Kids From Shaolin

Kids From Shaolin
Japanese poster
Traditional	少林小子
Simplified	少林小子
Mandarin	Shàolín Xiǎozǐ
Cantonese	Siu3 Lam4 Siu2 Zi2
Directed by	Chang Hsin-yen
Produced by	Fu Qi
Screenplay by	Leung Chi-keung Ho Shu-wa
Starring	Jet Li Huang Qiuyan Yu Chenghui Yu Hai Ding Lan Hu Jianqiang
Music by	Yu Feng
Cinematography	Chau Pak-ling
Edited by	Koo Chi-wai Lee Yuk-wai
Production company	Chung Yuen Motion Picture
Distributed by	Chung Yuen Motion Picture
Release dates	26 January 1984 (1984-01-26)
Running time	99 minutes
Country	Hong Kong China
Language	Mandarin
Box office	HK$22,287,595.00

Kids From Shaolin, also known as Shaolin Temple 2: Kids From Shaolin, is a 1984 Hong Kong-Chinese kung fu comedy film directed by Chang Hsin-yen.

It stars Jet Li, Yu Chenghui, Yu Hai and Ding Lan from the original 1982 Shaolin Temple film, which is also directed by Chang. However, the plot has no bearing with the first movie and hence Kids from Shaolin is a sequel to the original in name only.

The film also stars Li's first wife, Huang Qiuyan (黃秋燕), as his rival and later love interest. Li first met Huang, also a martial artist, in the Beijing Wushu Team and they have two daughters. (The couple have since divorced and Li is married to Nina Li Chi, a former Hong Kong actress.)

Plot

In the late Ming Dynasty, former Shaolin monk, Tianlong ("Heaven Chinese Dragon", played by Yu Hai), and his younger brother, Yilong ("Earth Chinese Dragon", Hu Jianqiang), raise eight orphan boys whom they saved from murdering bandits ravaging their home village. The children refer to Tianlong as their father and Yilong as their uncle and are taught Shaolin kungfu by the two. All have taken the last character name of Long (龙/龍). They settle at the mountainous area at Lijiang where they stay in a hut.

The Long boys are playful and often bicker and fight with the daughters of the Bao family who live just across the river and practice the Wudangquan style of martial arts. The mischievous Sanlong ("Third Dragon", Jet Li), the oldest of the Long children, likes to tease the third sister of the Bao family, Sanfeng ("Third Phoenix", Huang Qiuyan) who is a tomboy in her late teens and who has a nasty temper.

The Bao patriarch Bao Sanfeng (Yu Chenghui) is trying for a boy heir, yet he has only nine daughters. Meanwhile, the Long family are saving up in order to pay the bride price - ten oxen - so that Tianlong can marry the eldest Bao girl, Taifeng. The marriage plans are met with some resistance: the Bao matriarch likes Tianlong, but Bao Sanfeng believes he is out to steal his Wudang martial arts. Nonetheless, he agrees to marry off his eldest daughter if his wife gives birth to a son.

Meanwhile, the vicious bandits who orphaned the eight Long boys have been training in secret for ten years to revenge the Shaolin counter-attack which injured them when they looted the village. A cross-eyed member of the bandits (Sun Jian-kui) poses as a Taoist soothsayer to infiltrate the Baos to learn their martial arts and abduct their daughters.

The Bao matriarch manages to conceive and bear a male son. The bogus priest now dupes Bao Sanfeng into believing the Long family is his nemesis. The Long family, he claims, has been throwing off the yin and yang balance for the Bao, making it impossible for the wife to bear a male heir.

Bao Safeng changes his mind and refuses to accept the Long family's bride price. Yilong is in love with Yifeng (Ding Lan), the second daughter, and to fulfill the couple, Sanlong and Sanfeng help the two elope. For their disobedience against feudal rules, Sanfeng and Sanlong are sentenced to be drowned, but the two manage to escape underwater.

Sanlong hides Sanfeng in a cave. Sanlong is struck by Sanfeng's beauty in female clothes and Sanfeng is grateful to Sanlong for rescuing her. The two develop romantic feelings for each other.

The bogus priest informs Bao Sanfeng where his daughter is hiding and Bao Sanfeng pursues her, then fights Sanfeng in the cave, accusing the latter of abducting his daughter and stealing his swordplay style. Tianlong finds the two fighting, breaks them up and allows Bao Sanfeng to bring Sanfeng home.

Meanwhile, the Long boys are maligned by the bogus priest for abducting the Bao newborn. The Long family vow never to step into the Bao residence again.

Once their evil plot has become successful, the bandits burn down the Long's hut and show their true colors to Bao Sanfeng. They attempt to kidnap his daughters. The Bao family tries desperately to fight them until the Long family arrives. By combining their martial arts expertise, the two families roundly defeat and kill all remaining bandits.

The film ends with a dual marriage: Tianlong marries Taifeng (the eldest daughter) while Yilong marries Yifeng. The families are reconciled. Bao Sanfeng readily admits his folly and Sanlong and Sanfeng have also become a couple.

Cast

External links

• Kids From Shaolin at Hong Kong Cinemagic
• Kids From Shaolin at the Internet Movie Database
• Kids From Shaolin at AllMovie