Hung Hei-Gun 洪熙官
According to the legends of Southern Shaolin, Hung Hei-Gun (洪熙官), known in Cantonese as Hung Hei-Kwun, survived the destruction of the monastery and continued to teach martial arts beyond its walls. The Hung Gar school regards him as its founder, and in Hong Kong cinema he often appears alongside his son Hung Wen-Ding. In Executioners from Shaolin, the son must finish what his father began, while in The New Legend of Shaolin, Wen-Ding, still a child, roams and fights at his father's side.
According to legend, Hung Hei-Gun was born in Guangdong, in Hua County, on the site of what is now Huadu District in Guangzhou. Local lore holds that he was an orphan taken in and taught martial arts by the Shaolin monk Zhishan. Another version has it that Hung was the son of a tea merchant. There is also a tradition that he came from Zhangzhou in Fujian Province. His life is known only from these later accounts, and even the years of his birth and death remain unknown.
In Shaolin legends, Qing troops burn the southern monastery and the surviving disciples scatter across the country. Hung becomes a wandering teacher, and in some versions his travels are tied to a secret society seeking to overthrow the Qing dynasty and restore the Ming. Tradition holds that Hung founded the Hung Gar school and passed on his art, in particular to his son Wending and to master Luk Ah-Choi. Even the question of who studied under Zhishan is told differently. The martial traditions of Shaolin are described in historical sources, while the details of the southern monastery's burning and Hung's role in founding the school are known from legend.
In Executioners from Shaolin (1977), Liu Chia-Liang gave the role of Hung to Chen Kuan-Tai. After the monastery's destruction, Hung spends years preparing to avenge his teacher against the white-browed Pai Mei, while at home he argues with his wife over what to teach their son. Hung relies on tiger techniques, his wife masters the crane style, and in the end Wending benefits from what both of them taught him. Liu Chia-Liang himself practiced Hung Gar, and his fight scenes continue this family argument.
In The New Legend of Shaolin (1994), Wending is still a boy but already his father's partner. Hung, played by Jet Li, goes into hiding with his son after the family is killed. In their wanderings they are drawn into a story involving a secret map hidden on the backs of young Shaolin disciples. That same year, Lam Ching-Ying played Hung in Kung Fu Kid.
On television the family was told again in The Young Hero Hong Wen Ding (2001), where the father was played by Ken Lo. In Gai Shi Ying Xiong Fang Shi Yu (2011), Ashton Chen played Hung in a story about another Shaolin disciple. And in The Devildom Elephant Man (2023), Hung, played by Dennis To, became the protagonist once again, and this time the film includes several scenes from his childhood.
