Iron Monkey

Iron Monkey is a Hong Kong action film from 1993 directed by Yuen Woo-ping. It premiered in Hong Kong on 3 September 1993, runs 90 minutes and was made in collaboration between Golden Harvest, Long Shong Pictures, Paragon Films and Film Workshop. The original Chinese title is 少年黃飛鴻之鐵馬騮. The film tells a fictional story from the childhood of Wong Fei-hung, later a master of Hung Ga, and his father Wong Kei-ying. The father and son meet the character Yang Tianchun, alias Iron Monkey, played by Yu Rongguang. Wong Kei-ying is played by Donnie Yen and the ten-year-old Fei-hung by Angie Tsang. The fight scenes were prepared by the Yuen family team: besides the director, his brothers Yuen Cheung-yan and Yuen Shun-yi, and also Ku Huan-chiu. The father and son characters are based on real Hung Ga masters, but we did not find in the sources which style the actors perform on screen. In 2001 the film was widely released in the USA by Miramax with the support of director Quentin Tarantino. The American version removed the name Wong Fei-hung from the title, altered the subtitles to soften the political context, cut some comedy scenes and replaced the original Wong Fei-hung music theme with new music. In 2010 the magazine Empire ranked it 99th on its list The 100 Best Films of World Cinema.

Martial arts in this work

Fight choreography

For the action direction the film was nominated at the 13th Hong Kong Film Awards (1994) in the category Best Action Direction; the nomination went to the team of Yuen Woo-ping, Yuen Cheung-yan, Yuen Shun-yi and Ku Huan-chiu. Yuen Woo-ping, son of the kung-fu film actor Yuen Siu-tien, studied for a year at the China Drama Academy under master Yu Jim-yuen and later choreographed Matrix and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. His younger brother Yuen Cheung-yan won the award for action choreography at the 11th HKFA for the film Once Upon a Time in China. Yuen Shun-yi also appears on camera in the role of Fox. The lead actors brought different backgrounds: Donnie Yen trained in wushu in Beijing and in taekwondo, in which he holds a 6th dan, Yu Rongguang is trained in Beijing opera. We did not find in the sources that either of them practised Hung Ga.

Fact and fiction

The real Wong Kei-ying (c. 1815 Foshan – 1886 Canton) made his living from street performances and medical practice and trained in Hung Ga. His teacher was Luk Ah-choi, famous for the form Tiger Crane Paired Form Fist, and he ranks among the Ten Tigers of Canton. His son Wong Fei-hung (1847–1925) learned from him as his first teacher and inherited from him the martial arts and medical skills; later he also studied under Lam Fuk-sing, Sung Fai-tong and So Chan, opened a school in 1863 and founded the Po Chi Lam clinic in 1886. The father-son relationship and the teaching role of Wong Kei-ying are documented. The episode of the meeting with Iron Monkey is invented by the film, and we did not find it in the sources as historical. Wong Fei-hung is the subject of more than a hundred films made since 1949.

People and martial arts

• Wong Fei-hungthe real person the work is about· Hung Gar (real practitioner)
• Yuen Woo-pingDirector
• Yuen Woo-pingAction director· Kung Fu
• Yuen Cheung-yanAction director· Kung Fu
• Yuen Shun-yiAction director· Kung Fu
• Ku Huan-chiuAction director· Kung Fu
• Donnie YenActor — as Wong Kei-ying· Kung Fu (portrays the art on screen)
• Yu RongguangActor — as Yang Tianchun / Iron Monkey· Kung Fu (portrays the art on screen)
• Yuen Shun-yiActor — as Fox· Kung Fu (portrays the art on screen)

Awards

• Nominated · Hong Kong Film Awards, Best Action Direction (1994)