Wong Fei-hung

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v t e

Wong Fei-hung (born Wong Sek-cheung with the

Wong's original given name was Sek-cheung or Xixiang (锡祥; 錫祥; Xīxiáng; Hsi-hsiang; Sek³-coeng⁴) before it was changed to Fei-hung (Feihong). His courtesy name was Dat-wan or Dayun (达云; 達雲; Dáyún; Ta-yun; Daat⁶-wan⁴).^[1]

Life

Wong was born in Luzhou Hamlet, Lingxi Village, Xiqiao Country, Foshan, Nanhai County, which is a present day part of

In 1919, when the Chin Woo Athletic Association opened a branch in Canton, Wong was invited to perform at the opening ceremony.^[1] In the same year, Wong Hon-sam, one of Wong's sons, who was working as a bodyguard in Wuzhou, Guangxi, was murdered by a rival known as "Devil Eye" Leung (鬼眼梁), who was apparently jealous that Wong Hon-sam was better than him in martial arts. Wong was so affected by this incident that he stopped teaching his other sons martial arts.^[4]

Between August and October 1924, Wong's medical clinic, Po Chi Lam, was destroyed when the

Wong's fourth wife, Mok Kwai-lan, and his sons, along with his students Lam Sai-wing and Dang Sai-king (鄧世瓊; Deng Shiqiong), moved to Hong Kong and opened martial arts schools there.

Wong's grave location is currently unknown. It is also believed that his grave, along with others within the cemetery were long expunged for future developments.^[7]

Fighting style

Wong was a master of

Wong was adept at using weapons, such as the staff and southern tiger fork. One tale, possibly fictional, recounts how Wong defeated a group of 30 gangsters on the docks of Guangzhou with a staff.^{[citation needed][8]}

Among Wong's students, the more notable ones include Lam Sai-wing (林世榮; Lin Shirong), Leung Foon (梁寬; Liang Kuan), Dang Fong (Deng Fang), and Ling Wan-kai (凌雲階; Ling Yunjie).

Wong is sometimes incorrectly identified as one of the "Ten Tigers of Canton". His father, Wong Kei-ying, was one of the ten but Wong himself was not. Wong is also sometimes referred to as the "Tiger after the Ten Tigers".^{[9][self-published source?]}

According to a folklore, So Chan also taught Wong Fei-hung in drunken boxing.

Family

After his first wife died of illness in 1871, Wong was widowed for 25 years. In 1896, he married his second wife and had two sons and two daughters with her. Some time after she died of illness, Wong remarried again in 1902. His third wife bore him two sons before falling victim to a deadly illness. His fourth and final wife stayed with him from 1915 up till his death. The personal names of his first three wives are unknown. He had four known children.

Spouses

• Wong's first wife was surnamed "Lo" or "Law" (罗; 羅; Luó). She married Wong in 1871 and died of illness three months after their marriage.
• Wong's second wife was surnamed "Ma" (马; 馬; Mǎ). She married Wong in 1896 and died of illness. She bore Wong two sons and two daughters.
• Wong's third wife was surnamed "Sam" or "Sum" (岑; Cén). She married Wong in 1902 and died of illness. She bore Wong two sons.
• Wong's fourth wife, Mok Kwai-lan (莫桂兰; 莫桂蘭; Mò Guīlán), married Wong in 1915. She outlived him and died in Hong Kong on 11 March 1982. As Wong believed that his first three wives died because of a curse on him, he never took another formal spouse; Mok was actually his concubine in name.

Sons

• Wong Hon-syu (黄汉枢; 黃漢樞; Huáng Hànshū), born to Wong's third wife.
• Wong Hon-hei (黄汉熙; 黃漢熙; Huáng Hànxī), also born to Wong's third wife.
• Wong Hon-lam (黄汉林; 黃漢林; Huáng Hànlín), born to Wong's second wife.
• Wong Hon-sam (黄汉森; 黃漢森; Huáng Hànsēn), also born to Wong's second wife.

Daughters

At present, there is no information on Wong's two daughters.^[11]

Descendants

Wong had at least three grandsons and six granddaughters. His descendants currently live in Australia, Latin America and Southeast Asia.^[12]

Legacy

In 1996, the Wong Fei-hung Lion Dance Martial Arts Museum was built in his hometown in Foshan.^[13]

A

Alleged photos

The first alleged photo was said to have been provided by his fourth spouse Mok Kwai-lan to Leung Ting of the Real Kung Fu (真功夫) magazine in 1976. Decades later, it was first exhibited at the Wong Fei-hung Memorial Hall in 2000 and was controversially seen and even promoted by martial artists as a photo of Wong Fei-hung.^[14] This was dismissed in 2009 by New Martial Hero's article that the man in the photo was of that of his fourth son, Wong Hon-hei.^[15]

In 2005, another alleged photo of Wong Fei-hung once taken by one of his students Kwong Kei-tim (鄺祺添) was discovered by the museum staff in Hong Kong. The man in the photo bears a close resemblance to his son, whose photo was the first to be often mistaken for his own father's back then.^[16][17] His fourth spouse Mok Kwai-lan once stated that her husband was quite superstitious and believed that having photos taken of oneself would shorten one's lifespan, so Wong only had one picture of himself taken in his lifetime, namely the one taken by his student Kwong.^[18]

In popular culture

Film and television

Over 100 films and television series featuring Wong have been produced since 1949, mostly in Hong Kong. The Hong Kong actor Kwan Tak-hing starred as Wong in over 70 films between the 1940s and 1980s and earned himself the nickname "Master Wong". Other prominent actors who portrayed Wong on screen include Jet Li in the Once Upon a Time in China film series and Vincent Zhao in the television series Wong Fei Hung Series.

• List of notable Wong Fei-hung films:
  • Challenge of the Masters (1976), starring Gordon Liu.
  • Beggar So
    .
  • Magnificent Butcher (1979), starring Kwan Tak-hing. Sammo Hung, Yuen Biao
    and Wei Pak co-starred as Wong's students Wing, Foon and Chik.
  • Martial Club (1981), starring Gordon Liu.
  • Once Upon a Time in China (1991), starring Jet Li. This is the first part of a series of six films on Wong Fei-hung. Vincent Zhao took over the role of Wong Fei-hung from Jet Li in two of the movies.
  • Great Hero From China (1992), starring
    Chin Kar-lok
    .
  • Iron Monkey (1993), starring Yu Rongguang as Iron Monkey and Donnie Yen as Wong Kei-ying. Angie Tsang appeared as a young Wong Fei-hung.
  • Last Hero in China (1993), starring Jet Li.
  • Drunken Master II (1994), starring Jackie Chan. Ti Lung co-starred as Wong Kei-ying.
  • Around the World in 80 Days (2004), Sammo Hung appeared briefly as Wong Fei-hung.
  • Rise of the Legend (2014), starring Eddie Peng.
• Television series:
  • Wong Fei Hung Series (1996) is a Hong Kong television series on five stories about Wong Fei-hung. The series was produced by Tsui Hark and starred Vincent Zhao as Wong Fei-hung. This television series is sometimes regarded as a television series counterpart to the Once Upon a Time in China films.
  • The Young Wong Fei Hung (2002) is a Chinese television series featuring Ashton Chen as young Wong Fei-hung.
  • Wong Fei Hung – Master of Kung Fu (2005) is a Hong Kong television series starring Bosco Wong.
  • Grace Under Fire (2011), a Hong Kong television series about Wong Fei-hung's concubine, Mok Kwai-lan
    .

Video games

• Wong is featured as a selectable companion to the main character Lex the Bookworm from the word-forming puzzle video game Bookworm Adventures 2, released in 2009 by Popcap Games. Wong has the ability to stun the enemy and powers Lex up every 4 turns. He is unlocked after Book 5, Chapter 3. In the game, his name is misspelled as "Wong Fei-Hong."
• Wong is introduced in 2017 as a playable character in
  The Curious Expedition, a video game released in 2015. In the game, he is an explorer competing with other great minds, and he uses martial arts instead of regular attack methods to fight enemies.^[19]
  He also appears in its sequel as one of the rival explorers.
• The characters of
  Lee Rekka in SNK's The Last Blade series and Master Huang in IGS's Martial Masters are based on Jet Li's portrayal of Wong Fei-hung in the Once Upon a Time in China film series
  .
• Citan Uzuki
  , closely resembles Wong, being both a physician and martial artist dressed in traditional Chinese garments.

Theme song

The Chinese folk song "On the General's Orders" (将军令; 將軍令; Jiāng-Jūn-Lìng; Zoeng¹-Gwan¹ Ling⁶) is popularly associated with Wong Fei-hung because it was used as the theme song in various Wong Fei-hung movies. It was the opening theme of the 1978 film

James Wong. Jackie Chan

sang the song in Mandarin in the second film. The version "A Man Should Better Himself" is the best known rendition of the song to date.

A rearranged version was rewritten and sung by Dayo Wong as the theme song of Men Don't Cry.

Other appearances

• In Will Thomas' third mystery novel, The Limehouse Text, his Victorian detective Cyrus Barker trained in martial arts in Guangdong by Wong Fei-hung.
• Stan Sakai has mentioned his plans to include a character based on Wong Fei-hung in a future issue of his comic book Usagi Yojimbo.
• Wong Fei-hung is a character in the collectible card game Shadowfist."Wong Fei Hung migrated to the West Bank of the Philippines in the Cagayan Valley and left behind his family of Filipino blood. And until now, his family's traditional treatment as a Chinese - Filipino a Chinese herbal medicine continues until today. his last son in the Philippines his full name is Emmanuel Chan Borja Bataller. Emmanuel Chan Borja Bataller migrated to Davao in Mindanao of the Philippines in the 1920's

See also

• Wong Kei-ying
• Ten Tigers of Canton
• Wong Fei-hung filmography

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d e f g} "佛山黄飞鸿—黄飞鸿史略 (Historical Biography of Wong Fei-hung from Foshan)". foshanmuseum.com (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 20 February 2019. Retrieved 19 September 2015.
2. ISBN 978-1-4421-3747-9
3. ISBN 978-1-4404-7500-9
4. ^ "黄飞鸿的家庭 (Wong Fei-hung's family)". foshanmuseum.com (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 18 April 2018. Retrieved 19 September 2015.
5. ^ "广州城西方便所：曾为华南最大慈善机构-公益时报网". www.gongyishibao.com. Retrieved 16 January 2019.
6. ^ "广州市第一人民医院擅长领域及诊疗优势介绍_名医主刀资讯". zixun.mingyizhudao.com. Retrieved 16 January 2019.
7. ^ 中时电子报. "黄飞鸿离世90年 葬身之地成谜". 中时电子报 (in Simplified Chinese). Retrieved 9 January 2019.
8. ^ "Wong Fei-Hung". www.wongfeihung.com. Retrieved 16 January 2019.
9. ISBN 9780557016631.^{[self-published source}
   ]
10. ^ Source file of the photo. The caption below reads: In 1976, Leung Ting (梁挺), who launched the Real Kungfu (真功夫) magazine for a friend, paid a special visit to Wong Fei-hung's wife Mok Kwai-lan. Apart from obtaining first-hand information about Wong from Mok, Leung also obtained the only available photo of Wong. The photo was not reproduced on time then and has been preserved by Leung until in 2000, when it is unveiled to the public for the first time. See this link for details. Archived 17 October 2014 at the Wayback Machine
11. ^ "黄飞鸿子女今何在？不练武功，卖凉茶、开药厂 [Where are Huang Feihong's children today? They don't practise martial arts, sell tea or open medicine shops]". dy.163.com/ (in Chinese). Retrieved 26 April 2017.
12. ^ Yin, Jianxiang (3 January 2015). "黄飞鸿的后人今何在：儿孙分布于澳洲拉丁美洲东南亚 [Where Wong Fei-hung's descendants are: His descendants are living in Australia, Latin America and Southeast Asia]". news.ifeng.com (in Chinese). Retrieved 26 April 2017.
13. ^ "「黃飛鴻」的後代竟然這麼美！被她一腳踢死也甘愿阿..." Yespick (in Traditional Chinese). Retrieved 29 January 2019.
14. ^ "黄飞鸿照片之谜_亦文亦武四十年_新浪博客". blog.sina.com.cn. Retrieved 9 January 2019.
15. ^ Macek, Pavel (8 June 2013). "Incredible Discovery: A Photo of Real Wong Fei Hung! | Practical Hung Kyun". Retrieved 8 January 2019.
16. ^ "黄飞鸿照片之谜(续一)：还有一张疑似黄飞鸿的照片_亦文亦武四十年_新浪博客". blog.sina.com.cn. Retrieved 8 January 2019.
17. ^ Macek, Pavel (20 October 2013). "Another Photo Discovery: Is this REAL Wong Fei Hung? | Practical Hung Kyun". Retrieved 8 January 2019.
18. ^ "黄飞鸿照片之谜(续三)：黄飞鸿的亲人说黄飞鸿的外貌_亦文亦武四十年_新浪博客". blog.sina.com.cn. Retrieved 8 January 2019.
19. ^ "Tiger Crane Fist!". Maschinen-Mensch. 17 April 2017. Retrieved 25 April 2017.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Wong Fei-hung.

• www.wongfeihung.com