The 1980s and 1990s were the heyday of Hong Kong kung fu martial arts films. Many mainland martial arts actors with real kung fu were invited to Hong Kong to develop, but not everyone can become martial arts superstars like Jet Li . For example, the following 8 people, among them, there are national martial arts champion winners and Jet Li’s fellow disciples, all of whom are masters, but for various reasons, they did not become famous. It’s a pity.
1. Wang Qun (1960-2008)
Perhaps many viewers are quite unfamiliar with the name Wang Qun, but in the 1980s, Wang Qun was considered one of the most promising martial arts stars at that time. He joined Wu Bin's martial arts team earlier than Jet Li. He is considered Jet Li's senior brother in terms of seniority. He is also proficient in all kinds of martial arts. He also founded a martial arts school in Russia. Since he started filming, he has played many roles such as Tai Chi master Yang Luchan, Green Forest hero Huang Tianba and patriotic righteous man Cheng Ziqing, but Wang Qun's star fortune seems to have been bad. Even the director Zhang Xinyan , who once made Jet Li famous, did not make him famous. Unfortunately, Wang Qun, who was in his prime, passed away in 2008 due to a sudden myocardial infarction at the age of 48.
2.Wang Jue
Wang Yu is also Jet Li’s fellow disciple. His most specialty projects are Drunk Boxing and Drunken Sword. He also performed on the 1983 Spring Festival Gala for performances. When Zhang Xinyan went to the martial arts team to select actors for "Shaolin Temple", Wang Jue was selected and played the role of the Mid-air Monk in the film. Although he was not the starring actor, he opened the door to acting, so the later "Return of the Sword", " Kangxi's Story of Wutai Mountain " and "The Three Unknown Knights" were the ones. In 1993, Wang Jue was appreciated by Yuan Heping and played the role of Huang Feihong in " Drunk Hero Su Qier ", but at that time, many viewers only focused on Donnie Yen , ignoring Wang Jue's performance, and ultimately failed to make him famous. Regarding his recent situation, it is said that he is still teaching in the Beijing Wushu Team. Judging from his photos in recent years, he is already middle-aged and has obviously gained weight.
3. Xu Xiangdong
Audiences who are familiar with kung fu film must have heard of Xu Xiangdong's name to a greater or lesser extent. He is Huineng monk in " Kapok Robe ". I believe that his wonderful performance has left a deep impression on many people. However, after filming this film, he did not continue to stay in the film and television industry, but instead specialized in academics. He not only obtained a bachelor's degree from Beijing Institute of Physical Education, but also passed the postgraduate entrance examination at the Seventh University of Paris, France. In 2002, he returned to the entertainment industry with "Shaolin Wu Wang" and participated in "The Battle of the Mo" and "The Bid", etc., but it was just a play. Although Xu Xiangdong missed his golden development period as an actor, he has achieved extraordinary achievements in the martial arts world. From his role as the personal martial arts coach of the King and Prince of Brunei Darussalam, and the special Kung Fu coach of the French Ministry of Electricity, he knew that he was not a false reputation.
4. Zhao Changjun
Zhao Changjun is as famous as his name. He was indeed the "long-term victory general" in domestic and international martial arts competitions back then, and became famous in the industry for his three traits of "lying on the ground, mad stick, and wind-chasing knife". Even Donnie Yen had worshipped under his disciples. In 1983, Zhao Changjun began to get involved in film and television, and has participated in "Wudang", "Big Sword King Wu" and " Blu-blooded Treasure Knife ". In the early 1990s, Zhao Changjun, who established his own martial arts academy, became partners and Sammo Hung , and was invited to play Yuan Shikai in " One-Sword Beautiful HTML ". Although this character is suspected of being overly exaggerated, he plays swordsmanship with powerful. In order to promote Chinese martial arts, Zhao Changjun did not stay in Hong Kong to develop his career, but returned to his hometown to focus all his energy on developing his martial arts career. Now he not only holds important positions in many domestic martial arts associations, but also opens martial arts schools to the United States.
5.Sun Jiankui
Sun Jiankui also debuted through "Shaolin Temple" directed by Zhang Xinyan, and played the role of the Sekong monk who is so magical about drunken sticks. Later, he participated in " Shaolin Boy " and " North and South Shaolin ". However, one of his most well-known characters should be Liu Jin, the vicious eunuch in "Tai Chi Zhang Sanfeng". However, acting is just Sun Jiankui's side job, and martial arts researcher and martial arts promoter are his main job. He not only won numerous awards in international martial arts competitions, but also visited European countries as a member of the Chinese martial arts representative exchange team. At the same time, he also became the 31st generation successor of Shaolin Temple . Nowadays, he occasionally makes guest appearances in film and television dramas, and also serves as a martial arts director. In 2012, he also won the Best Action Design Award at the 31st Hong Kong Film Awards for "Dragon Gate Flying Armor", Yuanbin and Blue Sea Han .
6. Qiu Jianguo (1961-1998)
I believe many people still remember the boss of the Shahe Gang in " Huang Feihong's Ambitions ". Although he is just a small supporting role, his actor Qiu Jianguo has a great background. Born in Guangning, Guangdong, he studied kung fu since childhood and won the Southern Boxing Championships in six national martial arts competitions. Therefore, he has also become known as "Southern Boxing King" and "Southern China Tiger". At that time, Hong Kong film merchants also tailored two movies for him, "Southern Boxing King" and "Amazing Mountains and Rivers". In the film, he showed his superb boxing skills with great viewing. However, most kung fu films starring Qiu Jianguo have received mediocre responses, mainly because he did not meet a really good director. What's more unfortunate is that he suffered from nasopharyngeal cancer in the mid-1990s and finally died in 1998, at the age of 37.
7. Xun Yifeng (Shi Baohua)
Among the group of martial arts actors who are developing in Hong Kong in the mainland, Xun Yifeng is the most easily overlooked. Born in Xi'an in 1959, he was the champion of the national martial arts competition. Because of his good appearance and great skills, he was later selected by the old director of Shaw Brothers, Yang Fan, and participated in the " New Fang Shiyu " series under the stage name "Shi Baohua". He showed his superb martial arts without reservation in the film. Later, he played Yue Fei's eldest son Yue Yun in "The Young Master of the Yue Family". However, after entering the 1990s, Xun Yifeng's acting career did not advance but retreated, and later became a supporting role in "New Blood Sword" and "Police Story 3: Super Police". At the peak of kung fu films, he did not actively seek opportunities to cooperate with big directors and participate in big productions, which led to him gradually becoming silent in the film industry.
8. Ji Tiansheng
Ji Tiansheng was considered Jet Li’s most powerful successor back then. He also practiced martial arts since he was a child, and with thick eyebrows and big eyes, he was handsome, and he was the best choice to play a young hero. But unlike Jet Li, Ji Tiansheng grew up abroad since childhood, so the Fang Shiyu and Huang Feihong played by him are more lively and lively than Jet Li's version. Ji Tiansheng's starting point is not low. As soon as he debuted, he collaborated with a big director like Liu Jialiang and Lin Lingdong . When filming " Drunk Boxing 3", he played the role of Cheng Shaoqiu , Andy Lau , and Li Jiaxin . This shows how much importance the film company attaches to him. However, in the later stage, he was plagued by negative things. He was first accused of being a big shot, and then fell into a scandal with Li Ruotong and , which caused his public image to fall to freezing point. Some people speculate that Ji Tiansheng suddenly withdrew from the film industry after filming a few movies, which is not unrelated to this.
