Jackie Chan!

[Oraenor]

In Jackie Chan's Biography, "I am Jackie Chan - My life in Action" which I read last year, and still have. He mentions, that from the age of around 5 years his Dad used to wake him up in the morning, and go through a routine of exercises, to strenghen him up. Also, he went though basics of a Northern Style of Martial Art, I can't remember which, and I'm too lazy to look it up.

From the age of 10 years, he went to the Peking Opera School. Where the average day was somthing along the lines of waking up a 5 am, warm up, exercsie, more exercise all the way to lunch time, where they could eat and go to the toilet. After lunch, they did some more exercise, and more exercise, had some schooling where they apparently just mucked about and didn't learn anything. Then there was more exercise, some tea (as in dinner time), then they exercised and practised up in till 12 midnight. If it wasn't so late at night for me here, I would bother to find a more accurate day plan. Also, when I say exercise, I mean they exercised fitness, martial arts, opera singing, performance, weapons, make up, acrobatics etc.. etc...

From what I can remember when he described the martial arts, they learnt a Northern Shaolin system. And, I'm pretty sure he also talked about heavy sparring, and proper applications.

The head of the Peking Opera School, actually adopted jackie as his own son, which meant that Jackie was the example, and ended up being worked twice as hard.

There is more in the book, but its require me skimming over it, and I can't be bothered with it, right now.

From his films, I've heard Jackie learnt some TKD, for high flashy kicks, he also Leant some Hapkido from the Hapkido Grandmaster, who was an actor in one of Jackie's films; as the 'ard as nails' bad guy in "Young Master".

I'm tired, so I've probably made a few mistakes.

That souds about right, he has alot of MA background for the vast amounts of movies he has done

[McDaniel]

wasnt he raised in korea, in an orphanige, where he learned opera acting. then he got intoo some movies over there that were humorus, drunken master. then he came to hollywood

[seanyseanybean]

Jet Li says in an interview regarding the UFC guys he fights in the "Cradle 2 the Grave," quoting him, "....they could probably all beat me up."

Well not many people could say otherwise. You are talking about some of the toughest guys in the world. Just because he cant beat a bunch of UFC fighters doesnt mean he cant fight. Same goes for Jackie its all relative, for his size he was and is a tough guy, not the toughest but he never claimed to be.

[Drunken Munky]

wasnt he raised in korea, in an orphanige, where he learned opera acting. then he got intoo some movies over there that were humorus, drunken master. then he came to hollywood

His parents moved to Hong Kong, as it was under British Rule back then. They worked for the French Ambassador there. And lived in the basment of his mansion aswell as some of the other servants. If I can remember rightly, his father cooked, and his mother cleaned clothes. And Jackie grew up in that environment, at the French Embassy in HK. That was before he went to board at the Peking Opera School, somewhere else in HK. As, his parents moved to Australia, and could not afford to live there with him aswell.

If you are interested in how he got his name 'Jackie'. When Jackie, finished at the opera school, he wasn't very successful. And after a couple of years of unsuccessfully trying to get into the film industry, he decided to go and live with his parents in Australia. Here he got a job at a construction site, and his boss's name was 'Jack'. Anyway, his fellow co-workers, used to call Jackie, 'Jackie' after his boss's name. And, when Jackie finally got a into the film industry, he used Jackie as his first name.

[Mephariel]

Jet Li is not just a wushu guy. By wushu I mean the performance sport. Jet Li also knows Tai Chi, Xing Yi, and drunken styles of boxing. However, Jet Li has never really fight anyone that is a professional. There is no doubt he will lose in a MMA match.

[Shard]

Jet Li is not just a wushu guy. By wushu I mean the performance sport. Jet Li also knows Tai Chi, Xing Yi, and drunken styles of boxing. However, Jet Li has never really fight anyone that is a professional. There is no doubt he will lose in a MMA match.

Where did you pull that out from? Your ass?

HE is first and foremost a WUSHU practioner. YES Contemporary WUSHU. The one where they make the moves look good but are impractical for fighting.
Want some proof? HERE and HERE Those are 2 good reliable soruces. Read them a little.

According to his website. Yes HIS website.
"Contrary to popular myth, Jet never trained at the Shaolin Temple. At the time Jet was training in wushu (late 60's and early 70's) there were no "fighting monks" living at the Shaolin Temple"

"Jet specialized in the following styles:

chang quan (long fist)
dao (broadsword)
gun (staff)
fanzi quan (tumbling fist)
3-section staff
pu dao (horse chopper) "

Jet li's view on Martial arts:
"Wushu adapts to suit the continually changing survival needs of people. Survival as the purpose remains constant; the only things different are the threats and circumstances in which people find themselves. First, as I?ve already said, people used wushu to protect themselves from nature. Then the human race graduated from a nomadic lifestyle to settlements. From one settlement sprung multiple settlements. Then suddenly people were fighting one another, so the forms of wushu evolved to adapt to person-to-person fighting. It?s basically the same story told on different scales: fighting to protect oneself, fighting to safeguard one?s household, combating for a city, going to war for a country. In each situation underlies the exact same purpose: to survive.

And step into the civilization of today ? history once again dictates that wushu modify its conduct and form of exhibition. What does this mean? With the advent of technology, you have guns, cannons, nuclear bombs, and other advanced weapons. Learning wushu no longer serves the purpose of fighting hand to hand against tigers, outside invaders, and so forth. Today, if you kill or maim someone with an astounding wushu move learned from some ten-year intensive training program, it will not help you to survive. The police will catch you for murder, society will frown upon you, and the whole deed would have been much more quickly performed through pulling a trigger on a pistol with a silencer. Now, society values the exhibition and practice of wushu in different ways. You have massive Olympic events broadcasted to half the world for entertainment. You have action movies in which characters express themselves through fluid martial arts motion. Now, wushu can pave the way to a career that earns big bucks. Big bucks translate to a higher standard of living, which is a boon for survival. Notice that the goal (survival) is the same. It?s only the path to survival that?s different"

It is clear he does not believe in fighting and obviously can't. So how can you still say he knows how to fight?

[seanyseanybean]

It is clear he does not believe in fighting and obviously can't. So how can you still say he knows how to fight?

Again i will just stress the same point. The guy has been practicing martial arts all his life, it doesnt matter what styles (although i hear Long Fist is good), a punch is a punch and a kick is a kick. What worked against an un armed human being then will still work now. He may not be able to do the stuff he does in the movies but that doesnt mean he isnt an adaqoute martial artist.

I hate the way some people just think that if cant fight against BJJ or in the UFC then you cant fight. Most people take up martial arts to be able to defend themselves from a random (probably drunk) attacker, you would have to be damn unlucky for them to know BJJ or to be a UFC fighter. Anyway my point is im sure Jet LI can take care of himself when he needs to.

[Broadsword2004]

Most people act that way because BJJ and mixed martial artists have beaten the crap out of so many traditional martial arts experts. Look at the one UFC, it was a guy who was a renowned karateka, he'd been training for 40 years in karate, and had also trained with a renowned jujutsu expert. Royce Gracie came in and took his but down very quickly.

In the Pride, UFC, NHB, etc....fights, it is proven constantly that the best fighting arts are boxing, a good kicking art (taekwondo's kicks for example), Muay Thai, wrestling, and grappling.

And no, a punch is not a punch and a kick is not just a kick. A performing art kick and a performing art punch are very different from fighting kicks and punches. If that weren't so, there would be no need to develop kicking power with shields and heavy bags. One could just throw kicks to the air and a few kicks here and there to a bag or pad for accuracy.

You can throw plenty of punches to the air, but if you don't do bag work, you never develop the proper kind of power you need. Same thing with kicks.

And Jet Li has been studying CONTEMPORARY WUSHU all his life, which is referred to as a martial art, but it is really a performance art based off of traditional martial arts moves. He never trained for fighting, he never competed in fighting. He was an excellent wushu stylist and as such can do great fight choreography and lots of jumping and spinning kicks and acrobatics and full splits and all that.

The guy obviously isn't weak and is in shape, but he doesn't know much about fighting. Performance art strength is different from fighting strength. You ask a ballerina to lift her leg up under its own muscle strength, a good ballet dancer can do that easily. You throw said ballerina in against a professional kickboxer and tell her to kick the kickboxer with good kicking power, she/he probably will have trouble doing it.

On the flip side, if you ask a guy like Ken Shamrock or Tito Ortiz to just lift their leg up and hold it there elegantly under leg muscle strength, they'd probably fail. But if you tell them to throw a full power round kick at you, you'll probably need an EMT there to drag your butt off the floor.

Performance art and fighting movements are different.

[seanyseanybean]

Very good points. But im not saying the stuff he does in the movies is useful, just that im sure he has picked up a few things in his time. I just cant imagine a guy who makes a living off of MA movies would not bother to actually learn anything about combat. And like you said the guy is in great shape which already puts him at an advantage to your average street goon.

(as for the Karate-ka you mention, that guy is damn tough. Bjj is great for beating up TMAists. But i know that guy can take care of himself outside the UFC)

[Mephariel]

Where did you pull that out from? Your ass?

HE is first and foremost a WUSHU practioner. YES Contemporary WUSHU. The one where they make the moves look good but are impractical for fighting.
Want some proof? HERE and HERE Those are 2 good reliable soruces. Read them a little.

According to his website. Yes HIS website.
"Contrary to popular myth, Jet never trained at the Shaolin Temple. At the time Jet was training in wushu (late 60's and early 70's) there were no "fighting monks" living at the Shaolin Temple"

"Jet specialized in the following styles:

chang quan (long fist)
dao (broadsword)
gun (staff)
fanzi quan (tumbling fist)
3-section staff
pu dao (horse chopper) "

Jet li's view on Martial arts:
"Wushu adapts to suit the continually changing survival needs of people. Survival as the purpose remains constant; the only things different are the threats and circumstances in which people find themselves. First, as I?ve already said, people used wushu to protect themselves from nature. Then the human race graduated from a nomadic lifestyle to settlements. From one settlement sprung multiple settlements. Then suddenly people were fighting one another, so the forms of wushu evolved to adapt to person-to-person fighting. It?s basically the same story told on different scales: fighting to protect oneself, fighting to safeguard one?s household, combating for a city, going to war for a country. In each situation underlies the exact same purpose: to survive.

And step into the civilization of today ? history once again dictates that wushu modify its conduct and form of exhibition. What does this mean? With the advent of technology, you have guns, cannons, nuclear bombs, and other advanced weapons. Learning wushu no longer serves the purpose of fighting hand to hand against tigers, outside invaders, and so forth. Today, if you kill or maim someone with an astounding wushu move learned from some ten-year intensive training program, it will not help you to survive. The police will catch you for murder, society will frown upon you, and the whole deed would have been much more quickly performed through pulling a trigger on a pistol with a silencer. Now, society values the exhibition and practice of wushu in different ways. You have massive Olympic events broadcasted to half the world for entertainment. You have action movies in which characters express themselves through fluid martial arts motion. Now, wushu can pave the way to a career that earns big bucks. Big bucks translate to a higher standard of living, which is a boon for survival. Notice that the goal (survival) is the same. It?s only the path to survival that?s different"

It is clear he does not believe in fighting and obviously can't. So how can you still say he knows how to fight?

First of all. Where did I pulled that out from? His own website retard. You left out the entire list. Second of all, where did I say Jet Li did not primary studied Wushu? I was saying Jet Li isn't just a wushu guy, he studied other styles too.

"Styles of Wushu
Jet specialized in the following styles:

chang quan (long fist)
dao (broadsword)
gun (staff)
fanzi quan (tumbling fist)
3-section staff
pu dao (horse chopper)
And in addition, Jet also studied the following styles (some in more depth than others).

taiji quan (the 5 main styles)
xing yi quan
bagua zhang
jian (straightsword)
qiang (spear)
zui quan (drunken fist)
tang lang quan (mantis fist)
ying zhao quan (eagle claw boxing)
zui jian (drunken sword)
shuang dao (double broadswords)
axe
battle axe
double hooks swords
fork
9 section whip
mace
hammer
talon
trident-halberd
long-handled spear
short cudgel
meteor hammer
rope dart"

Also from his own website and interview, Jet Li comment that Xing Yi quan is very pratical and that his character in The One uses Xing Yi, but not 100%.

As for training to defend himself, from his own documentary:

"Li began formal training in Wushu age 8 at Beijing's Amateur Sports School. At 11, he won gold at the Chinese national championships. He joined Beijing's professional Wushu team,..."--Diana Divila

"Li was eight years old when his Physical Education teacher in the Changqiao Primary School of Beijing discovered the young boy's jumping, agility and grace. He sent Li to the Beijing Amateur Sports School for wushu training, where he fell under the tutelage of Coach Wu Bin. Attending classes during the day, the eight-year-old soon became one of the hardest working and most determined. Leg presses, bending and somersaults were only part of each evening's curriculum, and the young athlete went home tired, yet inspired, every night. Perhaps Wu Bin became a kind of father figure to Jet Li, who lost his own father when he was only two, and as a wushu coach he certainly saw the potential of a future star, both in natural talent and in perseverance. He designed extra training for Li. Wu Bin was pleased with the speed and agility of his pupil, but found that Li lacked strength for kicking and striking. He visited the Li home and discovered that the family did not eat meat because at one time the grandmother has fallen ill and the doctor advised her to avoid it. The entire family followed in the habit, but Wu Bin told them that Lien Lie needed the protein to develop his strength, and he in fact continued to bring food to the struggling Li household for years."

about Style and skill,.....

"The days of Jet Li's performance are long past, but for those curious of see the young competitor there is a Kung Fu documentary call Dragons of the Orient (available from Tai Seng). Despite the film's dubious narrative devices, it offers us a glimpse of Jet Li's style, both training and performing. There we see the White House lawn, as the eleven-year-old Li dressed in a bright red outfit performs a two man fighting set with his teammate Chu Shi Fai. He is also shown at twelve, practicing and competing, wielding a broadsword at lightning speed. Cut to Jet Li at nineteen, handsome, muscled and strong, with long hair in his face. He gives the camera a taste of the double broadsword, the whip chain, the three-section staff, the spear and the pu dao. This is no Jet Li of the movies with camera angles and special effects - bit it is equally engrossing, because it is real. The footage even becomes a bit surreal as we watch him celebrate his mother's fiftieth birthday party with dumplings and cake, and walk along the Great Wall where he used to practice as a child. The film's narrator is quick to tell us, "Don't think he is a rude guy. Besides competing in Kung Fu, he's good at literature and art, too," They then give us a poem Li composed, in what is most likely a terrible translation: "There is always a mountain/So there are always good fighters/Therefore one must know his strengths and weaknesses to become perfect." Li the master becomes Li the student as the camera captures him learning and refining taiji elements from the 97-year-old Wu Tu Nan, and then Paqua Fist from the equally sage Li Si Min. Then watch a series of Li's training, and a dynamic exercise done hanging from a pine tree developing "Paqua legs," which is described, "like a dragon on a tree, kicking hard." Finally we see Li training with a device of his own invention doing an exercise called "Beating Stars." Surrounded by a group of soccer balls suspended between trees with taut ropes, Li strikes the different balls as they rebound and created a surrounding web of continuation motion. In this way, "one attacks from all four sides and protects from four sides too. It practices the hands, eyes, body and feet to be swift and fast, turning and responding." Finally, the last shots of Li capture him doing a drunken sword form. In a sunlit, open field, surrounded by pine trees, Li's movements are strong and subtle, stylized to perfection, exuding the grace and beauty that has become his signature."

Does that mean Jet Li is a good fighter? No. But does that mean he never in his life trained for self-defense? No.

[Shard]

Again i will just stress the same point. The guy has been practicing martial arts all his life, it doesnt matter what styles (although i hear Long Fist is good), a punch is a punch and a kick is a kick. What worked against an un armed human being then will still work now. He may not be able to do the stuff he does in the movies but that doesnt mean he isnt an adaqoute martial artist.

I hate the way some people just think that if cant fight against BJJ or in the UFC then you cant fight. Most people take up martial arts to be able to defend themselves from a random (probably drunk) attacker, you would have to be damn unlucky for them to know BJJ or to be a UFC fighter. Anyway my point is im sure Jet LI can take care of himself when he needs to.

Saying Li's exprience in Contemporary wushu gives him decent fighting ability is like saying a person who does tae-bo for 40 years can fight decently.

Contemp. Wushu is a watered down version of the original arts. Aimed at no actual martial ability what so ever. It is equivalent to a Dance. Focusing on nice jumps and kicks as opposed to any actual ability to fight.
He probably has slightly better Martial arts ability then people who never learnt a damn thing. But many of you are over exgarrating his actual fighting ability (if any).

[Yu Law]

Saying Li's exprience in Contemporary wushu gives him decent fighting ability is like saying a person who does tae-bo for 40 years can fight decently.

Contemp. Wushu is a watered down version of the original arts. Aimed at no actual martial ability what so ever. It is equivalent to a Dance. Focusing on nice jumps and kicks as opposed to any actual ability to fight.
He probably has slightly better Martial arts ability then people who never learnt a damn thing. But many of you are over exgarrating his actual fighting ability (if any).

some of those techniques have martial merit to them. Jet Li has never been in a fight before so we'll never know, at least he's never mentioned any physcial altercations he's been in.

[Mephariel]

Saying Li's exprience in Contemporary wushu gives him decent fighting ability is like saying a person who does tae-bo for 40 years can fight decently.

Contemp. Wushu is a watered down version of the original arts. Aimed at no actual martial ability what so ever. It is equivalent to a Dance. Focusing on nice jumps and kicks as opposed to any actual ability to fight.
He probably has slightly better Martial arts ability then people who never learnt a damn thing. But many of you are over exgarrating his actual fighting ability (if any).

Comtemporary wushu did not gives him decent fighting ability. But he did have some training in other martial arts with a more self-defense mindset. Nevertheless, Jet Li is not a good fighter if you compare him to a martial artists that specialized in combat and had sparred before, because Jet Li has never been in a fight. You can't be a good fighter without experience. I am not exaggerating any of his fighting abilities. Jet Li is a great martial artist, but not a good combat fighter in real life. However, my point is, to say that Jet Li is just a wushu guy is invalid.