--- title: "Once Upon a Time in China" year: 1991 kind: "film" canonical: "https://film.one/film/once-upon-a-time-in-china" fi1m_id: "once-upon-a-time-in-china" imdb_id: "tt0103285" tmdb_id: 10617 wikidata_id: "Q947446" fi1m_score: 81 critics_score: 71 critics_reviews: 4 published: "2026-09-26T02:12:03.401137+00:00" updated: "2026-09-26T02:12:32.719937+00:00" region: "SI" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Once Upon a Time in China (1991) Directed by Tsui Hark · 2h 13m · Action, Drama ## Identity Once Upon a Time in China - **Canonical:** https://film.one/film/once-upon-a-time-in-china - **Type:** Film - **Fi1m ID:** once-upon-a-time-in-china - **IMDb ID:** tt0103285 - **TMDB ID:** 10617 - **Wikidata ID:** Q947446 - **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103285/, https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/10617, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q947446 **Fi1m score: 81** · Critics 71 (early) from 4 reviews *In a sentence:* Jet Li fights off a gang, a rival, two empires and his own feelings for his aunt, in that order of difficulty > Tsui Hark remakes the folk hero Wong Fei Hung as a doctor who would rather not fight, and Jet Li plays him with a rare stillness. The comedy is broad and the middle sags, but the fights are as good as the genre gets. ## Synopsis Foshan, in the last years of the Qing dynasty. Foreign gunboats sit in the harbour and an American company signs up labourers for the gold fields. Wong Fei Hung (Jet Li), a doctor running the Po Chi Lam clinic, takes charge of the town militia. His pupils include Porky Wing (Kent Cheng Jak-Si) and Buck Teeth So (Jacky Cheung). 13th Aunt (Rosamund Kwan) returns from abroad with a camera and an interest in Wong he does not know how to return. Leung Foon (Yuen Biao), a theatre performer, wants Wong as a teacher. The Shaho gang runs extortion on the streets while Wong tries to keep his clinic and pupils out of trouble. ## Review Tsui Hark puts Wong Fei Hung in Foshan in the last years of the Qing dynasty, with foreign gunboats in the harbour and an American company signing labourers up for the gold fields. Wong (Jet Li) runs a clinic, drills the local militia and wants nothing more than to be left alone to do both. The script, by Tsui Hark with Edward Leung Yiu-Ming, Elsa Tang Bik-Yin and Yuen Kai-Chi, does not leave him alone for a minute. Li is the reason it works. He plays Wong as the slowest man in a town where everybody else is running, hands folded behind his back, a small frown for each new absurdity. When he does move, Tsui Hark and editor Marco Mak show the kick twice from two angles, then cut back to Li standing perfectly still as if nothing had happened. His courtship of 13th Aunt (Rosamund Kwan) is done in glances and gifts: she measures him for a Western suit, photographs him with a box camera, and he has no idea what to do with either. Kwan plays her as the one person in Foshan who has seen the future and is not frightened of it. Five cinematographers are credited: Bill Wong Chung-Piu, Arthur Wong Ngok-Tai, Wilson Chan Pui-Ka, David Chung and Ardy Lam. The palette holds: dust in shafts of light, rain on the docks, red lanterns, and the militia drilling on a beach at dawn against a red sky while James Wong’s theme rises under them. Romeo Diaz and James Wong give the fights drums and give everything else that theme, and they reach for it at least twice too often. The theatre fight, up among the ropes and rafters with Leung Foon (Yuen Biao) swinging through the middle of it, shows the method. Tsui Hark shoots the building, and the fighters have to use it. The comedy is where it hurts. Buck Teeth So (Jacky Cheung), home from America with better English than Cantonese, is a single joke told for two hours. The Westerners are cardboard, the trader and the missionary who interprets for him about as subtle as the cannon they stand beside. The middle stretch is a lot of people running between the clinic, the governor’s office and the docks, and Mak cannot quite keep the competing plots moving. At 133 minutes, it asks for patience between fights. Then there is Iron Robe Yim Chun Tung (Yen Shi-Kwan), a wandering master who arrives in Foshan starving and is taken up by the Shaho gang as a sideshow. He moved us more than the hero did. There is a scene of him eating, alone, after a fight, and Yen plays it without a word. His hunger gives the film’s concerns about sovereignty and cultural identity a human consequence that the speeches struggle to match. Against Tsui Hark’s own record, *Peking Opera Blues* (1986) is quicker and funnier. Here he makes a kung fu film angry about history without forgetting the pleasure of watching people fight. Yuen Biao is given a theatre boy who wants a teacher and is then rather forgotten about, which is a waste. The fights are inventive enough to earn our patience, and Li’s composure gives the film someone worth following through the muddle. See it with subtitles rather than a dub, and forgive it the middle. *Fi1m score 81, published 26 September 2026.* ## Straight answers **Is Once Upon a Time in China worth watching?** *Once Upon a Time in China* is worth watching for its inventive kung fu fights and Jet Li’s quietly commanding performance; we score it 81 out of 100. We recommend it to martial arts enthusiasts who can forgive broad comedy and a sagging middle, with the 133-minute running time asking for patience between fights. **How long is Once Upon a Time in China, and what is it rated?** *Once Upon a Time in China* runs 2h 13m. It is an action and drama film. **Where can I watch Once Upon a Time in China in Slovenia?** *Once Upon a Time in China* is not on any streaming or rental service in Slovenia at the moment. It is available in 3 other countries; change your country at the top of the page to see where. Availability is checked daily. **How violent or frightening is Once Upon a Time in China, and is it suitable for children?** *Once Upon a Time in China* has a US R certificate and features repeated martial arts fights, so we would not recommend it for young children. No UK certificate is supplied; the American rating indicates restricted viewing for under-17s without an accompanying parent or adult guardian, rather than family entertainment. ### Reviews we read (4) - **Los Angeles Times**, Kevin Thomas (85/100, inferred): Thomas regards the film as lively, inventive entertainment with complex ideas about sovereignty and cultural identity. He particularly praises Tsui Hark’s visual panache in bringing the comic-book adventures to life. [Read](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-04-09-ca-20795-story.html) - **Time Out**, TR (70/100, inferred): The review presents the film as Tsui Hark’s most impressive effort in revisiting Hong Kong stories and heroes. It singles out his use of childhood memories as the source of that achievement. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/once-upon-a-time-in-china) - **The AV Club**, Keith Phipps (65/100, inferred): Phipps finds the film uneven but ultimately rewarding, with Jet Li’s performance helping carry its weaker stretches. He especially praises Tsui Hark’s balletic action, singling out the climactic battle as exceptional. [Read](https://www.avclub.com/once-upon-a-time-in-china-1798197093) - **The New York Times** (64/100, inferred): The page could not be accessed, so its critical verdict is unavailable. No specific praise or criticism can be verified from the returned text. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/1992/05/21/movies/review-film-kung-fu-and-social-satire-in-a-martial-arts-fantasy.html) ## Details - **Director:** Tsui Hark - **Director:** Tsui Hark - **Writer:** Edward Leung Yiu-Ming, Elsa Tang Bik-Yin, Tsui Hark, Yuen Kai-Chi - **Cinematography:** Arthur Wong Ngok-Tai, Ardy Lam, Wilson Chan Pui-Ka, David Chung, Bill Wong Chung-Piu - **Editor:** Marco Mak - **Music:** Romeo Diaz, James Wong - **Producer:** Tsui Hark, Raymond Chow - **Cast:** Jet Li as Wong Fei Hung; Yuen Biao as Leung Foon; Jacky Cheung as Buck Teeth So; Rosamund Kwan as 13th Aunt; Kent Cheng Jak-Si as Porky Wing; Yuen Gam-Fai as Ling Wan Kai; Yen Shi-Kwan as Iron Robe Yim Chun Tung; Lau Shun as Naval Commander Lau - **Runtime:** 2h 13m - **First release (Brazil):** 15 August 1991 - **Genres:** Action, Drama - **Box office:** $4 million - **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x95gXieo3f0 ## Where to watch in Slovenia Not streaming, renting or buying in Slovenia at the last check. Also available in: IT, SE, US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country. ## If you liked this - *Once Upon a Time in China II* (1992): The sequel is tighter, angrier, and adds Donnie Yen as a worthy opponent. - *Drunken Master* (1978): Jackie Chan’s Wong Fei Hung is a brat; expect comedy and bruises. - *Peking Opera Blues* (1986): Tsui Hark at his fastest, three women and a republic in a theatre. - *Fist of Legend* (1994): Jet Li again, with a sterner manner and fights that prize physical precision. - *The Grandmaster* (2013): Wong Kar-wai slows the martial arts film down to rain, smoke and regret. --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/once-upon-a-time-in-china