Once upon a time in China 2 (4½ Stars)

1895. China has just lost the first Sino-Japanese war. This was a turning point in history, meaning that Japan had become the strongest country in Asia after 2000 years of Chinese dominance. This is still the case today, despite Japan's loss in the Second World War. Japan had already conquered most of China before it made the mistake of attacking Pearl Harbor in an attempt to remove America from the Pacific.

In 1895 China had to give control of Taiwan to Japan. Taiwan remained under Japanese rule until 1952. This was a great blow to the pride of China, leading to chaos in the country.

This is the background to the film. In 1895 Wong Fei-Hung travels to Canton to attend a medical conference. People are protesting about the loss of Taiwan and are demanding a new war against Japan. The ruling Qin dynasty, based in the north, is blamed for the losing the war, so the southern Chinese are calling for a democratic republic to be set up. A new religious cult, the White Lotus, is not only demanding the execution of all the westerners in Canton, but also the destruction of everything western since the West is seen as evil. They even demand that Chinese children who have dared to learn English should be killed.

Wong wants to remain neutral, since his only reason for being in Canton is to study medicine, but he's soon caught up in the violence. He rescues Sun Yat-Sen (who later founded the Republic of China) and helps him to escape from the Qin forces. During his time in Canton he has several fights. The final battle with General Lan, played by Donnie Yen, must be one of the most spectacular martial arts fights ever filmed.

Incidentally, the film's theme song is sung by Jackie Chan. Yes, that Jackie Chan. I checked Wikipedia and found out that he's recorded 10 albums as well as many film theme tunes. How does this man who's made over 100 films find time for singing?

Click here to view the trailer.

I know my portrayal of Chinese history above is very brief, but I hope it's accurate. If I've made any mistakes, please write a comment to correct me.