s period swordplay drama, but instead delivers the most convincing dramatic performance of his career.
Zhang’s Rashomon-style story features Li as an assassin who has developed a special martial arts move to kill the king of Qin, the future first emperor of China.
What Jet Li really said about making kung fu films
The swordplay, choreographed by Ching Siu-tung, is elegant and makes clever use of special effects, although martial arts aficionados will find the relentless use of slow motion a barrier to its enjoyment.
Li has said he found the script so moving when it was first sent to him that he burst into tears – twice.


7. Fearless (dir. Ronny Yu, 2006)
Director Ronny Yu Yan-tai is well known for making gorgeous-looking movies, and here he turns his talents to the story of real-life martial artist Huo Huanjia.
Li, who takes acting seriously, is given ample chance to expand his dramatic range in this loose biopic of the martial artist who defeated foreign fighters in Shanghai in the early 20th century.
Yuen Woo-ping’s martial arts scenes are glossy but brutal, and it’s unusual to see Li take such a battering. The non-Chinese actors all put in good performances, and that helps to elevate the movie.


6. The Tai Chi Master (dir. Yuen Woo-ping, 1993)
Tai chi is more usually known as an exercise technique, but it’s also a powerful combat style. Tai chi is rarely seen in martial arts movies, but it’s given a good showing in the finale of this lesser-seen action drama directed by Yuen Woo-ping.
In a fictionalised version of history, Li invents the “soft” martial arts style of tai chi to defeat the “hard” styles of his enemy. Li’s co-star Michelle Yeoh said that Li performed tai chi so beautifully, the cast copied his moves behind his back while he was on camera.
A scene which features martial artists performing tai chi en masse is a reference to the famed scene in the Once Upon a Time in China films.


5. Shaolin Temple (dir. Cheung Sing-yim, 1982)
Li’s first film catapulted him to fame in China and won him acclaim in Hong Kong. Filmed at the legendary Shaolin Monastery in Henan province, central China, the story is based very loosely on a historical event during which the monks fought alongside the founders of the Tang dynasty to suppress a rebellious general.
Li had won the national wushu competition of China five times (wushu is a non-combat branch of martial arts that focuses on form rather than fighting) before he got the part, and many of the action sequences revolve around dazzling exhibitions of wushu style and technique.
Not only did the film make Li a star, it revived the fortunes of the Shaolin Monastery, which had been ailing since the Cultural Revolution.


4. Fong Sai Yuk (dir. Corey Yuen Kwai, 1993)
Li said he wanted to do something different with the first film from his own Eastern Productions company, and he succeeded.
The action in Fong Sai Yuk, choreographed by the film’s director, Corey Yuen Kwai, in collaboration with Li, is both brilliant and bizarre.
Li portrays Fong Sai-yuk, a real-life Cantonese martial arts hero, as a cheeky youth who is trying to win a martial arts competition so that he is free to marry the girl he loves. Josephine Siao Fong-fong, veteran of many swordfighting films of the 1960s, plays his mother, who is equally skilled in kung fu.
Li said that he wanted to play Fong, who is mischievous, because he didn’t want to get typecast as the respectable Wong Fei-hung.


3. Fist of Legend (dir. Gordon Chan, 1994)
Li said he was irritated by the way that actors and actresses like Brigitte Lin, who were not trained in martial arts, could fake it on screen with wire work and special effects. Fist of Legend, a stylish return to no-holds barred kung fu produced by his own Eastern Productions, was the result.
The story is nominally a remake of Bruce Lee’s classic Fist of Fury , but director Gordon Chan Kar-seung – who had mainly made kung fu comedies with Stephen Chiau Sing-chi (Stephen Chow) – uses the original as the foundation for a completely new story.
Choreographer Yuen Woo-ping used southern kung fu styles such as hongquan to stage the toughest displays of martial arts Li has ever performed.


2. Once Upon Time in China 2 (dir. Tsui Hark, 1992)
Rather than simply exploit the success of the first film, Tsui Hark used the sequel to extend the storyline and enlarge the character of Wong Fei-hung, a Cantonese martial arts legend.
This time Wong and Aunt Yee (Rosamund Kwan) are caught up in a violent conflict between the anti-foreigner White Lotus Sect and the Western powers when Wong – who is also a doctor – visits Canton (Guangzhou) to deliver a lecture on acupuncture points.
The script allows Li to focus on his dramatic portrayal of Wong Fei-hung, who even gets to meet Sun Yat-sen. But a mass battle with the sect, and a final fight with Donnie Yen Ji-dan, who plays a corrupt official, still deliver the necessary action, which was choreographed by Yuen Woo-ping.


1. Once Upon a Time in China (dir. Tsui Hark, 1991)
Li was already well known in Hong Kong for 1982’s Shaolin Temple and its sequels, but Tsui Hark’s reinvention of the martial arts genre turned him into a major star across Asia. In the film he plays Wong Fei-hung, who must defend China from the incursions of the foreign powers in the late 19th century.
Tsui’s use of multiple camera angles and fast edits served to accentuate rather than obscure Li’s kung fu skills in the action scenes, which were arranged by three venerable fight choreographers, and the many outstanding scenes include a fight on some ever-shifting ladders. Together, Li and Tsui showcased Hong Kong action cinema at its absolute best.
In this regular feature series on the best of Hong Kong martial arts cinema, we examine the legacy of classic films, re-evaluate the careers of its greatest stars, and revisit some of the lesser-known aspects of the beloved genre. Read our comprehensive explainer here.
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Jet Li in Once Upon a Time in China 2 (1992), directed by Tsui Hark.

Jet Li in a scene from Once Upon a Time in China (1991). Director Tsui Hark’s film was a reinvention of the martial arts genre and turned Li into a major star across Asia.

Like spaghetti Westerns starring Clint Eastwood, an amoral drifter leads cast of Deaf and Mute Heroine

Helen Ma (centre) takes no prisoners in a scene from the 1971 martial arts cult classic Deaf and Mute Heroine.

Helen Ma in a promotional image for the 1971 film Deaf and Mute Heroine.

Cheng Pei-pei in a still from Come Drink with Me (1966), probably an influence on Wu Ma's 1971 film Deaf and Mute Heroine.

A still from The Dead and the Deadly (1982), directed by Wu Ma.

Wu Ma (left) and Leslie Cheung in a still from A Chinese Ghost Story (1987).

The making of Bruce Lee film Enter the Dragon, martial arts movie that launched a thousand fight clubs

Bruce Lee in a still from Enter The Dragon. Photo: Warner Bros

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Bruce Lee in a still from Enter the Dragon, his most famous film that also featured Jackie Chan as a stuntman and extra.

Hong Kong martial arts cinema: why Leslie Cheung had to be talked into making 1987 Tsui Hark classic  A Chinese Ghost Story

Leslie Cheung and Joey Wong in a still from A Chinese Ghost Story (1987).

Leslie Cheung in a still from A Chinese Ghost Story (1987).

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Hong Kong martial arts cinema: how a golden age of wuxia movies began with 1967 classic film One-Armed Swordsman

Jimmy Wang in a scene from One-Armed Swordsman.

Jimmy Wang (right) in a still from One-Armed Swordsman (1967).

Jimmy Wang (left) and Violet Pang in a still from One-Armed Swordsman (1967).

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Hong Kong martial arts cinema: how Ashes of Time, star-studded Wong Kar-wai film, gained classic status

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Carina Lau in a still from Ashes of Time.

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Born in northern China, Li was a national wushu champion and shot to fame showing off his dazzling wushu skills in the 1982 film Shaolin Temple
He built his career in Hong Kong, and is best known for the films he made with directors Tsui Hark and Zhang Yimou, but Li has starred in many others



Martial arts actor Jet Li has had an illustrious film career that includes collaborations with acclaimed directors Tsui Hark and Zhang Yimou. We rank the top 10 movies he has made so far.


Jet Li’s best movies: ranking the martial arts superstar’s top 10 films, from Hero to Once Upon a Time in China

Born in northern China, Li was a national wushu champion and shot to fame showing off his dazzling wushu skills in the 1982 film Shaolin Temple He built his career in Hong Kong, and is best known for the films he made with directors Tsui Hark and Zhang Yimou, but Li has starred in many others

Born in northern China, Li was a national wushu champion and shot to fame showing off his dazzling wushu skills in the 1982 film Shaolin Temple

He built his career in Hong Kong, and is best known for the films he made with directors Tsui Hark and Zhang Yimou, but Li has starred in many others