wushu

The following is some information about Jet's training, styles he knows and his competitive career.

Jet's Coaches

Jet's primary coach was Wu Bin, who served as head coach of the Beijing Wushu Team from 1964 until the early part of the 21st century. While Wu Bin started training wushu athletes at the Beijing Sports School in 1964, the Beijing Wushu Team, as it is currently known, was not formally created until 1974. Jet, himself, started training in wushu in 1971 at the age of 8 years old.

During the early years of the team Cheng Huikun and Li Jinfeng also served on the coaching staff. In addition, many other coaches and teachers, each with their own specialty and area of expertise, visited the team to help train Jet and his teammates.

The original members of the Beijing Men's Wushu Team were Li Lianjie (Jet Li), Li Zhizhou, Li Jinheng, Tang Laiwei, Yu Shaowen, Wang Qun, Wang Jianjun, Sun Jiaming, Dong Honglin, Cui Yahui, Yang Yongli and Yan Ping. On the women's team were Li Xia, Hao Zhi Hua, Zhang Gui Feng, Wang Xiuping, Zhang Hong Mei, Ge Chunyan, Luu Yan, Hui Xuna, Huang Qiuyan, Zhou Jingpiong, Mi Jin, Huang Xiaofeng and Zhang Dehua.

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
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

Competition History

The following is a brief history of Jet's wushu career:
1971: Jet begins training in wushu at an after-school program at the Beijing Sports School.
1974: Jet joins the newly created Beijing Wushu Team and begins competing on a national level.
1974: Was awarded his first Men's National All-Around Championship title at the age of 12.
1975: Men's National All-Around Championship
1976: Men's National All-Around Championship
1977: Men's National All-Around Championship
1978: Men's National All-Around Championship
1979: Retired from professional wushu competition after a knee injury where he ripped his Anterior Crutiate Ligament (ACL) doing the jump inside kick to split.

from the Jet Li official website

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live of jet li (biography-imdb.com)

Date of Birth
26 April 1963, Beijing, China

Birth Name
Li Lian Jie

Height
5' 6½" (1.69 m)

Jet Li was Wushu (a martial art) world champion several times. He got his first part as a shaolin disciple in the film Shaolin Temple. He first attempt at directing, Zhong hua ying xiong (1986) (Born to defend), met with failure. But, it was good film regardless. Because it was the first time Jet directed and had more realistic fight scenes.

Jet Li started training at the Beijing wushu academy at age eight (wushu is China's national sport, largely a performance version of various martial art styles), and won five gold medals in the Chinese championships, his first when he was only 11. In his teens, he was already a national coach, and before he was 20, he had starred in his first movie: _Shao Lin tzu (1979)_ (Shaolin Temple), which started the 1980s Kung-Fu boom in mainland China. He relocated to Hong Kong, where he was the biggest star of the early 1990s Kung-Fu boom as well.

by Johan Wikberg

Spouse
Nina Li Chi (19 September 1999 - present) 2 children
Qiuyan Huang (1987 - 1990) (divorced) 2 daughters

Trivia
Won Chinese national championship in the acrobatic martial art wushu when he was 11; his prize was a trip to Washington D.C. to meet President Richard Nixon.

He studies English with a tutor for 4 hours a day.

Jet & wife Nina Li Chi became parents to a 6 lb. 13 oz. daughter, Jane. [19 April 2000]

Was originally cast in the role of the character Li Mu Bai in Ang Lee's martial arts blockbuster Wo hu cang long (2000) (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon), but turned it down. The decision was prompted by a promise to his wife Nina Li Chi that he would not work while she was pregnant. The role of Li Mu Bai went to actor Yun-Fat Chow. Li said this himself during an appearance on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" (1992) promoting Kiss of the Dragon (2001).

Other than providing voice-overs for Kit Yun in Rise to Honor (2003) (VG), he also did the motion-capture for his fight scenes.

Injured his foot while escaping the tsunami that followed a 9.0 earthquake in the Indian Ocean. Li and his four year old daughter were on vacation in the Maldives on December 26th, 2004. The two were in the lobby of their hotel when the wave came ashore. Scooping up his daughter and running for higher ground, a piece of furniture hit his foot, causing the injury.

Has claimed his upcoming martial arts film Huo Yuan Jia (2006) (Fearless) will be his last martial arts movie, and that he will concentrate on other matters in the future. One of those matters is apparently a documentary about Buddhism.

His Mandarin name is Li Lianjie. His Cantonese name is Lei Lin-Git (or Lee Lin-Kit).

Has played both real life legend Huo Yuan Jia (in Huo Yuan Jia (2006)) and his semi-fictional student Chen Zhen (in Jing wu ying xiong (1994)).

Sustained bruised ribs while filming the fight stunts with Anthony Anderson for Romeo Must Die (2000).

Salary
Kiss of the Dragon (2001) $5,000,000
Romeo Must Die (2000) $2,400,000

Jet Li Personal Quotes
I can feel very brave through all the action scenes in front of the people who are on the set, but when a girl comes close to me my face turns red because I'm so shy.

I have met Jackie Chan about 6 times up 'til now . . . and even though many people think we are natural enemies, I personally think he is a cool bloke and would honestly love to work with him in a film one time - that would a well brilliant movie!

You can beat me up, but don't touch my hair, I will kill you!

[on Ying xiong (2002)] Usually action films have a formula: good guy gets in trouble, his wife dies, friends have problems, so he goes to the mountain, learns martial arts, comes back, and kills the bad guy. But on this film, we talked about a totally different angle to see my character.

[on Ying xiong (2002)] In the past two years, somebody tried to recut it the American way, looping English, but I'm glad right now we still keep the original way. I think the way the director shot [the movie] was not a normal action film.

I stepped into the martial arts movie market when I was only 16. I think I have proved my ability in this field and it won't make sense for me to continue for another five or 10 years. Huo Yuan Jia (2006) is a conclusion to my life as a martial arts star.

by IMDB (Internet Movie Database)

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live of jet li (biography - jet-li.com)

A brilliant performer in the league of Bruce Lee, Chow Yun-Fat and Jackie Chan, Jet Li is one of the most respected figures in the genre of martial-arts cinema today. Born Li Lian Jie, Jet Li came into the world on April 26th, 1963 in Heibei, Beijing, China. He was the youngest of five siblings, and his father having died when he was but two, he had an increasingly protective mother. His mother’s strict parenting produced a boy too timid to risk learning the bicycle till his teens.

It was in an ironic twist that his mother enrolled him one summer, when he was a boy of eight, in a school today known as the Beijing Sports and Exercises School. As luck would have it, Li was sent to the wushu class, where he turned out to be quite a success and was asked to return at the end of the season. This boosted his confidence in himself, and under the expert supervision of coach Wu Bin, he acquired the nickname of “Jet” for his quicksilver moves.

He was selected the following year to perform at the opening ceremony of Pan-Asian-African-Latin American Table Tennis Championships, where he earned praise from the then premier Zhou Enlai. This was the first time he had left home, and he followed it up with a rigorous training schedule under Bin. Two years later, in 1974, he entered the National Wushu Championships. Here he became the All-around Champion, impressing the judges with his skill at spear and swords. This gave him widespread fame as a child prodigy in martial arts, and he continued his strenuous routine at the special martial arts school, which he had been attending ever since he was nine.

He began to train with twenty of the finest young wushu exponents in China, and was sent the same year on a diplomatic mission to America, when China opened diplomatic relations with the country. Here he displayed his skill on the lawns of the White House for President Nixon. This was part of the program of his ongoing participation in state functions under which he was chosen to represent his country in front of foreign dignitaries. He won the All-China Youth Championships upon his return from America, and despite serious injuries, won the National Games the next year.

By the time he was sixteen, he had won numerous accolades unmatched till date by anyone else, had won praise for his contribution to Sino-American relations, and experienced a close encounter with death while flying on a faulty plane. He was no longer the timid boy of his childhood, and lived up to his image as the "All-Around Wushu Champion of China,” by practicing Taiji, which involved the internalization of his wushu through philosophy.

He entered the silver screen in a movie that was the first to be released worldwide, Shaolin Temple, in 1981. It was an instant and stupendous success in Honkong, China and Korea, and propelled him to movie stardom overnight, breaking all known box-office records. His successive movies, Kids from Shaolin and Martial Arts of Shaolin, became hits merely on the strength of his name. He started off a kung-fu trend and kept on blazing a trail of success till his directorial venture Born to Defend in 1986, which did not do well at all.

His image took a hit and he was not taken into any remarkable roles for a few years, till Once Upon a Time in China in 1991, which was equally acclaimed by stars and fans, and was followed by successful sequels. This helped him establish himself as the one of the greatest Asian movie stars, and continued to charm his fans. When Quentin Tarantino showed an interest in him, Hollywood woke up to his potential, and he was cast as a villain in Lethal Weapon 4, where he proved his star qualities beyond doubt. He worked in movies like Romeo and Juliet, The One and Kiss of the Dragon, and has definitely arrived in Hollywood.

He was also cast in Hero and Cradle to the Grave. Though he has yet to find true Hollywood movie stardom, Jet Li is on his way, and he has superb talent and his age on his side. A Huo Yuanjia biopic and an untitled movie collaboration with Malaysian director Ronny Yu are currently on the cards, but if Jet Li has to crack Hollywood, more directors have to take notice of his undeniable good looks, killer charm, martial arts abilities, and star potential.

jet-li.com

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live of jet li (biography-jetli.com)

Born in Beijing, Jet Li began studying wushu (the Chinese term for martial arts) at the age of 8. After three years of extensive training, Li won his first national championship for the Beijing Wushu Team. Jet Li was selected by the government to represent the country in over 45 countries by performing martial arts at various state functions. The most famous, in terms of history, was his 1974 performance at the Rose Garden of the White House for President Richard Nixon, after he had just reopened American diplomatic relations with China. For the next five years (1974-1979), he remained the All-Around National Wushu Champion of China.

Shortly after retiring from the sport at the age of 17, his film career kicked off with director Chang Hsin Yen and Shaolin Temple. Today his film credits include Lethal Weapon 4 opposite Mel Gibson, Romeo Must Die, The One, Kiss of the Dragon, and Hero. Li's upcoming release is Tou Ming Zhuang (known in English as The Warlords) with Andy Lau and Takeshi Kaneshiro. He most recently wrapped photography on The Mummy 3: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor.

Li is a Red Cross ambassador and founded the One Foundation, a Chinese-based organization whose goal is to develop China's nascent philanthropy industry. One of the main program areas is to help young people cope with mental well-being and find a balance in life.
Biographical Data
Birth: April 26, 1963 in Hebei, China.
Family: 2 Older Brothers, 2 Older Sisters, Father passed away in 1965 and mother passed away in 2002.
Spouse: Nina Chi Li
Children: 2 daughters from a previous marriage, 2 daughters from current marriage
Name: Li Lian Jie (Mandarin), Li Lin Kit (Cantonese)
Height: 170 cm / 5'7"
Weight: 66 kg / 145.5 lbs.

The Official Jet Li Website 

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