Yim Jan Dung (Chinese: 严振东, Yǎn Zhèndōng) was the secondary antagonist in the 1991 Hong Kong martial arts film Once Upon a Time in China. He was an unknown martial artist in Shandong province, and as a result was living in poverty, he tried to build his reputation to live up to it.
He is played by Yen Shi-kwan, who also played Hin Hung in Iron Monkey.
Biography[]
Yim performs his "Iron Vest” show on a rainy street, but only in exchange for some money.
Later, Yim began to learn from other schools in Foshan to open his school. He defeated and killed the master of Yue swordsmanship, thus making an exiled opera troupe member, Leung Foon, his apprentice. Yim and Foon then finds Fei-hung and challenges him. After a battle, Yim defeats him through Fei-hung's distraction and destroys the sign before leaving with Foon.
Yim and Foon agreed that Fei-hung would challenge him again and turn to the Shaho Gang. Yim was performing martial arts in the Gang for his new apprentice, but Foon dissuaded him because he couldn't accept fees from unknown sources, nor does it accept Yim's renunciation of humanity for the sake of "Building a reputation”. Foon then leaves. After Foon beat up the Shaho Gang Leader, Yim caught Foon trying to escape.
Fei-hung managed to get into Shaho Gang's territory and fought Yim again. However, during the fight in the warehouse, several Shaho thugs arrived to shoot Fei Hung using their flintlock pistols. At first, Yim chased after Fei-Hung who was chasing after thugs, but then stops and watches Fei-Hung and two of his disciples fight and scare the thugs off. After Fei-Hung orders his disciples to go after the thugs, Yim and Fei-Hung then resume the fight. However, during the fight, Yim was revealed to be cheating as he had a spearhead tied to the end of his queue. This caused Fei-Hung to question if this was his idea of opening his own martial arts studio, only for Yim to tell him "The world is full of surprises. Must take extreme precautions." As the fight continues, Fei-Hung gains the upper hand where he dislocates one of Yim's arms and uses Yim's spearhead to tear off Yim's queue, before kicking him onto a table. Yim, who was trying to continue the fight with Fei-hung, was eventually hit by bullets as he tried to dodge the American forces outside. He died after lamenting to Fei-hung that martial arts could not fight guns.
Mention[]
In the case of Once Upon a Time in China and America, Fei-hung's apprentice Kwai Geuk-chai disguised himself as Yim in order to awaken his amnesiac master and used Yim's kung fu to fight him.
Trivia[]
- Up until Yim's battle with Wong Fei-hung in the warehouse, his queue can be seen wrapped around his neck. This is a subtle hint that he has a spearhead holding the queue in place.
- His match against Fei-Hung in the warehouse not only serves as a call back to his battle against the swordsman, but also foreshadows Yim's death:
- One opponent uses a blade-like weapon against an unarmed opponent (Yim fights his sword-wielding opponent with only his hands and feet, while Yim uses a spearhead to fight Fei Hung). This is to hint who was going to lose the match and later die.
- The blade-wielding opponent tries to cheat only to fail in the battle and get defeated in battle.
- Yim used a rolling attack and a handstand kick against the swordsman and Fei-Hung in the warehouse. Unlike the swordsman, Fei-Hung counters these attacks. This is meant to show that Fei-hung was able to overcome and adapt quickly unlike the swordsman.
- Both involve getting their queue torn off using their own weapons. The swordsman tears his own queue when it was grabbed by Yim. While Yim grabs Fei-Hung's queue, Fei-Hung quickly does a backflip and kicks Yim in the back and then tears Yim's queue off before defeating him.
- Another form of foreshadow of his death also involves guns:
- Note that when Fei-Hung fights the gun-wielding thugs, Yim stops to witness the fight. It's likely that he was waiting for the thugs to shoot Fei-Hung dead and stays out of the crossfire. Also Fei-Hung quickly takes cover, unlike Yim, who was watching the battle out in the open.
- During the match, several thugs try to shoot Fei-Hung multiple times forcing Fei-Hung to take cover. This is to foreshadow later on in the scene when several American soldiers shoot at Fei-Hung, he takes cover while Yim, who demanded to resume the fight, charges out into the open and gets killed.