Since its release last year, the immensely successful Ip Man (葉問) has elevated its eponymous grandmaster of the wing chun (詠春) martial arts school to an icon of Chinese kung fu and propelled action star Donnie Yen (甄子丹) to superstardom.
The highly anticipated sequel, Ip Man 2 (葉問2), closely follows the format that made its predecessor a blockbuster hit. But this time the Chinese hero-versus-foreign invaders narrative is fleshed out without wire fu or CGI-enhanced martial arts moves.
Yen is joined by action director Sammo Hung (洪金寶), who plays
a supporting but important role in
the follow-up that won’t disappoint fans, though it doesn’t offer many surprises.
The story begins with Ip Man (Yen) fleeing to Hong Kong having defeated the Japanese general in Foshan. To support his family, Ip Man sets up a wing chun academy. But as a newcomer to the British colony, the unassuming kung fu master soon catches the attention of master Hung of the powerful Hung Ga school. Respected by various martial arts schools, Hung insists that, in order to earn his right to teach wing chun in Hong Kong, Ip Man must win duels against local masters.
The challenge leads to a masterfully choreographed fight between Ip Man and Hung that dazzles with its sheer intensity and virtuosity, a scene that deserves to be considered one of the most memorable fighting sequences in kung fu cinema.
The duel ends in a draw, and despite the combatants’ differences, the two come to respect each other’s skills and integrity.
As with the first installment, the second half of the film follows the martial arts hero rising up against foreign oppressors. Only this time, it is not the villainous Japanese our Chinese hero does battle with, but an evil white man in the form of boxing champion Twister (Darren Shahlavi), who brutally beats master Hung to death in what was supposed to be a friendly match.
Outraged, Ip Man challenges the vicious pugilist to a final battle in front of a cheering crowd.
Veteran martial arts star Hung once again creates the adrenaline-pumping, close-range combat sequences that show Yen fighting his way through a fish market melee, tabletop duel and ringside battle.
Director Wilson Yip (葉偉信) and scriptwriter Edmond Wong (黃子桓) neatly tie these action sequences closely to the plot.
One thing that this old-school kung fu fare has gone too far with, however, is its overly caricatured portrait of foreign villains. Though in the first Ip Man movie, the Japanese general, played by Hiroyuki Ikeuchi, seems to have a shred of humanity left within him, the white men in the follow-up are comically wicked and corrupt, prompting the contemporary viewer to wonder why the villains are still as embarrassingly witless and one-dimensional as they were in Bruce Lee’s (李小龍) heyday.
Despite its plot holes, the Ip Man series has potential and recalls the 1990s’ Once Upon a Time in China (黃飛鴻) franchise starring Jet Li (李連杰). The brief appearance toward the end of the film of a young Bruce Lee, Ip Man’s famous disciple, hints at the possibility of another sequel, though Yen has reportedly said he won’t be in another Ip Man movie.
What is certain is that competing Ip Man projects will soon hit the silver screen, including Wong Kar-wai’s (王家衛) The Grand Master (一代宗師), currently in development, and Herman Yau’s (邱禮濤) prequel The Legend is Born — Ip Man (葉問前傳), slated for commercial release in July.
If one asks Taiwanese why house prices are so high or why the nation is so built up or why certain policies cannot be carried out, one common answer is that “Taiwan is too small.” This is actually true, though not in the way people think. The National Property Administration (NPA), responsible for tracking and managing the government’s real estate assets, maintains statistics on how much land the government owns. As of the end of last year, land for official use constituted 293,655 hectares, for public use 1,732,513 hectares, for non-public use 216,972 hectares and for state enterprises 34 hectares, yielding
The small platform at Duoliang Train Station in Taitung County’s Taimali Township (太麻里) served villagers from 1992 to 2006, but was eventually shut down due to lack of use. Just 10 years later, the abandoned train station had become widely known as the most beautiful station in Taiwan, and visitors were so frequent that the village had to start restricting traffic. Nowadays, Duoliang Village (多良) is known as a bit of a tourist trap, with a mandatory, albeit modest, admission fee of NT$10 giving access to a crowded lane of vendors with a mediocre view of the ocean and the trains
For many people, Bilingual Nation 2030 begins and ends in the classroom. Since the policy was launched in 2018, the debate has centered on students, teachers and the pressure placed on schools. Yet the policy was never solely about English education. The government’s official plan also calls for bilingualization in Taiwan’s government services, laws and regulations, and living environment. The goal is to make Taiwan more inclusive and accessible to international enterprises and talent and better prepared for global economic and trade conditions. After eight years, that grand vision is due for a pulse check. RULES THAT CAN BE READ For Harper Chen (陳虹宇), an adviser
Traditionally, indigenous people in Taiwan’s mountains practice swidden cultivation, or “slash and burn” agriculture, a practice common in human history. According to a 2016 research article in the International Journal of Environmental Sustainability, among the Atayal people, this began with a search for suitable forested slopeland. The trees are burnt for fertilizer and the land cleared of stones. The stones and wood are then piled up to make fences, while both dead and standing trees are retained on the plot. The fences are used to grow climbing crops like squash and beans. The plot itself supports farming for three years.
RSS