"Huang Feihong" trilogy: studying medicine can't save the Chinese, so can studying martial arts

Amelia 2022-09-24 20:45:10

A few days ago, the resources of the first 4K restoration version of "Once Upon a Time in the Huang Feihong Trilogy" directed by Tsui Hark were released on the Internet. After reading it, I brought back childhood memories again, so I took The other two films in the trilogy, "Once Upon a Time: The Man of Once Upon a Time" and "Once Upon a Time in the Lion King Fighting for Hegemony" are revisited. Although I have watched these three movies many times when I was young, but At that time, I was a kid and I only liked the martial arts in the film, but now it seems that the "Huang Feihong Trilogy" directed by Tsui Hark is far less simple than ordinary martial arts movies. Under the commercial appearance, it is actually hidden. The director thinks deeply about history and society.

When reviewing Huang Feihong's series this time, the first thing that aroused my interest is the location of each episode. In the first part, although there is no clear name, it can be confirmed that it is in Foshan and Zhuhai; in the second part, the stage of the story has moved to Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong; and when it comes to the third part "The Lion King" , The stage of the story came to Beijing, the capital of the Qing Dynasty. As the administrative status of the places where the stories of the three movies took place continues to rise, the heroic Master Huang has also deepened his understanding of the world. He has known more and more people, and his horizons have become wider and wider. And all of this made Huang Feihong, a martial artist, and us audiences realize that it is completely impossible for a country to become prosperous and strong with the appearance of a savior.

Throughout the whole Huang Feihong trilogy, what I see is the continuous growth of Huang Feihong, which is rare in ordinary series of movies. A few years ago, there was a classic line in Wong Kar-wai's film "The Grand Master", saying that martial artists must go through the three stages of " seeing themselves, seeing the world, and seeing all beings " in their personal growth . Now I look back at "Huang Feihong San I actually feel that this series and that line have a very high degree of agreement, and the three movies correspond exactly to these three stages.

The first is " see yourself ". In the first part of the series "Huang Feihong: Rising Clouds", as the head coach of the Black Flag Army, Huang Feihong was located close to the bottom of Chinese society at that time, so he came into contact with local underworld, fake foreign devils and foreigners. In this movie, the thinking about the future and destiny of the country and the nation did not deeply affect Huang Feihong. He only cared about the safety of his relatives and friends. At this time, foreigners were evil in his eyes. All his chivalrous acts are also in a local regiment to practice the thought of "protecting the environment and the people". In the end, Huang Feihong defeated the evil foreigners, protected the peace of one of the people, and accepted Liang Kuan as a disciple. At this time, he was full of smiles, which was a recognition of his social role.

The second is " seeing the world ". In the second part of the series, "Huang Feihong's Man Should Be Self-improvement", Huang Feihong's team traveled from the countryside of Guangdong to the provincial city of Guangzhou. At this time, his vision suddenly broadened and the social groups he came into contact with also increased. The most loyal officials of the empire were also revolutionary party members who wanted to overthrow the rule of the Qing Dynasty; there were both the White Lotus Sect, who held high the patriotic banner, and foreigners who devoted themselves to academic research. Here, the social level represented by the people Huang Feihong contacted is also improving, making him start to think about the future and destiny of the country and the nation.

In this movie, Huang Feihong realized that the Western world is not completely evil, and that some problems are actually just the crushing of the low-level productive society by the high-level productive society; on the other hand, the white lotus cult and the "soldiers" of the Manchu The officials also made him realize that the problem with this country does not seem to lie in the fact that the people have no power to defend their homes. Why is the Bailian religion, who bows to the court, is full of hatred for things that are unknown to the West? Why do people believe in lies that can be seen through at a glance? Why would someone persevere and even sacrifice themselves for the ideal of " I hope the sun will always shine on my soil, and not forget the blood of the martyrs "? Huang Feihong didn't want to understand these things, but he had some ignorant thinking, and he saw a glimmer of light. Therefore, at the end of this movie, his face is full of doubts. This doubt is not only about his personal thinking, but also about the future and destiny of the country and the nation.

In the end, it's finally time to " see all beings ". In the third part of the series "Huang Feihong: The Lion King", Huang Feihong, who came to the capital, saw a wider world, and the social level he was in contact with continued to increase, even to the national level, and he was in the center of power in the entire empire. Master Huang, his knowledge reached the extreme here: the gap between China and foreign countries, the upper-level thoughts, and the sufferings of the people at the bottom were all seen by Huang Feihong. In this book, he finally saw all sentient beings, and from this, he has grown thoroughly. As a hero "for the country and the people".

And this movie finally showed us the full picture of the Manchu Empire. The upper class is thinking about how to use their own clever means to "use the barbarians to control the barbarians." The middle level has nothing to do with itself, and the lower level loses humanity for petty gains. The entire society is using a very short-sighted method to take a momentary coincidence, as if it has been fooled. , Foreigners can turn around on their own and return home. Facing the black hole in front of the muzzle, everyone was looking for their own magnificent picture to cover their eyes. At this time, Huang Feihong finally figured out those things.

"The Russian Empire, like the Qing Empire, cannot avoid this historical fate." "Since you can't avoid it, no one should avoid it. Whether you can change your destiny depends on whether the person or the steam engine can defeat the other."

This dialogue in the film made me deeply impressed when I watched it back. I didn't understand it back then, but now it seems that this sentence has a profound meaning. The tide of history is vast, and there are some things that you can’t hide if you want to. Can humans beat the steam engine? Of course it can, but only if people are very clear about the operation of the steam engine, can they control the steel behemoth like the steam engine to advance with history. And if you simply don’t want to understand the steam engine, just thinking about turning a blind eye, playing cleverness, and chanting a few slogans to deceive yourself and deceive others, then the flesh and blood of people will be crushed by the machine and abandoned in the dust of history.

Now the gold medal is in my Huang's hand, not that I won. The adults held this "Lion King's Hegemony" in order to show the power of our people. So many people were killed and injured. In front of the world, we all lost. In the opinion of the small people, we not only need to practice martial arts to strengthen the body to resist foreign enemies, the most important thing is to open up the people, wisdom, wisdom and martial arts, that is the way to prosper the country and strengthen the people. I ask Master Li to think twice about whether a small brand can change the national fortune. Leave this gold medal for you as a souvenir. Goodbye!

This is the last passage from Huang Feihong in the trilogy of "Once Upon a Time", and this passage also shows that Huang Feihong finally has an understanding of sentient beings and has answers to his own questions, so he can stretch his brows. Turning and leaving righteously. What this country lacks is not fame and profit. What it lacks is not the savior, but the willingness and ability of the people to think about the country and its future and destiny.

Back then, Mr. Lu Xun, who was in Japan, suddenly wanted to understand the truth that " studying medicine can't save the Chinese " after seeing all the follies of the Chinese people . And now look at the trilogy of "Huang Feihong" directed by Tsui Hark back then. It is full of words that " learning martial arts can't save the Chinese ". This series has always shown us the protagonist's martial arts, but I want to express it. It is not the spirit of martial arts. The rise of a country and the prosperity of a nation depend not on a hero or a great man from heaven, but on the self-awakening and thinking of everyone who is the foundation of society. If you fall behind, you will be beaten, you will be beaten if you close your eyes. No matter how earth-shattering the patriotic slogans are, if you try to smash foreign products, you are not as clear-headed as you are looking for gaps and catching up with your feet a little bit down to earth. As long as everyone is broad-minded and long-sighted, a country and nation can break the ground and become prosperous and powerful.

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Extended Reading

Once Upon a Time in China quotes

  • Yim: No matter how good our kung-fu is, it will never defeat guns.

  • Wong Fei Hung: Why so many swords and daggers on the table?