Actor Gordon Liu
50 year old actor Gordon Liu (Liu Chia-hui) may best be known internationally for his dual role in Quentin Tarantino’s “Kill Bill” films. Yet Tarantino himself was awed by Liu’s performances in dozens of local movies, most notably the 1978 martial arts classic “36th Chamber Of Shaolin.” Scott Murphy sat down with the actor to talk about his love of kung fu, old Hong Kong and, of course, movies.
I grew up in the 50s when the economy in Hong Kong was not particularly good. I was the youngest in the family. I have two sisters and one brother. I was the spoiled one.
There were a lot of shops and wet markets where I grew up in Sheung Wan, along with a lot of coolies. Skyscrapers didn’t exist. People were more loyal and human towards each other then. Now, people are more practical.
Every night after school, I would hold up my books and say I needed tutorial lessons. But actually, I was going to my master’s house to learn kung fu. I liked kung fu a lot. This came from movies. I liked Wong Fei-hung movies. I was very much influenced by those films.
As a Chinese person, I’m very proud to have gone through all these challenges through the years. I’m very thankful to my master Lau Kar-leung, who taught me kung fu. When I was around ten years old, his mother liked me a lot so I adopted that family’s last name Liu. The relationship was godmother and godbrother. I wasn’t really “adopted” in the traditional sense.
There is a philosophy behind Chinese kung fu. The amazing thing about it is that it’s not just about beating the other guy up and winning, it’s a real and true culture. You train your four limbs to be flexible and sharpen your senses. Your limbs become weapons.
Every year there were two occasions where the fishermen would go worship gods to protect them for the rest of the year. On those occasions we would have competing lion dances from different kung fu houses.