Lau Kar-leung (left) and Gordon Liu in a still from Challenge of the Masters (1976), directed by Lau. The film showed the hung ga kung fu style in its purest form, and Liu, as Wong Fei-hung, playing an honourable martial artist – and set a template for Lau’s films as a director. Lau Kar-leung (left) and Gordon Liu in a still from Challenge of the Masters (1976), directed by Lau. The film showed the hung ga kung fu style in its purest form, and Liu, as Wong Fei-hung, playing an honourable martial artist – and set a template for Lau’s films as a director.
Lau Kar-leung (left) and Gordon Liu in a still from Challenge of the Masters (1976), directed by Lau. The film showed the hung ga kung fu style in its purest form, and Liu, as Wong Fei-hung, playing an honourable martial artist – and set a template for Lau’s films as a director.
Lifestyle /  Entertainment

You couldn’t be a martial arts hero without honour and a moral code in this director’s eyes

  • Lau Kar-leung, a prolific choreographer and actor, also directed 25 martial arts films, and he set the template – ethical heroes, pure action – in a 1976 movie
  • Challenge of the Masters is about a real-life martial artist, Wong Fei-hung, who fights a wanted criminal and, instead of killing him, turns him over to police

Topic |   Asian cinema: Hong Kong film
Richard James Havis

Updated: 5:21pm, 23 Aug, 2020

Why you can trust SCMP
Lau Kar-leung (left) and Gordon Liu in a still from Challenge of the Masters (1976), directed by Lau. The film showed the hung ga kung fu style in its purest form, and Liu, as Wong Fei-hung, playing an honourable martial artist – and set a template for Lau’s films as a director. Lau Kar-leung (left) and Gordon Liu in a still from Challenge of the Masters (1976), directed by Lau. The film showed the hung ga kung fu style in its purest form, and Liu, as Wong Fei-hung, playing an honourable martial artist – and set a template for Lau’s films as a director.
Lau Kar-leung (left) and Gordon Liu in a still from Challenge of the Masters (1976), directed by Lau. The film showed the hung ga kung fu style in its purest form, and Liu, as Wong Fei-hung, playing an honourable martial artist – and set a template for Lau’s films as a director.
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