Bringing Chinese martial arts to the world stage, Bruce Lee pioneered the trend of kung fu films in the 1970s. Following Bruce’s death, kung fu continued to thrive in pop culture throughout the 1990s and the 2000s, with Jackie Chan, Jet Li, Donnie Yen dominating the genre. This period was practically the golden age of kung fu films, as these stars crossed borders and became international superstars.

　　提到将中国传统武术文化传到世界舞台的领军人物，李小龙可谓是上个世纪70年代武打电影领域的先驱人士。随着李小龙的去世，中国功夫在20世纪90年代和21世纪初作为流行文化繁荣发展了一段时间，这段时期主要以成龙、李连杰和甄子丹等武打明星为首，他们不仅走出了国门，还走向了世界，成为国际巨星。就这样，中国武术文化在该阶段迎来了黄金时期。

　　Jackie Chan, Jet Li, and Donnie Yen Become International Stars

　　成龙、李连杰和甄子丹的国际巨星之路

　　Each of these three stars also managed to develop their individual, unique styles over the years. Jackie is known for mixing his martial arts scenes with humor, a formula which he carried in his Hollywood career.

　　成龙、李连杰和甄子丹三位明星各成一派，发展了自己独特的动作风格。成龙十分擅长将武打动作喜剧化，为观众带来视觉冲击的同时也增添了幽默滑稽感，他在后期自己很多的好莱坞电影中也一直沿用此风格。

　　As for Jet, he is known for his technical excellence, having won the national martial arts competition in China for five consecutive years. Starring as the folk hero Wong Fei Hung in a series of films, Jet’s beautifully orchestrated fight scenes sparked off a martial arts craze.

　　李连杰则凭借自己标准且精彩的武术动作享誉世界，他曾连续五年获得全国武术比赛冠军。作为黄飞鸿系列电影的主角人物——黄飞鸿的饰演者，李连杰在影片中无比精彩的打斗场景曾经掀起一阵全民学习武术的狂潮。

　　Donnie followed in the footsteps of Jackie and Jet, and popularized the mixed martial arts style. His iconic role as Ip Man allowed his popularity to rise exponentially internationally. Currently, Donnie commands $10 million USD for an appearance in a Hollywood film.

　　甄子丹则沿袭了成龙和李连杰的风格，凭借混搭式的武术风格受到大众喜爱。他所饰演的经典角色叶问则令自己在国际上一举成名。现如今，甄子丹出演好莱坞影片的片酬可达到一千万美元。

　　Rise of Vincent Chiu and Wu Jing

　　赵文卓和吴京的崛起

　　Following Jackie, Jet and Donnie, the other two prominent martial arts stars are Vincent Zhao and Wu Jing. Having achieved some degree of success in the Chinese market, Vincent is now planning to break into Hollywood and has already embarked on training in the United States.

　　继成龙、李连杰和甄子丹之后，另外两位武打界的新星赵文卓和吴京则慢慢崛起。作为在国内已经取得些许成就的武打明星，赵文卓已经开始在美国进行训练，准备进军好莱坞。

　　Despite being Jet’s junior at the same martial arts school, Wu Jing’s career started off promising, but has become stagnant.Wu Jing acknowledged the fact and hoped to have a career breakthrough with his new 3D film,Wolf Warriors. Now he makes it.

　　作为和李连杰师出同门的师弟，吴京的事业起步虽然算是顺利，但曾一度陷入困境。吴京也承认这一现实，并曾表示希望通过自己的新3D电影《战狼》一鼓作气扭转颓势。现在看来，他真的做到了。

　　No Successors

　　尴尬!武打界后继无人?

　　Many worry that Chinese martial arts is slowly losing its influence in pop culture, with few successors in sight. Wu Jing once expressed that today’s martial arts stars lack training and require more time and experience to truly mature.

　　很多人都担心中国的武术文化会因为后继无人而在流行文化的大染缸中逐渐丧失自己的地位和影响力。吴京曾经表示现如今很多武打明星都缺乏真正的专业训练，他们需要更多的时间去磨炼自己，以成为真正的武术界高手。

　　Martial arts continue to be featured in the contemporary Chinese entertainment market, with popular films such as Rise of the Legend, which stars Eddie Peng. While the new generation of “martial arts” stars have a less extensive kung fu background compared to those of yesteryear, they train hard to prepare for their roles.

　　随着彭于晏主演的《黄飞鸿之英雄有梦》等电影的兴起，武打电影似乎进入了中国现如今的娱乐市场。尽管新一代的武打明星和过去几代的前辈明星在底子和功夫本身方面都有较大差距，但他们在出演角色之前也专门经受了严酷的培训。

　　Furthermore, today’s film audiences no longer prefer films that solely emphasize the martial arts craft and have a preference for films that contain both thrilling action scenes and special effects. In his more recent films, Jackie often embeds humor in his action scenes. There is perhaps no need for today’s martial arts stars to focus too much on the technical craft, as long as they personify the spirit behind martial arts.

　　更重要的是，现如今的电影观众群体再也不单单关注以武打为主的电影，更多是在追求激动人心的动作场景的同时也将目光放在炫酷的特效之上。在最近的一部电影中，成龙在很多动作场景中加入了很多幽默元素。现如今，武打明星或许不用将过多精力放在武打的技术层面，只要他们将武术背后的精神诠释出来就可以了。