how will us whiteys fit in with the storyline?
do we get to be evil portugese or british soldiers?
That’s a good question Kung Lek.
Here is Huo’s biography inshort:
Huo Yuanjia was born into a wushu master’s family in Dongguang County south of Tianjin. His father made a living by working as a bodyguard for wealthy people. As little Huo Yuanjia was very weak and often ill, his father decided not to teach him martial arts. Huo, however, was not discouraged. He determined to take martial arts as his career. Every day he watched his father and brothers practise wushu and imitated them secretly in the depths of the forest of date trees. Moved by his determination and hard-working spirit, his father started to teach him. In ten years, Huo learned the family’s exclusive boxing and the essentials of other schools of boxing as well.
One day in 1890, a wushu master by the name of Du came from Henan Province to visit Huo’s father. His manner provoked a trial of strength with the boxers of the family. Huo’s brothers competed with him but were defeated. Then Huo fought with him. With one swift kick, Huo knocked his opponent to the ground. Thus Huo Yuanjia became famous in his village and the neighbouring areas.
During a performance in 1901, a Russian boxer said something which insulted the Chinese people. When Huo heard this, he mounted the platform and reprimanded him severely. Scared by Huo’s bravery, the Russian boxer admitted his mistake and apologized. In the spring of 1909, an arrogant British boxer named O’Brien came to Shanghai and announced that he was willing to have a match with any Chinese. On learning this, Huo and his disciple Liu Zhensheng went to Shanghai to accept the challenge. He also advertised that he was ready to fight any foreign boxers. Startled by Huo’s fearlessness, O’Brien left Shanghai quietly before the date of the match. This greatly enhanced the self-confidence and self-esteem of the Chinese people. Subsequently, Huo thought that if the Chinese people wanted to make their nation strong, they had to build up their bodies. For this purpose he set up a martial arts school where he served as the main coach. In 1910, with the school as the basis, the Chin Woo Athletic Association was established.
Many Japanese judo wrestlers in Shanghai grudged Huo Yuanjia his fame and success. They arranged competitions between Huo and some of the best judo athletes from Japan. However, all of them were defeated by his Chinese wushu master. After attending a peace-making dinner given by the Japanese judo wrestlers, Huo Yuanjia died on September 14, 1910. He is believed to have been poisoned at the banquet.
Although not as popular as Wong Fei Hung there have been a number of films made about thehero Huo Yuanjia.
He is not familiar to many people, but suddenly became known to every household after a Hong Kong television series about his life and martial arts that was shown a few years ago.
Shanghai was a major port with trade to France, Great Britain, US, Germany, Holland, etc.
So that’s where the whiteys come in.