Shaolin Temple

Lore & Background

The core story within this inspiration involves Master Liu and Master Law, rivals running Shaolin style kung fu and Wu-Tang style sword fighting schools in the same city. Their top students, Chao Fung-wu and Hung Jun-kit, are close friends despite their masters' rivalry. A local Qing Lord decides to learn both styles to eliminate the threat they pose. The plot thickens when the Lord manipulates events to pit the schools against each other. Jun-kit attempts a rescue but inadvertently teaches a prisoner Shaolin techniques, unaware the man is the Lord's spy. During an escape ambush, Fung-wu teaches the spy Wu-Tang sword techniques to survive. The ensuing tragedy sees Yan-ling, Jun-kit's sister and Fung-wu's love interest, caught in the conflict, though she is not shot and dying in his arms as previously described.

In Their Own Story

The narrative turns on a staged martial arts contest orchestrated by the Qing Lord, who has imperfectly learned both styles from the spy. Hoping to destroy the Shaolin and Wu-Tang schools to become the sole master of both, he pits them against each other. The representatives are Jun-kit, now called Tat-chi, and Fung-wu, now called Ming-kai. During the contest, the impatient Lord reveals his true motives and his role in the deaths of Yan-ling and Master Law. To defeat him, the two former friends must combine their distinct arts: the Shaolin Chin kang fist and the Wu-Tang Sword style.

Reader's Guide

To understand the specific influences on the group's debut album Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers), one must track the film's English dub samples used in its production. The group includes GZA, who joined shortly after RZA and Ol' Dirty Bastard saw the film. Later, rapper Logic sampled the film in his song "Wu Tang Forever" from his YSIV album, a track that featured all Wu-Tang members living at the time of release. The visual and thematic elements are rooted in the specific actors: Gordon Liu as Hung Jun-kit (later Tat-chi), Adam Cheng as Chao Fung-wu (later Ming-kai), Idy Chan as Yang-Lin (Jun-kit's sister), Johnny Wang as the Qing Lord, Li Ching as Yue Lam (the spy), and Han Chiang and Kwan Hoi-san as Master Liu and Master Law respectively.

Did You Know?

• The group saw the film in a grindhouse cinema on Manhattan's 42nd Street in 1992.
• RZA has frequently cited The 36th Chamber of Shaolin as his favorite and most influential film, not Shaolin and Wu Tang.
• The album name Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) is an amalgamation of three specific movies: Enter the Dragon, Shaolin and Wu Tang, and The 36th Chamber of Shaolin.
• In the film's climax, the Qing Lord does not admit his role in Master Law's death after being poisoned by him; that plot point is invented.
• The character Chao Fung-wu is also known as Ming-kai when he represents the school at the final contest.