{ "id": "ep1saw27mt", "slug": "the-legend-1993-film", "title": "The Legend (1993 film)", "updated": "2026-11-01", "topic_path": [ { "id": "culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture" }, { "id": "culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.action-adventure", "label": "Action and adventure films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.action-adventure" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.action-adventure.martial-arts-films", "label": "Martial arts films", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.action-adventure.martial-arts-films" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.action-adventure.martial-arts-films.yr-1986-2026", "label": "Released 1986 to 2026", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.action-adventure.martial-arts-films.yr-1986-2026" } ], "geo": [ { "id": "geo.chn.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.action-adventure.martial-arts-films", "label": "China · 1946 to 2000: Martial arts films", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.action-adventure.martial-arts-films", "path": [ { "id": "geo.chn", "label": "China", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t1946", "label": "China · 1946 to 2000", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t1946" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t1946.culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t1946.culture" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t1946.culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t1946.culture.performance" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t1946.culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t1946.culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.action-adventure", "label": "Action and adventure films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.action-adventure" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.action-adventure.martial-arts-films", "label": "Martial arts films", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.action-adventure.martial-arts-films" } ] } ], "excerpt": "The Legend, released in Hong Kong as Fong Sai-Yuk (方世玉), is a 1993 Hong Kong martial arts action-comedy directed by Corey Yuen, starring Jet Li as folk hero Fong Sai Yuk.", "snippet": "The Legend, released in Hong Kong as Fong Sai-Yuk (方世玉), is a 1993 Hong Kong martial arts action-comedy directed by Corey Yuen, starring Jet Li as folk hero Fong Sai Yuk.", "node": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.action-adventure.martial-arts-films.yr-1986-2026", "markdown": "# The Legend (1993 film)\n\n**The Legend**, released in Hong Kong as *Fong Sai-Yuk* (方世玉), is a 1993 Hong Kong martial arts action-comedy directed by Corey Yuen and starring [Jet Li](https://www.edgepedia.org/jet-li) as the folk-hero fighter Fong Sai Yuk, a young kung fu practitioner in Qing-dynasty Canton who enters a marriage contest and then must protect his father, a member of a secret anti-Qing society, from a ruthless imperial governor.[1](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0106936/releaseinfo/) • [2](https://tv.apple.com/us/movie/the-legend/umc.cmc.o3y5gyvcw9k0zqlvk2eqb1fm) The film was Jet Li's first production for his own company, Eastern Production, and it became one of the biggest Hong Kong hits of 1993 while winning awards for its action choreography.[3](https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_22320636?commTag=true) • [4](https://www.hkfact.com/movie/7649)\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Original title | 方世玉 (Fong Sai-Yuk); released internationally as *The Legend* and *The Legend of Fong Sai-Yuk*[1](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0106936/releaseinfo/) |\n| Hong Kong release | March 4, 1993[1](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0106936/releaseinfo/) |\n| Director / star | Corey Yuen; Jet Li as Fong Sai Yuk, with Josephine Siao as his mother Miu Chui Fa and Michelle Reis as Ting Ting[2](https://tv.apple.com/us/movie/the-legend/umc.cmc.o3y5gyvcw9k0zqlvk2eqb1fm) |\n| Production | Eastern Production Ltd., Jet Li's own company; Jet Li credited as producer under the name Li Yang-chung[3](https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_22320636?commTag=true) • [4](https://www.hkfact.com/movie/7649) |\n| Hong Kong box office | HK$30,666,842, fifth among 1993 Hong Kong releases[4](https://www.hkfact.com/movie/7649) • [5](https://www.douban.com/doulist/157717755/) |\n| Awards | Best Action Choreography at the 13th Hong Kong Film Awards (1994); Golden Horse Awards for Best Action Choreography and Best Editing (1993); Josephine Siao nominated for Best Actress[6](https://www.tvguide.com/movies/the-legend/2030113815/) • [7](https://www.goldenhorse.org.tw/film/about/archive/detail/221?ghff_id=212&search_year=2015) |\n| Format | 106 minutes, Cantonese, 35mm color[8](https://www.3continents.com/en/film/la-legende-de-fong-sai-yuk/) |\n| Critical score | 89% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer (9 reviews)[9](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_legend) |\n\n## Spoilers\n\n### Plot\n\nThe story is set in Canton ([Guangzhou](https://www.edgepedia.org/guangzhou)) during the [Qing dynasty](https://www.edgepedia.org/qing-dynasty). Fong Sai Yuk, a carefree young martial artist, falls for Ting Ting, the daughter of the rich merchant Tiger Lei. To win favor locally, Tiger Lei stages a kung fu tournament with his daughter's hand in marriage as the prize.[10](https://www.acmi.net.au/works/90413--fong-sai-yuk-the-legend/) Sai Yuk enters, but when he glimpses an ugly maid he mistakenly takes for the bride, he deliberately throws the match.[8](https://www.3continents.com/en/film/la-legende-de-fong-sai-yuk/)\n\n**The mother's tournament.** Mortified by her son's defeat, his mother Miu Chui Fa, herself a skilled fighter, disguises herself as a male contestant called \"Fong Tai Yuk\" and wins the contest, earning the adoration of Tiger Lei's wife, a champion martial artist, in a running comedy of gender confusion and mistaken identity.[10](https://www.acmi.net.au/works/90413--fong-sai-yuk-the-legend/) • [11](https://miff.com.au/festival-archive/films/23007/fong-sai-yuk) The tournament rule, that whoever touches the ground loses, drives the film's most famous set pieces, in which the fighters balance on poles, towers, and the heads and shoulders of the surrounding crowd.[11](https://miff.com.au/festival-archive/films/23007/fong-sai-yuk)\n\n**The rebellion plot.** The comedy is braided with a political storyline: Sai Yuk's father Fong Tuk is a member of a secret society dedicated to overthrowing the Manchu dynasty, and a Qing governor arrives to seize the society's membership list.[10](https://www.acmi.net.au/works/90413--fong-sai-yuk-the-legend/) • [12](https://www.netflix.com/title/60004112) The father is captured and sentenced to death; in the climax, the society's leader Chan Ka Lok (Adam Cheng), the mother, and Tiger Lei arrive to help Sai Yuk fight off the governor and rescue him.[13](https://www.adamcheng.hk/movies/210)\n\n## Production and background\n\nThe film marked a turning point in Jet Li's career. After three *Once Upon a Time in China* films for Golden Harvest, his contract had expired amid a pay dispute, and in 1992 his manager was killed, a shock that pushed him toward new business arrangements. He founded Eastern Production, named partly after his own given name, and made *Fong Sai Yuk* as the company's first film, producing it under the pseudonym Li Yang-chung, a name the writer [Jin Yong](https://www.edgepedia.org/jin-yong) had suggested for him.[3](https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_22320636?commTag=true)\n\nCorey Yuen, a member of the Peking Opera school troupe the Seven Little Fortunes alongside [Jackie Chan](https://www.edgepedia.org/jackie-chan) and [Sammo Hung](https://www.edgepedia.org/sammo-hung), directed and co-choreographed the action with Yuen Tak. The screenplay is credited to Jeff Lau, Chan Kin-chung, and Kevin Tsai; according to a later retrospective, Jeff Lau wrote the initial framework in about five days while juggling other productions.[7](https://www.goldenhorse.org.tw/film/about/archive/detail/221?ghff_id=212&search_year=2015) • [3](https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_22320636?commTag=true) The film was shot as a co-production involving Beijing Film Studio, part of the wave of Hong Kong-mainland co-productions of the early 1990s.[4](https://www.hkfact.com/movie/7649) • [14](https://www.sohu.com/a/252095211_662038)\n\nThe character Fong Sai Yuk comes from Southern Shaolin legend, a [Cantonese](https://www.edgepedia.org/cantonese) folk hero with a screen history reaching back to 1930s and 1940s Hong Kong cinema; the Hong Kong Film Archive notes that the [Fong Sai-yuk](https://www.edgepedia.org/fong-sai-yuk) and [Wong Fei-hung](https://www.edgepedia.org/wong-fei-hung) series built the foundation of Southern Shaolin legend films from the late 1940s onward.[15](https://www.filmarchive.gov.hk/documents/5.-Exhibition-and-Screening/ProFolio/Profolio-101_E.pdf) The 1993 film spins the folk legend into what the Archive calls \"a wickedly playful coming-of-age tale of romance, friendship, loyalty, family and comical misunderstandings.\"\n[16](https://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/201410/17/P201410170760.htm)\n\n## Action choreography and reception\n\nThe film's reputation rests chiefly on its choreography. Reviewers single out the tournament fight staged on the heads and shoulders of the crowd, a sequence the Apple TV synopsis describes as \"fought entirely atop the heads of stunned onlookers,\" and a bamboo-staff duel between Jet Li's Fong and [Vincent Zhao](https://www.edgepedia.org/vincent-zhao)'s governor.[2](https://tv.apple.com/us/movie/the-legend/umc.cmc.o3y5gyvcw9k0zqlvk2eqb1fm) • [17](https://www.caseymoviemania.com/remembering-corey-yuen-6-fong-sai-yuk-1993-review/) The Austin Chronicle's review praised \"some of the most breathtakingly choreographed fight scenes witnessed in years.\"\n[9](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_legend)\n\n**Josephine Siao's performance** drew particular attention. Time Out called her work \"a show-stopping culmination of three decades of fine work in the Hong Kong cinema,\" and her cross-dressed fighter earned a Best Actress nomination at the Hong Kong Film Awards.[9](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_legend) • [6](https://www.tvguide.com/movies/the-legend/2030113815/) The film also introduced Vincent Zhao, a Beijing sport university wushu student whom Corey Yuen cast as the villain; it was his first film, and it launched a career that later included taking over the Wong Fei-hung role in the *Once Upon a Time in China* series.[3](https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_22320636?commTag=true)\n\nAt the Hong Kong box office the film earned HK$30,666,842, placing fifth for 1993, ahead of *[Once Upon a Time in China III](https://www.edgepedia.org/once-upon-a-time-in-china-iii)* in seventh place.[4](https://www.hkfact.com/movie/7649) • [5](https://www.douban.com/doulist/157717755/) On Rotten Tomatoes it holds 89% from nine critics, with an 84% audience score.[9](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_legend)\n\n## Versions and legacy\n\nThe film exists in cuts of different lengths: festival and archive listings give 106 minutes for the Hong Kong version, while the US release runs shorter.[8](https://www.3continents.com/en/film/la-legende-de-fong-sai-yuk/) • [9](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_legend) The American rights were acquired by Miramax/[Dimension](https://www.edgepedia.org/dimension), which retitled the film simply *The Legend* and, according to the review site LoveHKFilm, rescored and dubbed it.[18](https://www.lovehkfilm.com/reviews/fong_sai_yuk.htm) A sequel, *Fong Sai Yuk II*, followed the same year with the same leads, continuing the story after Fong joins the secret society.[16](https://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/201410/17/P201410170760.htm)\n\nThe Hong Kong Film Archive included *Fong Sai Yuk* in its \"100 Must-See Hong Kong Movies\" series, screening it alongside its sequel in 2014.[16](https://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/201410/17/P201410170760.htm) Later restorations have kept it in circulation: 88 Films released a 4K restoration of both films in 2024, and Shout! Studios issued a US 4K UHD set in 2025.[4](https://www.hkfact.com/movie/7649)\n\n## References\n\n1. [The Legend (1993) – Release info, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0106936/releaseinfo/)\n2. [The Legend – Apple TV](https://tv.apple.com/us/movie/the-legend/umc.cmc.o3y5gyvcw9k0zqlvk2eqb1fm)\n3. [想当年｜《方世玉》：功夫皇帝的正名, The Paper](https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_22320636?commTag=true)\n4. [HKFACT – 电影 – 方世玉](https://www.hkfact.com/movie/7649)\n5. [香港电影票房榜 1993年, Douban](https://www.douban.com/doulist/157717755/)\n6. [The Legend – TV Guide](https://www.tvguide.com/movies/the-legend/2030113815/)\n7. [功夫皇帝方世玉, Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival archive](https://www.goldenhorse.org.tw/film/about/archive/detail/221?ghff_id=212&search_year=2015)\n8. [Fong Sai-yuk, Festival des 3 Continents](https://www.3continents.com/en/film/la-legende-de-fong-sai-yuk/)\n9. [Fong Sai-Yuk, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_legend)\n10. [Fong Sai Yuk = The Legend, ACMI collection](https://www.acmi.net.au/works/90413--fong-sai-yuk-the-legend/)\n11. [Fong Sai Yuk, Melbourne International Film Festival archive](https://miff.com.au/festival-archive/films/23007/fong-sai-yuk)\n12. [The Legend, Netflix](https://www.netflix.com/title/60004112)\n13. [鄭少秋電影 – 方世玉 Fong Sai Yuk part 1, AdamCheng.HK](https://www.adamcheng.hk/movies/210)\n14. [《当代电影》: 从华语圈到全球化, Sohu](https://www.sohu.com/a/252095211_662038)\n15. [ProFolio 101, Hong Kong Film Archive](https://www.filmarchive.gov.hk/documents/5.-Exhibition-and-Screening/ProFolio/Profolio-101_E.pdf)\n16. [HK Film Archive's \"100 Must-See Hong Kong Movies\", Hong Kong Government Information Services](https://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/201410/17/P201410170760.htm)\n17. [Remembering Corey Yuen #6 – Fong Sai Yuk (1993) Review, Casey's Movie Mania](https://www.caseymoviemania.com/remembering-corey-yuen-6-fong-sai-yuk-1993-review/)\n18. [Fong Sai-Yuk (1993), LoveHKFilm](https://www.lovehkfilm.com/reviews/fong_sai_yuk.htm)\n\n---\n*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Action and adventure films (individual works) › Martial arts films › Released 1986 to 2026*\n\n*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n", "same_as": [], "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/the-legend-1993-film", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/the-legend-1993-film.md", "license": { "name": "Edgepedia Community License 1.0", "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license", "summary": "Free with credit, commercial use included. AI training is open to everyone. For other uses, organizations over USD 100M in revenue or 100M monthly users license separately.", "spdx": "LicenseRef-Edgepedia-Community-1.0" }, "credit": "\"The Legend (1993 film)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/the-legend-1993-film. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[The Legend (1993 film)](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-legend-1993-film)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/the-legend-1993-film](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-legend-1993-film). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"The Legend (1993 film)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/the-legend-1993-film. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "The Legend, released in Hong Kong as Fong Sai-Yuk, is a 1993 Hong Kong martial arts action-comedy directed by Corey Yuen, starring Jet Li as folk hero Fong Sai Yuk." }