The 36th Chamber of Shaolin - Rumble in Hong Kong

There are many films featuring a ‘training sequence’, which depicts the long and arduous journey a young man or woman must undertake before they can call themselves a master of a martial art. This influential masterpiece by Liu Chia-liang was perhaps the first film in which this theme was portrayed so extensively and so spectacularly. According to the prestigious Harvard Film Institute, the film is “an absorbing account of an initiation (…), depicted here as an inner voyage of discovery.”

The young student Liu Yu-de becomes involved in a rebellion against imperial authority and pays a heavy price for it: his friends and family are murdered by the army. Yu-de seeks revenge and travels to the Shaolin Temple to learn kung fu. Initially, he is refused entry, but the head of the temple admits him nonetheless. To become a kung fu master, San Te – as he is now known – must pass through the temple’s 35 chambers; in each chamber, he learns a new kung fu technique. He proves to be a highly talented pupil.