Cheung arrives to free him, glances with apparent shame at Ip Man kowtowing, but is ready to leave. By this point, Cheung has been coopted-he’s taken money to beat up Sang’s former teacher, Master Tin (Hong Kong mainstay Leung Ka-Yan)-but Sang, stupidly, has also kidnapped Cheung’s son. sets the school on fire and tries to kidnap the principal-but Ip Man and Cheung interveneįinally, he and his gang actually kidnap the children and put them in cages (shades of Trump!), forcing Ip Man to arrive at their shipyard hideout and kowtow to save his son’s life.chains up the school-but the chains are broken.tries to force the principal to sign over the property-but Ip Man intervenes.Sang is kind of the comic-relief gangster-all red shirt and swagger and not much else. Back then, too, Hong Kong was notoriously corrupt.) People get tossed off their land all the time. The Chinese legal system is still in its infancy, and relationships ( guanxi) generally trump rule of law-particularly if wheels are greased. (BTW: I used to think gangsterish eminent domain was just a facile plot device in Chinese movies but apparently it happens. Gangster Tyson demands that his lieutenant, Sang (Patrick Tam), take the school. Sadly, switching who Ip Man fights in the final act makes for a worse movie. “Tai Sen read four of Chairman Mao’s books while he was in prison,” he said. “Does Tyson really understand China?” I asked.ĭriver Yang said, “If he doesn’t understand China, why would he put a tattoo like that on his arm?” That was an excellent question and I had no response. “Why do the Chinese people like Tai Sen?” Driver Yang asked rhetorically. He told me that Mike Tyson was his favorite American athlete, because the boxer has Chairman Mao’s face tattooed on his arm. Hessler and his cab driver, Yang, are talking sports in the spring of 2001, as China is vying for the 2008 Olympics: My assumption: Ip Man will fight Cheung in the first half, then they’ll team up to take on Mike Tyson and his gang in the second.ĭo they reverse it because Mike Tyson is more beloved in China than I realized? Here’s an excerpt from “Oracle Bones: A Journey Through Time in China” by Peter Hessler (much recommended). It’s like, “This again?” It’s a good, weary moment. Then Cheung ratchets it up:Ĭheung : How about you, Master Ip?Ĭheung: If we have the chance, let’s have a friendly match.Īctually he doesn’t just nod. He says strengths and weaknesses in anyone are normal. At one point, the two talk about Wing Chun teachers and grandmasters. Cheung pulls a rickshaw but he’s training to be a martial arts master, and he’s got a massive chip on his shoulder. Ip Man also has a Wing Chun rival, Cheung (Zhang Jin), the father of a boy his son fights then befriends. It’s 1959, Chinese gangsters are trying to take over the school where Ip Man’s son goes, and the gang leader is played by Mike Tyson. “3” seems like it’ll be more of the same. In the first two “Ip Man” movies, our hero (Donnie Yen) fights Chinese martial arts rivals for the first half, then a foreign devil (a Japanese general, a British boxer) for the second.
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