Gordon Liu

Gordon Liu, born Sin Kam-hei, was born on 22 August 1951 in Foshan, in China's Guangdong province, according to most sources; a few give 1955. His Cantonese stage name, Lau Ka-fai, is a tribute to the family that trained him in kung fu. He was not adopted by the Laus, as is often written: he is Lau Cham's godson and took the name out of respect for the master and his wife.

Hung gar behind his parents' backs

As a teenager Liu skipped school to train in kung fu in secret. He learned hung gar at Lau Cham's school, a southern Chinese style that traces back, through Lam Sai-wing, to the famous Wong Fei-hung. Hung gar is recognisable by its low, stable stances, hard blocks and punches thrown from the horse stance, and that is the foundation Liu would bring to the screen. At the school he trained alongside the master's son, Lau Kar-leung, a Shaw Brothers choreographer who would become his regular director and, in the Chinese tradition, his kung fu brother. After a job as a shipping clerk, it was Lau Kar-leung who gave him his first roles.

Shaw Brothers and the 36th chamber

Liu started as a stuntman, then in small parts for Chang's Film Company, the Taiwanese arm of Shaw Brothers run by Chang Cheh, including Five Shaolin Masters (1974). Lau Kar-leung moved into directing in 1975 and the following year cast him as Wong Fei-hung in Challenge of the Masters. Then came the film that made him an international star: The 36th Chamber of Shaolin (1978), in which he plays San Te, a young man who enters the Shaolin temple to avenge his family and works his way, chamber by chamber, through the monks' training trials. The film established Liu's shaved head, compared to Yul Brynner's, and a patient, repetitive depiction of learning that few kung fu films had attempted.

Executioners from Shaolin (1977), Heroes of the East (1978), in which his character takes on Japanese weapons experts one by one, Dirty Ho (1979), Return to the 36th Chamber (1980), Martial Club (1981) and The Eight Diagram Pole Fighter (1984), where he wields the long pole against invaders, followed. Lau Kar-leung kept him in leading roles despite a slimmer build than the muscular heroes of the day. In the late 1980s the decline of Shaw Brothers pushed him towards supporting roles and television, where he worked for many years for the TVB network, often as a martial arts master or police officer, sometimes in comic parts.

A style on screen

Liu is neither an acrobat like Jackie Chan nor a puncher like Bruce Lee. His strength is legibility: complete hung gar forms, visible blocks, long sequences shot in wide frames by Lau Kar-leung, who wanted techniques shown the way they are taught. A practitioner will recognise the horse stance, forearm conditioning, tiger and crane strikes and above all the training sequences, which are often the real substance of the story. His nickname among English-speaking fans, Master Killer, comes from the American title of The 36th Chamber of Shaolin.

Kill Bill and legacy

Quentin Tarantino, a long-time admirer, wrote him two roles in Kill Bill: Johnny Mo, leader of the Crazy 88 who duels Uma Thurman with swords in Volume 1 (2003), and Pai Mei, the white-bearded master who teaches the Bride the five-point technique in Volume 2 (2004). Those parts put him back in the spotlight and brought new films in China, including Chandni Chowk to China (2009), True Legend (2010), Flying Swords of Dragon Gate (2011) and The Man with the Iron Fists (2012), produced by Tarantino and directed by RZA, who had built the Wu-Tang Clan's imagery on The 36th Chamber of Shaolin.

After a stroke in August 2011, Liu ended his public appearances in March 2012. He was inducted into the Martial Arts History Museum Hall of Fame in 2020. His legacy rests on one film, watched and rewatched by generations of practitioners, and on one idea: that kung fu is learned slowly, through effort.