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Once Upon a Time in China: Though generally unknown to Western audiences, Tsui Hark is considered a giant among Asian filmmakers and this exceptional epic, combining hard-hitting martial-arts action with romance, comedy, history, genuine poignance, and sharp insight into the effects of the century-long encroachment of Western civilization in Asia more than amply demonstrates why. The story centers on the exploits of Master Wong Fei-hung (a familiar figure in Hong Kong cinema) a 19th-century doctor, Confucian, and exceptional martial artist. As the film begins, he has just opened a new clinic in Canton Province. To help him with patients, he hires a few apprentices including Porky Lang (the comic relief) and Buck Teeth Sol, who was raised outside China and barely can speak the language. Wong is platonically involved with the lovely, worldly Aunt Yee, who has been abroad most of her life. Wong soon gets in trouble when he begins using his skills to protect and assist the poor and helpless in his community. As a result, someone torches his clinic, forcing Wong and his compadres to set off and get spectacularly staged revenge. They also try vainly to stop Western culture from changing traditional Chinese ways, but they soon find that they may as well be shoveling sand against a rising tide. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Once Upon a Time in China II: It is 1895 in Canton, China. The Europeans are still milking the country for every dollar they can and claiming special privileges in it, as well. Meanwhile, the virulently anti-foreign White Lotus Society is mounting attacks on the generally clueless British, with the very obvious but low-key support of the government. If somebody doesnt protect the idiotic foreigners, things could get so far out of hand that they will bring in their armies for some really debilitating reprisals. This is all going on just at a time when China has some other serious problems, like the democratic agitations of Sun Yat Sen and the imperialist inroads of the Japanese, who have just stolen Taiwan from China. Fortunately, Wong Fey Hong (Jet Li) is a crafty and effective man and a wonderfully skilled martial artist. He is prepared to do what he can to protect the widely resented foreigners for reasons which are quintessentially Chinese. This is the second of four martial arts historical epics, all with the same basic title. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide Once Upon a Time in China III: In this, the third of what has become a long series of films, Doctor Wong Fei-Hung (Jet Li), a master of the martial arts, defender of the poor, upholder of tradition and a Confucian scholar (in addition to being a medical man) is visiting Beijing during a competition designed to determine what group has the best Lion King dancers. The doctors father, a member of the Cantonese Association in town, is well known for his ability to turn out the best Lion King, and the many criminal gangs of the city, usually embroiled in rivalry against one another, are of one mind when it comes to wanting to eliminate the threat that this outsider will win. However, they had not counted on the intervention of the good doctor and his helpers. Simultaneously, the doctor foils several nefarious plots against the government - one of which has gotten his lady-love, Aunt Yee (Rosamund Kwan) involved. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide