In their own words: Sammo Hung, Michelle Yeoh, Gong Li and other stars on what made them special in martial arts movies

Michelle Yeoh’s greatest strength is her versatility, acting came before kung fu for Gong Li, and David Chiang did not want to fight like Jimmy Wang Yu

Laughs and action were all that mattered to Sammo Hung, while Suet Nei’s athleticism made all the work involved look easy

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Jet Li (centre, left) and Michelle Yeoh in a scene from The Tai-Chi Master. “If I had learned martial arts the way Jet Li had learned them, some things would be a lot better,” she once told an interviewer. Photo: Golden Harvest

Published: 1:15am, 30 May 2021Updated: 1:17am, 30 May 2021

Everybody needs to have an angle, and that’s true for martial arts stars, too: Jimmy Wang Yu played one-armed roles, Jackie Chan brought comedy to the genre, Hsu Feng claimed she used to “act with her eyes”, Brigitte Lin played gender-bending characters, and David Chiang put athleticism over brute strength.

Here’s what stars of the genre have said about what made them great.

Action legend Michelle Yeoh, talking to the SCMP ’s Richard James Havis in 1993 about being versatile: “I don’t have a particular style of martial arts – I go and learn whatever is required for each film I’m doing. I get a teacher and I practise, and I add things to what I know. I’m versatile that way, but it can be a disadvantage sometimes.

“If I had learned martial arts the way Jet Li had learned them, some things would be a lot better – my kicks would certainly be a lot better. I can do a lot of different styles, and I am very good at picking up movements quickly – that’s down to my training in dance. But if I had to accurately do an old Chinese style, that would be a challenge, as it would take me a while to master it.”

Chinese superstar Gong Li, talking to HK TV & Entertainment Times in 1994 about her only martial arts film, an adaptation of a Jin Yong novel called The Dragon Chronicles : “I play a woman who never ages in this film. She is a very good fighter, as she was born to be good at kung fu. I don’t really do kung fu myself, but I had to learn a bit for this film. But I’m not really doing it, I’m acting.