Tag Archives: cheesy fun

The Legend of Kung Fu again: video of the curtain call performance… the actual show is 100 times better

From the curtain calls it is easy to see that why Chinese consider this show to be strictly for tourists: cheesy, gaudy, and full of Kung Fu cliches. But it is the same with all the Kung Fu (and Wuxia) movies that we love. So why not just admit that I thoroughly enjoyed this show? There is no shame in this…

The Legend of Kung Fu at Red Theatre. Turns out they are such a well-organized attraction that they have a nice website with preview clips.

FWIW, uploaded the curtain calls I videotaped as a proof that I was there…

The Legend of Kung Fu: cheesy, cliché yet awesome. Like all best scenes from all kung fu movies condensed into 1.5 hours awesomeness

It is 1.5 hour of sheer awesomeness if you love this kind of stuff. To say the least, these folks have a lot of years of training and practice under their belt.

AND, the narration (there is a storyline) is done in ENGLISH. Yes, English, with Chinese captions. At first, the abrupt switch to English gave me pause about the tourist-trap nature of the show, but the excellent combination of acrobatics, ballet, and various styles of Chinese kung fu (really) and martial arts won me over. Although they could have done without the red lanterns in the theatre, I am definitely a fan.

If you are in Beijing, and you don’t mind some Las Vegas show biz, esp. if you are traveling with boys (and men who are boys at heart), then you have to check this show out. The Red Theatre where this show is on every day of the week is in the same area of the Temple of Heaven, so plan your day accordingly.

This picture was taken during curtain call.

since we were rule-abiding people and did not take pictures when the show was on.