| Overview: | This is the story of Huo Yuanjia, a fighter who represents Chinese martial arts to a nation; a man who fought his way out of darkness and into history.
For as long as he could remember, Yuanjia wanted to learn martial arts. His father was a great fighter, but he did not want his son to follow in his footsteps and refused to teach the boy. This only made Yuanjia even more determined to learn. With the help of his friend, Nong Jinsun, Yuanjia stole his father's Wushu manual and set out to each himself how to fight.
Soon, Yuanjia was able to beat up a schoolyard bully with his new skills. Thrilled by the taste of this small victory, Yuanjia threw himself into training and as the years passed, fight followed fight and victory followed victory until he became known as a skilled and powerful fighter. But as his fame grew, so did his pride. Yuanjia had become an arrogant hothead who was always spoiling for a fight.
When a master named Qin Lei injures one of Yuanjia's young apprentices, Yuanjia is full of vengeful spite and indignation. He forces Qin to fight him to the death, and kills Win with no remorse. ONly when he returns home does Yuanjia discover that his victory has cost him the lives of the two people he loves most--his mother and his daughter were killed in brutal revenge.
Crazed with grief and shame, Yuanjia flees Tianjin. He wanders for thousands of miles, no longer caring whether he lives or dies. But just as he is ready to give up all hope, he is saved by Granny Sun and her blind granddaughter, Yueci, who brings him back to the idyllic village where they lived. Guided by their simple kindness and generosity, Yuanjia – who felt he had nothing to live for –slowly began to forget his pain and his desire to fight.
One day, a child from the village runs into trouble with a neighboring Siamese tribe. In order to save the boy, Yuanjia reluctantly parries blows from a powerful Thai boxer. The encounter reawakens Yuanjia’s love of martial arts and he began to experiment with a lighter, more refined style that would eventually become the legendary Mizong (Missing) Fist. Yuanjia saw that the future of martial arts lay in the spirit of sportsmanship and not brutality. At last he has found his place in the world, and he know that he had to return to Tianjin so that he could do the same for Chinese martial arts.
Back in Tianjin, an American strongman named O’Brien is making headlines by defeating China’s fighters and dismissing them as “Sick me of the East.” Yuanjia decides to challenge the hulking wrestler, and beats him easily with his graceful Missing Fist. These startled members of the Foreign Chambers of Commerce, who worry that Yuanjia’s victory would fan the flames of anti-Western sentiment in the Chinese people. They hatch a plan to humiliate Yuanjia by pitching him against four fighters representing the four major foreign powers in China, Yuanjia’s friend, Nong Jinsun, suspects a trap but Yuanjia sees this is a good opportunity to demonstrate the spirit of sportsmanship.
The battle of the century begins! A British boxer, a Spanish swordsman, a Prussian soldier – three formidable fighters step into the ring, and one after another, Yuanjia defeats them all. But the Chamber of Commerce has been saving the best until last. The Japanese challenger, Anno Tanaka is by far the most skilled competitor. As the two men stand face to face in the arena, the thousand-strong audience waits with bated breadth.
What happened that day, on September 14th, 1910, is something that nobody would ever forget.
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