Jumping
Just curious as to where the ability to jump 20 feet in the air came from. Does anyone know the origins of this?
They used not particularly well hidden trampolines.
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MovieChat Forums > Xia nü (1971) Discussion > Jumping
The ability is called "Qing Gong". More information may be found here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qing_gong
It's qinggong ('lightening practice' -- not quite "flying"), the fictional ability of well-trained Xia to travel short distances and jump from and to significant heights, common in wuxia fiction -- novels, films and TV series. Very common in Star Wars, too.
Much like Star Wars fans are extremely familiar with and simply suspend disbelief at similar abilities by Jedi, wuxia fans do the same when it comes to Xia. Along with swords and gongfu, a wuxia film would not be 'complete' without qinggong. 'Xia Nu' is an old classic. Back then, they used trampolines to make films for this genre. Today they rely more on wires and CGI. But depending on the author or filmmaker interpretation, it's the very same ability.
Ziyi.Org
I think its safe to say that Star Wars Jedi were at least partially inspired by movies like this. Calm monk-like warriors in robes who use swords and display extreme athletic ability?
shareThe first Eastern or Wuxia movie to feature jumping fighters was made in 1969 - Bao Biao (Have Sword, Will Travel) by the Shaw Brothers, in this movie they are almost flying around, (not exaggerated and cheesy like in the 70s or 80s) jumping over walls or kill enemies in the air and the fights are epic, badass and very very gory, sadly not many Eastern-fans know it.
These movies are the grandfathers of Dragon Ball Z.