Hong Kong Kung Fu
© International Guoshu Association
The fifth in a series of exhibitions based on the Hong Kong Martial Arts Living Archive, “Ling-Nan Hung-Kuen Across the Century: King Fu Narratives in Hong Kong Cinema and Community” opens on 9 September 2017 at the Hong Kong Visual Arts Centre.
Hong Kong is one of the most important Chinese martial arts centres and, since the mid-20th century, the de facto capital for kung fu cinema. The interaction between kung fu as community practice and as cinema is not only a defining characteristic of Hong Kong culture, it also played a key role in forging transnational Chinese identity and engendering a global fascination with Chinese martial arts. Kung fu became one of the most powerful symbols for Chinese culture, while film representations came to dominate popular perception of Chinese martial arts. Significantly, the interactions between kung fu practice and cinematic representations began with Ling-Nan Hung Kuen.
About the archive
Hong Kong Martial Arts Living Archive represents the first inventory of Hong Kong kung fu and is based on diverse digitization methods including motion capture of world-leading practitioners (masters) and, photographic, ultra-high speed and green screen video of their practises, rituals and daily lives, as well as extensive historical materials. The archive was initiated by International Guoshu Association (IGA; Hing Chao) in collaboration with Professor Sarah Kenderdine in 2012. Its current research partners include City University in Hong Kong (Professor Jeffrey Shaw) and most recently EPFL DHI (Laboratory for Experimental Museology eM+). Motion capture is poised to transform how Chinese martial arts are not only documented but, eventually, how they are taught. For the first time in history tools to precisely capture intricate movements are at hand for posterity, with the potential for translation through embodied interaction and for stylistic analysis.
About the exhibition
Hung Kuen was a preeminent kung fu style in Guangdong in the early 20th century, while its patriarch, Lam Sai Wing (1860–1943), spearheaded the movement to modernize and popularize Chinese martial arts in southern china. In the 1930s, Lam Sai Wing and his family established a foothold in Hong Kong, which eventually became their headquarters, and in so doing contributed to making Hong Kong an important kung fu hub. From the 1960s, as students of Lam family Hung Kuen migrated overseas, Hung Kuen became internationalized, and in time grew into one of the most popular kung fu styles around the world.
Hung Kuen and its masters inspired several popular novels, notably the biographical novels of Wong Fei Hung (1847–1924) and Lam Sai Wing, which later became the subject of a popular radio show “Wong Fei Hung and Lam Sai Wing”. The popularity of these works led to film adaptations, resulting in the iconic black-and-white Wong Fei Hung films. Lau Jaam, one of Lam Sai Wing’s students, was the first actor to be cast in his master’s role, thus merging real kung fu with the world of make-believe. Building on his legacy, his son, the legendary kung fu actor, choreographer and director Lau Kar Leung (1934–2013) created a new cinematic language founded on his profound knowledge of traditional martial arts, taking kung fu cinema to new heights in the 1970s and 1980s. His influence continues to be felt today. Through the legendary Lam and Lau families, this exhibition traces the parallel development of kung fu practice and cinema in hong kong over the course of the past seventy years.