Legendary Weapons of China

Legendary Weapons of China (Chinese: 十八般武藝; pinyin: shí bā bān wǔ yì; Jyutping: sap6 baat3 bun1 mou5 ngai6, lit. 'Eighteen Ways, Three Skills'; a.k.a. Legendary Weapons of Kung Fu) is a 1982 martial arts wuxia film or wuxia pian directed by Liu Chia-liang. It takes place during the late Qing Dynasty when Empress Dowager Cixi dispatches her agents to various factions of the Boxer Rebellion in order to find supernatural martial artists that are invulnerable to western bullets. When one of the leaders of these groups disbands his forces, assassins from the remaining factions are sent out to kill him for his apparent treason. As the title of the film suggests, a great variety of fights take place involving the "legendary weapons."

Although Liu Chia-liang is known for showing "real Kung-Fu" in his films, he does take some artistic license by incorporating elements of Taoist Maoshan folk magic with hand-to-hand combat. This is similar to what he did in another of film of his, Heroes of the East (or "Challenge of the Ninja").