The Alignment Game — Lawful Good: Wong Fie Hung as Seen In Once Upon a Time In China

The “Once Upon a Time In China” part is important. According to Wikipedia: “Wong Fei-hung (July 9, 1847-May 24, 1924)[2] was a Chinese martial artist, a traditional Chinese medicine physician, acupuncturist and revolutionary . . . ” a revolutionary does not a lawful person make. However, Jet Li’s rendition of him in Once Upon a Time In China paints Wong Fie Hung as a man who is a righteous defender of order; in my opinion he’s ‘the Chinese answer to Captain America.’

We need to go back in time and freeze this man in ice so he can battle Dr. Doom

The Lawful Part

In Once Upon a Time In China Wong Fie Hung, a doctor of both medicine and the exquisite art of kicking your ass, is entrusted to train the young men of his city how to fight off the greedy foreign devils. Being a glowing beacon of everything that is good Wong Fie Hung agrees. However, the evil Shaho gang and the foreigners are up to shenanigans. They cause shit, Wong Fie Hung has to put it down. In the process there is a slight altercation with the guards. When the Governor has Wong Fie Hung arrested his followers ask him not to go. He glances at them like their idiots and declares something along the lines of “China is a land of laws!” and lets himself get arrested.

Later, while he’s in jail, he’s told the woman loves is about to be sold as a sex slave to the Americans.

Now at this point even Superman would be like:

Fuck this shit.

Not Wong Fie Hung. He stayed put; it sucked but it’s the law and there is no “Wong Fie Hung” in the word hypocrite. At this stage the guards decided to let him go because the vileness of the sex slave trade outweighed the slim benefits of keeping a paragon of justice in jail.

The Good Part

Wong Fie Hung’s primary motivation is the people. His fellow countrymen first but anyone else who’s not a douche a close second. If hungry Wong Fie Hung will feed you, if wounded Wong Fie Hung will heal you, if being chased by Cobra he’ll open up some old school kung fu on the terrorists. He won’t charge either. Well maybe his usual doctor’s fee but if you can’t afford it something can be worked out.

In Closing

IMO Wong Fie Hung, as played by Jet Li in Once Upon a Time in China, is a Lawful Good avatar. He’s bound by a strict code of justice and he’ll lend a hand to anyone in trouble. Furthermore he’s humble about it. He’s no arrogant paladin. He’s great due to virtue and skill and this needs no promotion. He doesn’t need to say he’s THE Good Guy, people just figure it out thanks to his manner and actions.

That and he has a totally awesome theme song.