Friendship and Stregnth

What happens when traditional gender roles are ignored within a strictly traditional society?  Can old friendships be renewed? What is the secret of strength?

Wing Chun was released in Hong Kong in 1994.  It was directed by Woo-Ping Yang and starred Michelle Yeoh in the title role.  This romantic comedy, which doubles as a Kung Fu movie, took place in a 19^th century remote Chinese village with a chronic bandit problem.  Who do the villagers hide behind?  Wing Chun.  Wing Chun is a woman kung fu master, and the best one in the village.  Her name is called when a champion is needed, and this stirs up strong resentment among the young men in the village.  Her success also disturbs the Flying Chimpanzee, the leader of the bandits, and he vows to remove her from the picture. 

Wing Chun is very different from the other young women of the village, and she makes no effort to fit in.  She dresses in men’s clothing, much to the dismay of her father, who fears Wing Chun will never marry.  Wing Chun’s Aunt Fong does appreciate her abilities, but also encourages her to become more feminine.  Aunt Fong is a shrewd businesswoman who helps to run the family-owned tofu shop.  While this shop offers quality tofu, few patronize it.  “Packaging matters,” Aunt Fong advises Wing Chun; a pretty saleswoman would attract more customers.  Aunt Fong does not entirely fill the traditional gender role herself; she is also unmarried and has little hope of changing this status.  Men are frightened away by her business sense, her brash manner, and her bad breath.

The only man who shows an interest in Wing Chun is Scholar Chow.  This is not out of love, however.  Scholar Chow only wants free protection against the bandits.

Wing Chun’s masculine behavior and lack of suitors are strongly contrasted by a new arrival to the village: a beautiful young widow, aptly named Charmy.  Charmy’s beauty attracts the attention of every young man in town, and the bandits as well.   Wing Chun and Charmy become very good friends.  Charmy, dressed in Wing Chun’s old feminine clothing, looks remarkably like Wing Chun did several years earlier.  She also becomes the new ‘Miss Tofu’ and business booms at the tofu shop.
The plot thickens when Leung Pok To, a childhood sweetheart of Wing Chun, arrives in town.  He mistakes Charmy for Wing Chun, since Charmy was running the tofu shop and was dressed as Wing Chun formerly did.  He immediately endeavors to rekindle their old relationship.  He mistakes Wing Chun, dressed in men’s clothing, for a man.  (We can only assume that he had poor eyesight.)

      As the story progresses, The Flying Chimpanzee continues his raids against the village.  Wing Chun wins several individual battles, but is unable to win a decisive victory or stop the continued raids.  Pok To discovers his mistake and seeks the real Wing Chun, despite her lack of femininity.  However, Wing Chun’s first concern is ending the notorious career of the Flying Chimpanzee.

      With the advice of her former teacher, and help from Pok To, Wing Chun realizes where her true strength lies.  She challenges the Flying Chimpanzee to one final battle – his favorite twelve-foot iron spear against her two small knives.   Very unfair odds, it may seem, until she brings the fight into a ten-foot room.  Her victory proves that bigger isn’t always better and brute force isn’t always supreme.  Valuing friendship, seeking advice, and embracing your own unique strengths can make all the difference.  Wing Chun advises the bandits to turn from their crooked ways, an idea that they seem enthusiastic about at the time.  I can’t imagine such an arrangement lasting very long, however.

      In the end, Wing Chun forsakes men’s clothing and the practice of Kung Fu in order to become the wife of Pok To. They leave the village to begin their life together. 

      Scholar Chow?  He married Aunt Fong.  They fell in love with each other’s money.

      And Charmy, whose one ambition is to find true love and settle down to raise a family, is sadly left unmarried and alone.  With all the attention that she attracts, she shouldn’t have to wait long to find the right man.  In the meantime, the tofu business has never been better.