Star Child
When people think of Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), they think of the final scene where the protagonist devolves into old age before he evolves into the star child. When fans think of the rock band Kiss, they think of frontman Paul Stanley being known as the star child. In Hong Kong, there is a superstar who is technically known as the star child. His Cantonese name is Sing Jai, which translates to Star Child. His Chinese name is Chow Sing-Chi, but he is known among Westerners as Stephen Chow. It’s fitting, then, that his last film as an actor is about a boy who befriends a small alien. CJ7 (2008) is the Hong Kong equivalent to E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) but this article isn’t about that.
There is a Chinese book about Stephen Chow written by a woman named Cheng Bei under her pseudonym: Orange Blossom. Like many books about celebrities, the most depth comes from the early years. I don’t want to undermine her sales by telling you everything, but here are some salient points to satiate your interest. Like Donnie Yen, there were times when Stephen Chow was raised by his grandmother due to how busy that his mother was. As a child, Stephen loved to observe the crowds of people walking on Temple Street in Hong Kong. Temple Street is a working-class district of Kowloon. It has a night market including prostitution. Decades later, this district became the main location for Stephen’s 1996 directorial feature: The God of Cookery.
Because Stephen Chow loved swimming, his first wish in life was to be a lifeguard. In October 1971, he was 9 years old when his mother took him and his sisters to watch Bruce Lee’s The Big Boss. The movie made Stephen cry yet it incited energy in him. Whenever there were published reports on Bruce, Stephen would read and collect them. His mother had to support a family of four, so she didn’t have enough money for him to buy weekly movie tickets. He still got opportunities to watch movies because his mother was familiar with the cinema staff. As the years went by, Stephen would work part-time every summer and winter vacation to support his family, and the remaining money would be used to buy comic books, Bruce Lee memorabilia and movie tickets.
Bruce made Stephen Chow want to be a martial artist. He fantasized about fighting all over the world, so he begged his mother to buy him a hanging sandbag. Whenever he had time to spare, he would go to an empty place to imitate Bruce’s signature moves and war cries. When Fist of Fury came out in March 1972, Stephen was moved by the scene where Bruce’s character goes to the entrance of a Shanghai park and is mortified upon seeing a wooden placard that states no dogs and Chinese are allowed to enter. The scene ends with Bruce leaping to kick it off the wall before kicking it again to smash it into smithereens. One day at school, Stephen saw a wooden sign hanging at the door of the classroom and thought that he finally had a chance to show off his strengths in front of his classmates.
Stephen Chow didn’t think there was anything wrong with his actions at the time, but he was punished by the school teacher for destroying public property. This setback did not make him give up. He found a new way to prove himself. He approached the school’s principal and asked if he could open a class in the school to recruit apprentices for the purpose of Kung Fu instruction. At that time, Stephen naively believed that his Kung Fu had reached a certain level, and that probably no kid of the same age in the world was as good as him in Kung Fu. The principal just looked at him silently for a long time, and finally let him go out. In spite of this, Stephen’s admiration for Bruce Lee continued unabated, and his desire to learn Kung Fu also grew, so his mother used some of her money to pay for his tuition.
He studied Wing Chun under Bruce’s teacher, Wong Shun-Leung. At that time, the tuition fee was HK$ 100 per month. This made Stephen reluctant to continue after three months, but that quarter of a year was the happiest time of his childhood. From Siu Nim Tau (i.e. “small ideas”) to Chi Sao (a.k.a. sticking hands), he made rapid progress and often competed with his fellow disciples. Although he was unable to continue his studies at the Wing Chun school, he refused to give up. Whenever he had time, he would go to a nearby park to practice. In addition to imitating Bruce Lee’s screen fighting, he would also borrow some martial arts books from his friends and tried to learn Tai Chi, Western boxing, Iron Sand Palm and Qigong all by himself.
Stephen put all his energy into practicing Kung Fu. There was a water tank that could support the weight of a child. According to the most popular method of learning Qigong, Stephen walked on the edge of a large water tank filled with water and then gradually opened the tank as he walked. Then he would scoop out the water. If the water in the tank is gone and you can continue to walk on the edge of the tank then you have mastered Qigong. As for practicing Iron Sand Palm, his hand needed to be inserted into a pot of mung beans for a long time as the temperature increased, thus the speed of his inserts also accelerated. He only dared to practice with his right hand, thinking that if something unexpected happened then he would at least be able to use his best hand. It wasn’t until one day that his right hand became as rough as an old man’s that his mother discovered it and ordered him to stop.
July 1973 was the most painful period in Stephen Chow’s youth because Bruce Lee died. Stephen had turned 11 years old in the previous month. Later, Stephen would become obsessed with movie star Jimmy Wang Yu, not only because of his fight scenes but also because he resembled Stephen’s father (especially when Jimmy wore glasses). As time went by, Bruce Lee was still number one in Stephen’s eyes. When Stephen initially attempted to become an actor, he thought about Bruce’s setbacks in the United States. When Stephen was in middle school, he befriended future actor Tony Leung Chiu-Wai. The latter is also a Bruce Lee fan, and both boys actually saw Bruce’s sixties U.S. TV series (The Green Hornet) in a Hong Kong cinema.
