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Meetings with Wu Jing in Hengdian, the City of Films

Author :  Ninnie, in Chinese

Date :  22 -24 August 2001

Translation :  Martial Arts Movies and TV Series - Wu Jing

Original Compilation :  Jing Wu Men

Shaolin King of Martial Arts

When we visited Wu Jing, he was doing Shaolin King of Martial Arts. He informed us that if we were to arrive a few days earlier, he might not have the time to chat with us. It turned out that most members of the production were his old partners, who had done either Taichi 2, Master of Taichi, New Shaolin Temple, or any combination of the aforementioned shows. It had been such a long time, after quite a few productions, since they got to worked together again. New ideas and flames were sparked off among one another every day, and they had a tight schedule to keep to.

After filming, Wu Jing had no leisure time either, as he would supervise, watch the cuts and editing. Even after he had returned to his hotel room, he mind was still filled with the minor details of daily shootings, thinking about what was done well or badly, and what could be improved on. Pondering over them in layers of thoughts, Wu Jing never slept soundly.

Wu Jing also half-jokingly said that he was always being tortured by the production crew but to be able to team up again with old friends was also a good fortune. Everyone came together for the sake of producing a good drama, and putting in hundred percent effort and passion into their work, hardships and weariness were no longer an issue. Seeing that the curtain of Shaolin King of Martial Arts was about to brought down soon, Wu Jing felt a sense of loss, exhaustion, of not wanting production to end, of wanting carry on the work.

Actually, such emotions are prevalent whenever a production is about to be completed. As the cast and crew have been with one another for quite some time, the chemistry and feelings between them would have reached to a certain stage. It would be wonderful to be able to work with one another again in another show, as they would be able to do their parts even better. However, all good things must come to an end; What gathers, departs eventually. Each of them would have their own new assignments, with some joining a new production, and each of them has to acclimatise themselves to new working conditions and being with their new colleagues.

Behind the Smoke-screen

When we thought of a report on Shaolin King of Martial Arts about a scene in a thousand yard valley in Xinchang, where Wu Jing "fell off a seven to eight metre high precipice and slid down without any safety ropes. The knock of his head against to wall of the cliff resounded clearly, and his arms and legs were injured many times," we were all very concerned.

"Not really seven to eight metres, but five to six metres." Wu Jing recalled, "That day, Tan-Zhi was being pursued by killers and being badly hurt, fainted in the valley. When he awoke, he heard a dulcet song reverberating throughout the gorge. While looking for the source, he saw a lady taking a bath in the pool, being shocked, he was not mindful and slipped, dropping down the waterfall by the pool. There were plenty of protruding rocks behind the waterfall, and it's not possible for one to plunge straight down."

He was like a flotsam drifting downwards. Whenever Wu Jing encountered a rock ahead of him, he would swing his body, and gaining foothold from the rock, he gave himself a push and thus made a veering before going down. This series of moves had to be done repeatedly in a flash, relying solely on his body instinct. It was impossible to see the undulating rock wall behind the water fall through the monitor of the video camera, and during shooting of the scene, when Wu Jing descended, the crew could only hear the successive raps against the jutting rocks, "and his head was indeed hit once." We let out a low moan.

"It's only a minor case. It wasn't especially perilous. Such things mean nothing to me."

Our hearts bled and we could think of nothing else to say but, "It's been hard on you."

Real fights with Grand Master of Martial Arts

Among the cast of Shaolin King of Martial Arts are some renowned martial arts who had appeared in Shaolin Temple, such as Yu Hai, Yu Cheng-Hui and Ji Chun-Hua. Wu Jing was fortunate to be able to exchange blows with these senior pugilists, which left him with deeply etched impressions.

Among them was the one who acted as Wang Ren-Zhe in Shaolin Temple, Yu Cheng-Hui, who had quite a few action scenes with Wu Jing. A precious sabre is never too old, and even Wu Jing had difficulty dealing with Yu Cheng-Hui's blows, insofar as being struck by his sabre a few times. Senior Yu's strokes are based on real-life experiences, and he did not follow the pre-set moves. He did not land his strokes in where they were supposed to land according to the choreography, but rather he attacked on where his opposite player's loopholes were in their moves. (Isn't this what you hear in wuxia novels? It appears that Master Yu is no ordinary folk and certainly not one to be trifled with.)

There was once when Wu Jing and Yu Cheng-Hui was doing an action scene, and as they fought, Wu Jing remembered where Yu Cheng-Hui's next move was supposed to be, but suddenly there was a swish, and Yu Cheng-Hui was swinging his sabre towards Wu Jing's neck with alarmingly alacrity and ferocity. Without affording any time to reflect, Wu Jing immediately lowered his head, titled his body and parried off the blow with his sword, and simultaneously yelled, "Stop! Stop! Not correct! Not Correct!"

And the director also screamed, "Cut!" at once.

Yu Cheng-Hui stopped and asked, "What's wrong?"

"Master Yu, you've made the wrong move." Wu Jing calmed himself and replied.

Yu Cheng-Hui, not understanding any rhyme or reason, proclaimed, "I did do anything wrong."

"You should wield your sabre in this way," explained Wu Jing kindly.

"No, there was a vulnerability in your stance over there," answered Yu Cheng-Hui, not feeling anything out of place about his strokes.

Wu Jing said that during that scene, it was planned that he would be using a staff and Yu Cheng-Hui a sabre. Later, after some thoughts about the lesser agility of a staff since it won't allow either party to hurt each other and also some considerations about the shooting, discussions with the martial arts director, it was decided that a sword would be used in the second stage of the three-part fight against Yu Cheng Hui. A sword is more agile and more likely able to counter the fast sabre moves of Yu Cheng-Hui.

Looking back, had Wu Jing used the staff then, he might not have been able to block that move. There was once when Wu Jing was slightly not attentive and he was hit by Yu Cheng-Hui's sabre. The opening of the slash couldn't be seen and blood kept gushing out non-stop as the blood vessels were cut.

More than a decade ago, there were four national wushu champions who worked together with Yu Cheng-Hui in Jet Li's Martial Arts of Shaolin. Yu Cheng-Hui, with a just a wooden sword, injured the four of them. Firstly, Yu Cheng-Hui's sword broke Ji Chun-Hua's nose bridge and if it were to go any deeper, he would be blind. Next was a deep slash in a person's arm, right to the bone.

Following that, his sword went through another's calf. In the fourth case, his sword sword greeted Wu Jing's fellow senior brother. His fellow senior brother felt there was a flash of white light approaching, and before he could lift his sword to block, his head was already struck. This is no different from the scenes portrayed in wuxia novel, and as Wu Jing narrated, we felt ourselves experiencing some stunning moments in the career of the pugilists.

Curiously, Xu Diang-Dong, who acted as Dong Han-Cheng, the Eight Trigram Palm expert in Master of Taichi, had some fights against Jet Li but had never had the chance to spar against Yu Cheng-Hui, was doubtful of Wu Jing's words, "You have been praising how great and lethal Master Yu is in his swordplay, but I beg to differ."

"You think his skill is of no significance? Okay, I shall let you do the fighting in this scene." Wu Jing retorted.

Xu Xiang-Dong was so full of confident as he picked up the gauntlet. However, after the fight, Xu Xiang-Dong, without any more strident honour and pride, panted like a deflated balloon, "Impossible!"

From his speech, we could sense that Wu Jing was full of respect and admiration for Master Yu, who is in his fifties, whose skills are in no way lesser than any martial arts grandmaster of yesteryear. But Wu Jing also haughtily added, "Some of his moves, the changes, at where his eyes are looking, from where the force comes..." on reaching here, Wu Jing lowered his voice, "I have learned them all on the sly!"

It appears that what Wu Jing has gained through this production is not of inconsiderable worth.

Bonus shows

To be honest to yourself means to be honest to everyone. ~ Supreme Master Ching Hai
 

There is a scene in Shaolin King of Martial Arts where a lady jumps into the water to save Wu Jing. In the outset, when asked if the actress could swim, her reply was she should be able to manage it. When the shooting was about to start, Wu Jing waited in the water for her rescue. The director did a countdown from 5 when the actress trembled, saying that she dared not jumped into the water.

Everyone boosted her morale, encouraging her to try again. Still, she was apprehensive and almost cried.

Wu Jing consoled her, "How about this? Leave the rest to me once you jump into the water and come into contact with me. Don't worry about anything else."

A rope was attached to Wu Jing's body so as to expedite the rescue. When filming commenced, the actress plunged into the water and came into contact with Wu Jing. Once off camera, Wu Jing thought that he could heave her out of water as intended. However, due the the positioning of the rope, when the crew ashore pulled the rope, Wu Jing's plan backfired, sending her underneath the water instead. Wu Jing's immediately shouted, "It's not right!" and dived into the water and pulled her out. The crew could not help but let off a laugh and remarked, "Are you rescuing Wu Jing or Is Wu Jing rescuing you?"

And thus, this scene ended in a perilous yet hilarious way.

Wu Jing is the fruit of buoyancy in the production team, and wherever he is, there are bound to be some joys and laughter. He is never short of ideas of cheering up the people around him. In a previous scene in Shaolin King of Martial Arts where Wu Jing was to enter the water, he jested that he could not swim and some ladies were led by the nose, "You really can't swim and yet dare to enter the water?"

Wu Jing, appearing serious, replied, "It's beyond my control, but for the sake of art, I have to make a sacrifice."

When Wu Jing dived into the water, within a few seconds, he bobbed out and screamed, "Help, help!" and sunk out of sight and then appeared on the water surface and cried, " I can't swim!"

Seeing Wu Jing bobbing and struggling in the water, the crew thought he indeed could not swim and shouted, "Save him at once!"

Two burly men responded and plunged in the water. After a while, they saw someone floating on the water, leisurely swimming about, and with a curious glance at the two men, asked, "What are you doing in the water?"

Once, when Wu Jing was required to do a stunt with wire-harnesses, and he, in a shivering voice, said let the double do the stunt for he might not be able to pull  it off. After the double had done a few takes, Wu Jing eventually said let him try doing the stunt himself. And he neatly completed the assigned actions without any difficulty.

Wherever Wu Jing goes, laughter, jokes and happiness follow. Any actor or actress would comment that filming is a boring, lugubrious chore, where more often than not, one has to repeat the same action, mien or lines countless times. When we were witnessing the live shooting, all of us felt the same feelings. Had Wu Jing not been mischievous, telling jokes, everyone would be bored and they won't have the drive to work. He was trying to cheer everyone up, to liven up the place, so as to produce a quality production.

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