Spotlight: Wu Jing’s Wolf Warriors 2 surpasses The Mermaid, and how I knew of him in TV series

GAHH. I’m so happy for Jacky Wu Jing! Feels like crying right now for his success; if the movie didn’t do well, he would have suffered financially since he risked his personal savings (house deed, etc) because of the lack of funding in the beginning (hiding it from his wife too!) I do have a soft spot for martial artists actors and always feel like they are not appreciated enough in TV series these days hence most move on to doing action movies. Just like Ashton Chen Xiao Long, still doing supporting roles here and there (leading roles in small productions), waiting for his big break. Anyway, Wolf Warriors 2 has surpassed The Mermaid, becoming the highest-grossing film of all time in China (after 12 days). Previously crowned, The Mermaid production posted a congratulations message on weibo and you can see Wu Jing’s meme in high-fiving a fish. Hehe! Aww! His success right now is the result of constant hard-work. He also kicked our Li Ying off the #1 spot on Vlinkage for some days. Lol.

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Wu Jing’s Background and Other Tidbits:

I think if you have only started to watch tv dramas recently, you probably won’t recognize him as he has transitioned to the movie industry for quite some time now. I knew of him when he first started out in tv dramas. He was born missing half of his left thumb and started learning martial arts when he was 6 years old. At 13, he became a disciple under Wu Bin, head of the Beijing Wushu Team, who also taught Jet Li, Donnie Yen, among many others. Wu Bin initially didn’t want to accept Wu Jing because he believed the difference in power between two fighters is in their thumbs and Wu Jing is missing half of his. When he injured his legs severely in 2014 because of his refusal to use stunt double, many considered him as old/decrepit and was leeching off his wife. What an unpleasant thing to say about a partnership in marriage. T___T

His wife is MC Xie Nan and friends tease that he married well and he does accept it generally like a compliment since she did confess to him that if he doesn’t have money, she will support him. She also told him to keep dreaming but please don’t push his luck with life-threatening stunts (aww). She’s a keeper! Even on their wedding day, he had to be on crutches to come to her. When his wife was pregnant with their son, he felt blessed and burdened because he was injured and she took care of a lot of things. Then when the child arrived with breathing problems, they were told to be prepared that he won’t make it. OMgaad. His life. The boy is healthy now and it’s his greatest blessing.

To Wu Jing, a martial artist using stunt double is a slap to the face. “Working hard is a form of happiness,” he says.

My first drama with Wu Jing was Taiwanese drama Legend of Dagger Li in 1999 with Vincent Jiao and Alyssia Chia. Adapted from Xiaoli Feidao series, a wuxia novel series by Gu Long. This is the peak of Vincent Jiao’s popularity in my home and Wu Jing played his adorable sidekick. Let me just say that in the midst of wide-eyed admiration of flying little daggers, blood was drawn in my household. LOL. Things kids do in imitation!

Opening Themesong. They remastered this themesong from the 1978 version. You can see a younger and less famous Fan Bing Bing running around too as a supporting character.

Ending themesong.

You know the drama is old when chyron appears onscreen to introduce characters and their skills. LOL. Brings me back so far. This is Wu Jing in The Tai Chi Master in 1998 in his various battles with Kung Fu masters.

And I fell completely for him in 2003 A Chinese Ghost Story with a white-haired Jessica Hsuan. (Though Nie Yuan’s one-sided love also killed me too during that time.)

You see, you never know when your life will have a great turn around. There are lucky celebrities with a smooth ride to popularity and there are hard-working ones who don’t get the fame or recognition until later in life. Then there are actors who never get the spotlight but are satisfied to keep doing what they love. Timing and grabbing a hold of opportunities are important. To that I say, keep charging forward!

No dreamer is ever too small; no dream is ever too big.” – Anon

I will probably spend a good number of hours at the theaters next week to catch Wolf Warriors 2 and Once Upon A Time. I know WW2 is nationalistic fluff but for it be be rated a solid 7 on both douban (chinese audience) and imbd (international audience) is a good sign of some sleek stuff.

Via: Various articles 01 // 02

  1. 24 thoughts on “Spotlight: Wu Jing’s Wolf Warriors 2 surpasses The Mermaid, and how I knew of him in TV series

    I remember watching Legend of Dagger Li when I was really little. I think that’s actually the only thing I’ve seen Wu Jing in. On a side not, can someone remind me of the pairings in Legend of Dagger Li? Or really, who Sun Xiao Hong (Alyssa) ends up with? Or really, if she and A-Fei end up together? I don’t remember at all.

    • 24 thoughts on “Spotlight: Wu Jing’s Wolf Warriors 2 surpasses The Mermaid, and how I knew of him in TV series

      You know what Juli…. I don’t remember also! LOL. Vaguely, Alyssa and Wu Jing are a pair…. Someone, kindly remind us!

      • 24 thoughts on “Spotlight: Wu Jing’s Wolf Warriors 2 surpasses The Mermaid, and how I knew of him in TV series

        If my memory is correct they did end up together, Vincent’s gf died and the identical gf also died at the same time so his heart died and cannot take in Alyssa. But even that’s not the case, he always give in to his friends (including giving up his gf or crushes to them) which is what I hate so much about his character.

        • 24 thoughts on “Spotlight: Wu Jing’s Wolf Warriors 2 surpasses The Mermaid, and how I knew of him in TV series

          Yes! I have always hated this character for that. Broke his gf heart then had the gall to mope around tjat he lost her.

          But Wujin and Alyssia was a couple. She had a crush on Vincent but shared a lot more screen time with Wujin.

          Fanbingbing was a cameo from memory, she only appeared in one storyline. She was still popular back then.

    • 24 thoughts on “Spotlight: Wu Jing’s Wolf Warriors 2 surpasses The Mermaid, and how I knew of him in TV series

      He ended up with Alyssa’s character. Only happy couple.

      Vincent’s childhood lover died. He met another girl towards the end, but she also died. Tough luck.

      FBB’s character also died.

      • 24 thoughts on “Spotlight: Wu Jing’s Wolf Warriors 2 surpasses The Mermaid, and how I knew of him in TV series

        Dear Hannah and Kappy:

        May I ask what is Vlinkage ? a website?
        “He also kicked our Li Ying off the #1 spot on Vlinkage 8/6.”
        I really like Zhao Li Ying too.

        About his wife, she reminds me of Ang Lee’s wife, supporting him financially while he’s achieving his dream that took years. Very classy and noble. That’s hardcore love and respect. There is certainly a double standard in various societies and cultures. That’s why horrible comments like that can hurt Wu Jing.

        IDK about old dramas and with the main casts dying, but last year I watched one old drama “The handsome Twin~ something” with Dicky Cheung, Fan Bing Bing, and Nicholas Tse .

        I might have regretted it. I only tried it coz I saw handsome Nic Tse, long hair, in an all white wuxia suit, fanning his white fan, and the older days Fan Bing Bing is a plus.

        It turns out All the girls involved with Dicky Cheung died. . . one . . . by. . . one. . . until the end. 😅
        Can’t even think about it, it’s so funny.
        hahaha and the love story between FBB and Nic Tse is so epically . . . messed up. . . I. . . .

        It was a first cantonese dubbed drama that I’ve ever watched though and made me more incline to watch more movies in the cantonese language than before.

        I found that an actress in a pretty good show “first half of my life” with Jin Dong recently also played in this old drama. She was paired with Dicky and might have died, LOL, and I disliked her role there. Now I watched 2 episodes of First Half of My life and really liked her character, and then skipped the rest and just watched the last episode. hahaha That ending tore my heart! coz I like her (Yuan Quan) role.

        This legend of Dagger Li series seems old and has FBB again, but it has Wu Jing though! looks good but i’m afraid. . .
        and I think I might know who Vincent is.

        It seems like I should get pass the notion of WW2 being a nationalistic fluff and watch it when it get subbed. Any idea is it bc it is nationalistic that’s why it has help (does it has help?) to be successful at the box office?

        • 24 thoughts on “Spotlight: Wu Jing’s Wolf Warriors 2 surpasses The Mermaid, and how I knew of him in TV series

          Vlinkage is just a data analysis company that takes in actors popularity on the net through search engines, articles, projects etc. Wu Jing is hot topic. Lol.

  2. 24 thoughts on “Spotlight: Wu Jing’s Wolf Warriors 2 surpasses The Mermaid, and how I knew of him in TV series

    Vincent Jiao sure was a hottie then. Did Fan Bingbing and Xiao Chang have scenes together?

  3. 24 thoughts on “Spotlight: Wu Jing’s Wolf Warriors 2 surpasses The Mermaid, and how I knew of him in TV series

    Omg! A special update just for Wu Jing! I’m just so excited. He actually came back to my mind in recent months and I was feeling that he should get more recognition for being who he is: a hardworker with talent, and so devoted.

    As for the Legend of Dagger Li, I looked it up, he did pair up with him. They were paired together for that one and only time.

    Thank you for all the story about him, a long time lurker.

    Always wanted to commented that you are such a great reporter of news. I like the tone of each of your articles, and appreciate the time that you put into your postings. (such a long comment… sorry)

    • 24 thoughts on “Spotlight: Wu Jing’s Wolf Warriors 2 surpasses The Mermaid, and how I knew of him in TV series

      …he did pair up with her…*

    • 24 thoughts on “Spotlight: Wu Jing’s Wolf Warriors 2 surpasses The Mermaid, and how I knew of him in TV series

      Thank-you for the kind comments, Delaney! <3!

  4. 24 thoughts on “Spotlight: Wu Jing’s Wolf Warriors 2 surpasses The Mermaid, and how I knew of him in TV series

    I don’t know him at all, and I don’t remember if I’ve ever seen anything he’s in (a shame, since I love wuxia series. But after the 80’s I was sorta “cut off” from all HK/Taiwan’s productions & just started Mainland mid-2000). But his story is all inspiring. So thank you for writing this. Wish him continued success and other struggling ones a rewarding outcome.

    • 24 thoughts on “Spotlight: Wu Jing’s Wolf Warriors 2 surpasses The Mermaid, and how I knew of him in TV series

      Should definitely checked out some of his older series, Lenje! =) The music is haunting, a plus!

  5. 24 thoughts on “Spotlight: Wu Jing’s Wolf Warriors 2 surpasses The Mermaid, and how I knew of him in TV series

    Wu Jing has always been one of my favorite actors. The first drama I saw him in was 1998 The Tai Chi Master. To this date I still regard this as one of my favorite series. He was so young and cheeky in there, and I absolutely loved the choreography in the series. I still pull it out every now and then for the feels. =)

    I’m very happy he’s finally getting the fame and recognition he deserves. Go Wu Jing!

  6. 24 thoughts on “Spotlight: Wu Jing’s Wolf Warriors 2 surpasses The Mermaid, and how I knew of him in TV series

    WOW I’m so happy for him!!!
    I LOOOOOOOVE Wu Jing so much! He was not just very cute but martial art is also superb too! I even heard he had a real life story where his legs no longer work but despite that, he tried to save a girl from assault and got reactions to his legs and gained them back. His life is dramatic and full of miracles.

    I believe the first time I ever seen him was as a cute little monk in Shaolin starring Athena Chu and Louis Fan. I love that drama a lot, so classical! My Mr. Vampire guy Chin Siu Ho was the hot evil guy, Athena was very beautiful and paired up with the handsome Louis, and the girl paired with Wu Jing was very cute too (heard she’s a real tai chi master). Almost everyone in that drama got real martial arts. I can’t name a single modern person that can do things like them, people now mostly just fly and stuck in the sky for 15+ seconds and then the camera goes around them. Even Athena got no real martial arts but she was really passable in her beautiful kungfu moves as Huang Rong, I think modern directors need to move a bit back into traditional Chinese martial arts hands and feet movements instead of technology.

    That XLFD was so memorable too, I love the soundtrack and theme song. Vincent Jiao all the way, although he got no martial arts (I believe) but the fighting styles during his time was not bad at all. He always give out the impression like he does know some martial arts. I really like Wu Jing and Alyssa Chia together, and I even shipped him with the very young Fan bing bing (FBB minor role was way better than the main girl’s role), geez, those old days where everyone is sooooooooo natural looking with no crazy overly pale make up.

    I was surprised when Wu Jing made a comeback in Chinese Ghost Story. Most surprisingly that he didn’t play the good martial art guy, but a very very comedical guy with supposingly bad martial arts. He was my favorite character in there next to Jessica Hsuan and Nie Yuan. All the dramas he played in were really good, CGS is the very very very top drama with the most beautiful soundtrack and music I’ve ever seen, and really beautiful costumes! I do not think that Barbie Xu and Jessica are pretty at all, but in CGS, they were both so different and beautiful! I was a fan of every single person (minor or major role) in that drama.

    • 24 thoughts on “Spotlight: Wu Jing’s Wolf Warriors 2 surpasses The Mermaid, and how I knew of him in TV series

      Vincent Jiao made everything seem smooth, like he’s an expert. His curly hair also worked on him; on other guys, not so much. Suave!

      Agreed with you about the soundtracks from older dramas remaining heart-touching through time. I still have those soundtracks playing on cellphone. 😉

  7. 24 thoughts on “Spotlight: Wu Jing’s Wolf Warriors 2 surpasses The Mermaid, and how I knew of him in TV series

    Is that his dad in the first pic? lol I thought it was him at first glance and thought “wow why is he so old now!!!” haha until I saw him next to . . . his dad? look so much alike! . . . and omg his thumb!!!
    What I found interesting is that in Wikipedia his ancestry is Manchu.
    I happened to be reading a book at a library about Manchuria Winters during the time I was starting to get into Martial arts movies. My first film of his was SPL 1, and I was always too late with movies and the hype of movies.
    I watched it last year ~2016, maybe, and it came out about 3 or 4 years before that. That was when I knew of Donnie Yen too via reaction videos on youtube of the famous fight scene in SPL 1 with Wu Jing and Donnie.
    React videos of Martial art movies are way fun than other videos when we get to see the reaction of fans who loves those scenes and movies. Growing up I wasn’t exposed to martial art movies and stars, so that was new to me, and I didn’t know how cool it was, and it was just last year that I finished watching almost all of Bruce Lee classics. Before that I only knew of his name: Bruce Lee. 😅
    Those youtube videos actually make me want to marathon all Jet Li movies too LOL.

    Random story: I was in a connecting flight in Hong Kong and there many passengers from Hong Kong, and I glanced around and saw someone, a young father, travelling with his family, was watching Call of Heroes on a screen, so I thought ahhh his movie is popular in hong kong too. 🤗 Probably coz of eddie peng tho. 😅

    I saw the trailer of wolf warriors 2 and there are a lot bad reviews which are not really reviews but just hate comments. I might watch it coz it might be a decent movie from the look of it, but i’m afraid it might be a generic action flick coz a lot of his films have loads of action but little plots. A good movie needs balance. Happy for him tho. 😁

    • 24 thoughts on “Spotlight: Wu Jing’s Wolf Warriors 2 surpasses The Mermaid, and how I knew of him in TV series

      I’m kinda blind when it comes to judging the elderly. This is another picture of his dad. Lol.

      Eddie Peng. <3 <3 <3

      I'm glad you're exposed to martial art movies! Never too late to enjoy the classics!

    • 24 thoughts on “Spotlight: Wu Jing’s Wolf Warriors 2 surpasses The Mermaid, and how I knew of him in TV series

      Random AF: forgot to add. That young father on the plane was really handsome; looks like Hu Ge.
      lol

  8. 24 thoughts on “Spotlight: Wu Jing’s Wolf Warriors 2 surpasses The Mermaid, and how I knew of him in TV series

    Congrats to Wu Jing! Finally getting recognition for his hard work!

    I still remember watching him with Christy chung in the Tai Chi movie and thought they were such a mismatched because he was so young next to her. That movie came out in 96 I believe. Hahaha

    Then when he was getting raves for the villain role in Sha po Lang against Donnie, I kept waiting for some good lead roles. Oh well… Now he’s in the frontline! 😁✨🌟

  9. 24 thoughts on “Spotlight: Wu Jing’s Wolf Warriors 2 surpasses The Mermaid, and how I knew of him in TV series

    My mom still has a hoard of DVDs from back in the day when streaming dramas were only maybe available on youtube and I remember Tai Chi Master made a great impression on me as a kid because of how skilled Wu Jing was in it (not to mention how handsome and cute he was lol). I always liked seeing him in dramas, especially when his martial art skills came into play. It wasn’t until recently that I was reminded of him again and I had no idea there was this kind of backstory to his life during the 2000s. So happy everything turned out positive for him because I really think he deserves it. Thanks for this wonderful post! 🙂

  10. 24 thoughts on “Spotlight: Wu Jing’s Wolf Warriors 2 surpasses The Mermaid, and how I knew of him in TV series

    I remember I liked him since a drama long time ago, then he kinda dropped off my radar because he went into movie and I seldom watch Chinese movies. Reading your post I finally remember it was A Chinese Ghost Story where I fell in love with him. He was so cute in that drama and fave character. Was shipping him and Jessica Hsuan character so much!

  11. 24 thoughts on “Spotlight: Wu Jing’s Wolf Warriors 2 surpasses The Mermaid, and how I knew of him in TV series

    Is there a English sub for this movie yet? I def wanna watch this lol after all the propaganda naysayers complaining about this movie (cough the west makes a lot of those “propaganda” films too cough). I love Wu Jing and I’m glad he finally got his breakthrough!

  12. 24 thoughts on “Spotlight: Wu Jing’s Wolf Warriors 2 surpasses The Mermaid, and how I knew of him in TV series

    I think i saw him in the fong sai yuk series as well. He was playing fong sai yuk. It was a loooooong time ago but I think that was the first time I saw him acting and I was like wah so cool his fighting scene on par with Jet Li. Now I know why.

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