I’ve been waiting for the China stop of our World Culture tour. The food is great, of course, but Chinese food is everywhere. So, it’s nothing new. Don’t get me wrong, we’ll certainly be getting into some Chinese food. However, what I’ve been excited to get to are the movies!
I grew up watching old kung fu movies on Saturday nights with my family as there was a local UHF station that played all the old great ones, including Shaw Brothers movies, Jackie Chan’s early stuff, and so much more. The weekly program was called, “Black Belt Theater.”
As I’ve grown older, there are favorites of mine that I’ve wanted to show my kids. This world culture tour is the perfect excuse.
Naturally, we started with Bruce Lee.
We watched Enter the Dragon. It’s a good movie where Bruce’s character is invited to an exclusive fighting match. The guy running that match, though, is a crime lord who kidnaps women and sells them into slavery. The police approach Bruce to gather evidence for them while at the fight. He of course does, and action ensues.
My boys liked it, but they had questions. “Why does he make such weird faces?” “Why does he pose so much while fighting?” “Why does he make all those yelling noises when no one else does?”
That's like asking why Hendrix burned his guitar or why Elvis' lip raises up on one side. Generation gaps shouldn't eliminate the ability to recognize greatness!
My answer to all three of their questions was “because he’s awesome.” However, looking at Bruce through new eyes, I guess I can see the reasoning behind the questions. How do you explain why Bruce is so cool? He's one of the best martial artists ever. Yet he does do some admittedly unique, if not odd, things while doing that fighting. Yelling each and every time he moves. Not all old kung fu stars did this. He also stops after every really cool move and tenses up every muscle in a pose while waiting for the next person to make a move. OK, most of the kung fu stars did this but not to Bruce's extreme.
But, who cares. He’s awesome.
I explained Bruce's legend status to the the boys as well as how he died, which was shrouded a bit in the mystery of his family’s curse. He and his son Brandon (who they’ve watched in The Crow) both died at young ages. I then reminded them that both Bruce and Brandon's graves were one of our stops on our trip to Seattle.
They thought Bruce’s story and their grave visit was cool, even if they weren’t overly fond of his movie. Again, they liked it, but I could tell they were bored. No accounting for taste, I guess.
We moved on to Jackie Chan and Jet Li with Forbidden Kingdom and Hero, both of which were big hits with the boys. The kung fu movies are gathering steam, and the boys are actually getting excited about them as I talk up aspects of each upcoming movie. Next up, is Ip Man, the story of the man who trained Bruce Lee.
The rest of our China stop for the World Culture Tour:
Movies:
· Enter the Dragon
· Ip Man
· Mulan
· 4 Assassins
· Iron Monkey
· Five Deadly Venoms
· 36th Chamber of Shaolin
· Hero
· Great Wall
· Fearless
· Kung Fu Panda
· Forbidden Kingdom
· Red Cliff
· Dragon Blade
· Monster Hunt
· Bloodsport
· Drunken Master
· Master of the Flying Guillotine
· Last emperor
· Born in China (Disney Nature)
· Great Wall
Food: Lo Mein, Fried Rice, Sweet/Sour Chicken, Hunan Beef, Szechuan Pork, Egg Roll
Music: Guzheng, Erhu
Stories: Magic Pot, Jade Stone, Eagle and the Rice Birds, Monkey King
Craft: Chinese Hat and Drum Rattle https://www.activityvillage.co.uk/china-crafts
Custom:
· Basic Kung fu - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qb2CMMww1Rw
· How to use chopsticks
· Write calligraphy
Click to see more of the World Culture Tour!
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