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Good news! Two new Kung Fu movies are coming this summer: “Kung Fu Panda”, and “The Forbidden Kingdom”. Kung Fu Panda is an animated comedy film by DreamWorks, featuring Jack Black as the leading voice actor. The Forbidden Kingdom is a mythical adventure movie about a Boston boy who teleports to ancient China through a mysterious force and meets — guess who? — the Monkey King! For Jackie Chan and Jet Li fans, the movie is a must-see, because this is the first collaboration of the two actors.

Many Hollywood movies incorporate kung fu elements in them, including The Matrix, Kill Bill, and movies made by Jackie Chan and Jet Li for Hollywood. In the case of Kung Fu Panda and The Forbidden Kingdom, the stories are even set in China. Despite this, they are not typical kung fu movies. Yet, kung fu movie, as a genre, probably cannot be narrowly defined. It has been evolving and changing since its beginnings.

I know little about kung fu movies prior to the ’80s. Of course I know Bruce Lee and really liked some of his movies. Compared to later generations, I have to say the actions in old movies are much slower. Jackie Chan changed kung fu movies with his action comedies, which are often set in modern times. He is fast, strong and astonishingly flexible. Every ordinary place can become a battlefield for him. Everything in his hands can become a weapon. Chan’s sense of humor and popularity has transformed him into a cultural icon. Regardless of their age, fans in Hong Kong call him “big brother”.

While Jackie Chan is a trained kung fu master, not everyone can act like him. The film industry changed kung fu when it incorporated wired acrobatic technique into filmmaking. When the wire technique was combined with wide-angle camera and quick montage, filmmakers created a new and wild visual effect. It seemed very real. Actually it’s better and cooler than real! People could fly, and fight in a seemingly impossible way, as if gravity didn’t exist. The most successful ones from this period were Swordsman 2, and New Dragon Gate Inn, a remake of classic Dragon Gate Inn.

Moviegoers loved this new creation. But it rendered a new problem to actors. Their kung fu skills became more and more irrelevant, because everyone could instantly act like a master. Moreover, the market for kung fu movies had cooled down. Jackie Chan and Jet Li moved to Hollywood, leaving a vacuum in the Chinese film industry. Many don’t realize its profound consequence. To me, I see a gap between kung fu superstars. Bruce Lee was born in 1940, Jackie Chan in 1954, while Jet Li in 1963. Every decade has its own superstar. But this cycle was broken. In the nineties, there were notable efforts to create a new and younger superstar, though the industry failed in doing so because of the change in the market’s landscape. Will there be any more kung fu superstars? I hope so.

New opportunities in kung fu movies appeared from an unexpected director, Ang Lee (Sense and Sensibility, Brokeback Mountain). In many respects, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon was a strange movie. It was written, directed and performed by Chinese, but it was produced by Hollywood and targeted to the American market. Despite its success in the U.S., the movie received only a lukewarm response in China. Only many years later, I could imagine how much the movie inspired other Chinese filmmakers. Their conclusions seemed to be that Chinese film industry could operate like Hollywood, and kung fu was the key to entering the American market.

Zhang Yimou made “Hero” in 2002. And everything changed.

This was yet another surprise from an unlikely director. Zhang Yimou was not a commercial director at all. He made art films and was a frequent winner of different European film awards. With Hero, he defined an aesthetic standard. Equally importantly, he copied Hollywood business modes. Yes, it’s about money. Build an all-star cast from different regions, be it Hong Kong, Taiwan, Korea, or Japan. This will guarantee a movie’s success in overseas markets. Invest heavily in filmmaking and marketing alike. Big budget makes it possible for directors to pursue their perfectness, and generate lucrative profits. In this decade, we’re witnessing a wave of ever higher budgeted movies from the Chinese film industry. Some failed miserably; some won applause. Fairly speaking, they’re making good progress and have attracted more people back to the theatre.

Kung Fu Panda and The Forbidden Kingdom both promise to be good choices for summertime entertainment. Back in the Chinese market, this year will be dominated by war movies. The most anticipated one is Red Cliff, directed by John Woo. Its cost has approached US$100 million. I hope it is worth the money, and I am ready to feel the trembling.

In January, four Chinese automakers showed up at Detroit’s International Auto Show: BYD, Geely, Changfeng, and ZX. This was not the first time that Chinese companies came to the show. But this year I saw more reports in the media about their presence, probably due to their improved quality and design, as well as rising concerns on China-U.S. trade issues.

It’s very clear that you won’t see Chinese cars in America this year. But it’s equally clear that their arrivals are inevitable and more competitions in the auto market will benefit consumers.

China’s auto industry is a fast growing sector. China produced 2 million cars in 2001. In 2007, the figure leaped to 9 million, only trailing the U.S. and Japan. During this progress, several local companies have emerged as promising players. I will briefly introduce three of them.

Chery
Chery is the largest homegrown auto company. Unlike giant Shanghai Auto and First Auto that make cars under foreign brands, Chery developed its own business model. In many respects, Chery is still a low-technology company. They outsource many design jobs to Europe. But over years, they have accumulated experience managing the entire car-making process, and have established their own brand. Last year, Chery signed a cooperation contract with Chrysler to design and build small Dodge-branded cars that target overseas markets. The contract was perceived as a confidence vote from a major auto company on Chery’s quality control.

Chery is a good example of how to succeed in the age of globalization. Consumers don’t care in which country a product is designed, manufactured, assembled, and where its components come from. What is important are the expertise and available resources tapped right. Chery has demonstrated the ability to incorporate these resources to meet customers’ needs.

BYD
Even among Chinese car companies, BYD is one of the youngest. BYD is a dominating manufacturer in global battery market. 72% of cell phone batteries are made by this company. The profit from their core business enabled them to expand to the auto industry in 2003. And their strength directly stems from their battery technology.

In the Detroit show, BYD attracted a lot of attentions with their plug-in hybrid car. The power system of a hybrid car consists of a gas engine, an electric engine, and a battery that supports the electric engine. Today’s hybrid car charges the battery by the gas engine and the momentum of the car itself. But a plug-in hybrid can be charged directly by home electricity. You can park your car in your garage, plug it in, and it will be fully charged for you the next day. It is even more energy efficient.

BYD developed a new kind of battery called ferrous battery, different from the lithium batteries widely used today. The technology boosts the performance of BYD’s hybrid cars. Their plan is to commercialize this technology this summer. If they succeed, this will be the first car of its kind in the world, at least two years ahead of Toyota and GM, who both announced their plans to introduce plug-in hybrids in 2010.

Brilliance
Brilliance is among the few high end Chinese brands. They initially built their high quality image through a joint venture with BMW. They make BMW cars for the Chinese market, and their own brand designs are significantly influenced by BMW. Even though some Chinese companies are accused of stealing ideas from established brands, it never happened to Brilliance. I like their style very much and personally think they build the best looking Chinese cars. I, myself, will seriously consider owning a Brilliance when they become available in the U.S. As of today, Americans may think it’s a bizarre idea to buy a Chinese car. But I believe when consumers see a real car in the showroom, or even have a test drive, that idea will become tangible.

So that begs the question: when will we see Chinese cars in America? They have been selling in the Middle East, North Africa, Russia, and Europe. But it will still take years for Chinese companies to get ready for the U.S. The U.S. auto market is the most competitive market in the world, and is likely the last country for the Chinese to work on. But according to some news, a small company called Zhongxing (or ZX) will start selling SUVs and pickups as early as 2009. Most Chinese companies don’t have marketing channels in the U.S., but ZX has a North American distributor CHAMCO. This might be their unique advantage to become the first Chinese car in the U.S. Will they succeed? We’ll need a little patience to wait and see.