Chen Zhen (character)

Chen Zhen

Bruce Lee as Chen Zhen in Fist of Fury.
First appearance Fist of Fury (1972)
Last appearance Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen (2010)
Created by Ni Kuang
Portrayed by
Information
Gender Male
Occupation Martial artist
Nationality Chinese
Sifu Huo Yuanjia
Affiliations Chin Woo Athletic Association
Martial arts
This is a Chinese name; the family name is Chen.

Chen Zhen (traditional Chinese: 陳真; simplified Chinese: 陈真; pinyin: Chén Zhēn; Jyutping: Can4 Zan1) is a fictional character created by Hong Kong writer Ni Kuang. The character first appeared in the 1972 film Fist of Fury and was portrayed by Bruce Lee. Since 1972, Chen Zhen has been the subject of films and television series, including remakes and adaptations of Fist of Fury. Many notable actors have portrayed Chen Zhen on screen after Bruce Lee, including Jet Li and Donnie Yen. Chen Zhen's story varies in the different remakes and adaptations, but almost each has an ending similar to the original Fist of Fury. Chen Zhen is believed to be based on Liu Zhensheng (劉振聲), a real-life student of Huo Yuanjia, a martial artist who lived in the late Qing dynasty.[2]

Basic story

Chen Zhen is depicted as a student of the martial artist Huo Yuanjia, who founded the Chin Woo Athletic Association (also known as Chin Woo School or Jingwu School) in 1910. After Huo allegedly dies from illness, Chen Zhen discovers that his master was poisoned by their rivals from a Japanese dojo in Hongkou District, Shanghai. He seeks to bring the murderers to justice and embarks on a quest to avenge Huo and revive his master's legacy, the "Jingwu Spirit".

Character features

During the premiere of Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen in September 2010, reporters asked Donnie Yen on how different his character was in comparison to the earlier versions of Chen Zhen. Yen replied that there were significant differences, and gave his definition of the character – "Chen Zhen is Bruce Lee." He said that Chen Zhen's image was crafted by Lee in Fist of Fury (1972) and further explained that certain features of his character were inherited from Lee's, such as the white Mao suit and the use of nunchaku. However, there were differences in movements and overall character design between his Chen Zhen and Lee's. Since Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen pays tribute to Bruce Lee, Yen decided to retain the white Mao suit and the use of nunchaku in the final dojo fight scene, in addition to repeating Chen Zhen's famous line, "The Chinese are not sick men of East Asia!".[3]

Appearances in media

Note: There are many remakes and sequels that are not possible to list here.

Film

Television

See also

Notes

  1. Chen Zhen learns karate during his overseas studies in Japan in Huo Yuanjia (2001).
  2. Huo Yuanjia teaches Chen Zhen the Mizong Fist in most of the adaptations, especially television series. In Fist of Legend, Huo Yuanjia's son, Huo Ting'en, teaches Chen Zhen the skill.
  3. Chen Zhen uses a nunchaku in Fist of Fury and many other remakes. In Fist of Legend, however, he uses an ordinary leather belt as if it were a nunchaku, rather than the weapon itself.

References

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Tuesday, January 26, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.