Hong Kong movie heroes and the Umbrella Movement

A Bruce Lee quote looked upon as a good piece of advice

which I've seen posted at Admiralty and Mongkok

 What many people would love to see happen:

i.e., a hero like Wong Fei Hung

administering a beating to the wolf

For those who haven't realized: in recent years, most Hong Kong film folks have come to look upon mainland China as the biggest market for their products -- and it's the rare Hong Kong movie these days that's not a co-production with the mainland.  So there are economic reasons for many local filmmakers and stars keeping mum about the subject of the ongoing pro-democracy protests or, worse, coming out and making statements against the Umbrella Movement.

In this context, it's really a pretty big deal that the likes of Chow Yun Fat, Anthony Wong Chau Sang and Chapman To have spoken up and out in defence of the protesters.  And already, there have been calls by a Beijing mouthpiece for action to be taken against the pro-Occupy celebrities such as the banning of their works from being shown on the mainland and their being able to work there.

Showing why he's so beloved in Hong Kong (and by many others in other parts of the world), Chow Yun Fat has responded to the suggestion that he's on the mainland blacklist by saying "I'll just make less then"!  (In the linked article, Fat Gor also is quoted as stating that "I’ve met the residents [in the protest areas], the students — they are very brave and it’s touching to see that they’re fighting for what they want. The students are reasonable. If the government can come up with a solution that the citizens or students are satisfied with, I believe the crisis will end.")

And on Twitter, it's been reported that Anthony Wong Chau Sang has said that "If Chow Yun Fat is willing to make less money, I'll take a pay cut to star in Hong Kong movies"!  (Wong, more than incidentally, stars in Gangster Pay Day, a hybrid triad drama-comedy-romance going on general release in Hong Kong on October 30 which I believe that Hong Kong movies will love and hope that viewers will give good support to.)

For their stance and statements, Chow Yun Fat and Anthony Wong Chau Sang deserve to be hailed as Hong Kong heroes.  And while we're on the subject of Hong Kong cinema-linked heroes: kudos to Pang Chi Ming, a kung fu practitioner of more than five decades who also happens to be a fourth generation descendent of the great Wong Fei Hung, for pointing out -- in response to a pro-Beijing politician's assinine assertion that the umbrellas of Umbrella Movement participants were more aggressive devices than the tear gas used by the police -- that "an umbrella is used for self-defence in real gongfu (or kung fu), and is not an aggressive weapon"!

And speaking of martial artists: a friend of mine who has been spending a lot of time in the "Occupied" section of Mongkok told me, "I've never heard Bruce Lee quoted so much as the last few weeks; how can the police disperse a crowd that acts like water? They'll just come back."

An umbrella is used for self-defence in real gongfu, and is not an aggressive weapon, - See more at: http://www.straitstimes.com/news/asia/east-asia/story/hong-kong-protests-descendant-legendary-master-wong-fei-hung-hits-back-ove#sthash.mNMtGgEA.dpuf