Jet Li

How 139-year-old Hong Kong umbrella maker weathered storms from political instability to the Japanese – but not Jet Li

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It all began in 1885, when ragpicker and repairman Leung Chi-wah (also known as Leung So), who had been fixing European umbrellas for foreigners conducting business in Guangzhou, decided to make Western umbrellas himself using imported materials. He would eventually set up shop in a busier part of the city. Umbrellas for sale at Leung … Read more

3 of Jet Li’s 1990s action movies fusing guns and kung fu — before the Chinese martial artist left Hong Kong for Hollywood

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Li’s reinvention as a modern action hero was surprisingly successful, and the contemporary actioners he made in Hong Kong before he decamped to Hollywood – alongside a few superior period kung fu pieces like Fearless – proved very entertaining. Why Ann Hui’s debut feature The Secret was such an important Hong Kong film Below we … Read more