Original subtitles

Our story begins with the death of He Yun-ja, a legendary Chinese hero famous

for his victories over Russia's champion wrestler and Japan's Bushido expert.

He was poisoned. By whom? For what?

It was not known for certain, but there has been speculation.

Here we offer the most popular version.

Am I too late?

Jeff, just an hour.

Where are they?

Around the back, burying teacher.

Let's go then.

back to the house.

I'm just injury.

Then I'll change my hands.

I use hands to show my friendliness.

I use hands to give a kind caress.

But when a man slaughters this fellow man,

then I'll change my hands to fist of

you.

You must eat now.

You haven't touched a thing for two days.

You'll make yourself sick.

I know you're upset at Teacher's death.

But it hurts me to see you like this.

And you must still think of the future.

Please eat just... just something.

Has there been any change?

No. You talk to him.

Why are you acting like this?

We all feel the same way, you know.

We all feel sad about his death.

But not eating won't help.

We must go on living.

Will you tell me what teacher died of?

It was... It was pneumonia.

That's what the report said.

And you really think that's true?

I don't believe

it.

Now tell me how he really died.

Doc,

we wouldn't lie to you.

It's true. That's what the doctor told us.

Oh, I see.

And you believe what you were told?

He was well. There was nothing wrong. How could a healthy man die?

You shut up.

Listen to me.

We can't rush.

We must be cautious.

We all have our own suspicions, just as you do.

We're looking into it.

Well, I must find out the truth.

Yes, of course.

It's our duty.

Still, we must think of tomorrow.

Many people will be coming here.

To pay last respects.

You'll have to meet them.

Teacher would want that, huh?

Hu Yunjia was the greatest boxing instructor of all time.

He stood for everything that's right.

He was our leader.

He's gone. The founder of Qingwu School.

I met him 40 years ago.

We were young.

And we grew up together.

Even then, as a lad, he always knew he'd start a school here.

Yes, he had that kind of vision.

And that dream did come true.

Our school here was his achievement.

He died for us.

He traveled around himself so that he spread his word.

It was this simply that he used to teach to us.

He aimed to strengthen minds and the bodies of you, the young people.

For the sake of China, our land.

The school here was built just for that.

And it was for strengthening a person's character.

And now, all of us, each one, must live by that rule.

Remember, in the same way as he loved you, you must all honor his words.

What's more, we must also continue developing our skill.

That great fighting skill that our teacher taught us.

We must make sure we're fit.

Fit to serve our country.

To help those who need us.

Everyone.

So that if they want, they can turn to us.

Teacher, he died too early in life, really.

He died while the school was still so young.

We've never ever had to serve our country yet Soon though we'll get our

chance And now in honor of our great whole yoonja Let us have one moment of

silence

Coming

oh, I see. We're just in time You are

I am

And I am the interpreter for a certain Mr.

Suzuki.

He runs the Japanese Honkyo school.

Ah, yeah.

If I may ask, what's that you're carrying?

It's just a present my teacher sends to you with his compliments.

Sick man of Asia.

What's it mean?

What's it mean?

Well, it's quite simple.

It's a warning. You ought to know that perfectly well.

We know you're training here. We don't want you to get any ideas.

Look here.

Now, what's the point of this?

Just that the Chinese are a race of weaklings. No comparison to us Japanese.

Just look at yourself.

You're pathetic, you know that?

Oh, yes, I realized you'd all be here now.

Yet I don't look very frightened, do I?

Huh? Well, any one of you man enough to meet the challenge?

Chai-Chi.

My friends here promised to put up a good fight.

Must be someone.

Who's your champion?

So many here and not one of you with any courage.

What's the matter with a lot of you? You afraid of us?

Come on. I won't ask again.

My name's Wu.

I told you, I'm a translator.

Listen.

Our teacher, he taught us to be prepared to fight, but not to fight like this.

We're for keeping the peace.

Our school won't fight you.

Oh? Are you afraid you'd lose?

Huh?

I'll tell you what, if they defeat me, I'll eat those words, okay?

Huh? Yes, I like the idea.

We'd even close the school immediately.

So let's agree, shall we? The stakes are pretty high.

So what is it?

Eh? Well, nothing to say then.

Eh? Well, if you won't fight with us, think of what all the other schools will

think of you afterwards.

So then.

How about you, then?

What's holding you back?

Are you yellow or something?

Sick man of Asia.

Ginger.

It won't work.

Eh? Why so shy?

What's wrong?

Lost your tongue?

Really? What a group.

Just nothing but kids.

There's not a man among you. I'm quite sure of that.

Come. All right.

You've got a nerve walking like that, especially today.

And why?

Why wouldn't you let us fight?

Yes, I know. I wanted to.

Only our teacher taught us we shouldn't.

What do you want?

Mr. Suzuki, isn't he your chief?

Well, he ain't here.

What do you want him for?

I'm returning this to him.

You can take this from me and then get out of here.

Whenever you're ready, I'll take on any Japanese here.

If you want to see how good you are, then you must be tired of living.

Well, we fight alone or all together.

It'll just take me to show you.

listen to me.

This time you're eating paper the next time it's gonna be glass

What are you doing?

What is this?

Stop right here.

I see.

And I thought you said Qing Wu's school was worthless.

You know the name of that guy?

I do.

We've met already.

His name's Chen.

They tell me he's the best boxer at Qing Wu.

Well, tell me then, do those fools honestly think we're going to take this

thing lying down?

They must learn Japanese Bushido is the world's finest.

Of course. They've just never felt the sting of Japanese fists.

All right, then.

Let's beat them up.

Yes, we'll smash them.

That's right.

You will.

Smash them. We will obey you.

Good.

Get out of their school, now!

And don't come back if you fail!

Get going!

What do you want?

I want to pass.

No, no, not allowed, I'm afraid.

How's that?

You're the wrong color.

Beat it.

You were... You were wanting to get in here.

No, no, no, no.

Tell you what.

There's only one thing you need to do.

Pretend you're a dog and I'll take you in.

What do you want?

Teacher, if you were here with us, they would never have treated us like that.

They want us to hand over Chen.

Do you think that he is the one who started this?

Don't blame him. Teacher's death has really upset him very much.

Hey, here he is then.

What's this?

Chen Jie.

It's all thanks to you.

And where have you been all day?

I'll bet you've been around to the Hongkou school causing trouble.

Well, now see what you've done. You act a hero.

And this, this is what they do to us.

You should have told us what you were going to do.

Now listen.

You know our rules as well as anyone.

You've been here long enough now.

So what made you do such a thing?

They came around here and attacked all of us.

And they said if we didn't hand you over in three days' time, they'd be back here

again to close the school and have us arrested.

Not my opinion. Let him do it again. What's that?

How can you say that?

Chen was right. Why do we let him walk all over us? If we do, there won't be

any future for us.

But we can give Chen.

To them, they'll kill him.

If we don't, they'll close the school down.

What a choice to have to make.

If they get Chen, he'll be finished.

There's only one way.

Go. Leave Shanghai.

You're right.

Leave Shanghai.

Not me.

Why not?

I can't leave you in trouble.

But think of yourself now.

It's the only possible solution.

You must go.

I won't.

You will.

Think of it. You vanish, so they can't find you, and they can't lift a hand

against us.

They have no proof.

They'd never dare risk it.

What he has said is perfectly correct.

You've got to do it.

It's the one and only chance we have

You hesitate.

Staying won't help. You must go.

And don't think you'll be running out on us.

No one's going to blame you.

That's right. Of course we won't. Surely we agree on that.

Yeah, sure.

We're not going to blame you.

You see?

Do you see how many friends you have?

Every one of us here.

We understand why you don't want to leave this place.

But have you forgotten what teacher always said?

Think of the school, if not of yourself.

Teacher's death and now this only increases the burden on all of us.

For our sake, you must go.

Tomorrow morning.

You there.

Yes. Buy him a train ticket for tomorrow.

Everything packed?

Yes.

Well, I think that I came back here to ask you to become my wife.

I've been rather a failure, haven't I?

You mustn't say that about yourself.

You won't be away forever, you know.

And when you come back again, I shall be waiting here.

You and the others suffer because of me.

Don't be silly.

Nobody's blaming you.

Now, come on. See if you can sleep.

You really must.

I can't. I must stay awake.

I must stay with Teacher.

Did anyone see you? No, they're all asleep.

Did you get it? Yeah, here it is. We ought to get going now. If they find out

this is what really killed Mr. Ho, we won't stand a chance.

Why does Mr. Wu want us to resign?

He said the job's done.

He said there's no point in staying.

I'll resign too.

We'll go together.

No one suspects us, and so then we can, the pair of us, disappear tomorrow

morning. Yeah. All right?

So you're Japanese.

Well, so what about it?

That's right, we killed your teacher.

Hey, just what are you trying to do?

Shut up.

You really think I'm afraid of him?

I'm not, even though they say he's so good.

Look at him. He's just a young fool

Feng Gui Shi.

Come out.

Feng Gui Shi.

Come out!

So why did you kill my teacher then?

Why did you kill my teacher?

Why, why, why, why, why, why?

Why did you kill my teacher?

Tichu was poisoned by these biscuits.

I'll find the real murderer and avenge his death.

Chen.

I swear to my own eyes.

Outside, in the street.

Two people, hanging from a lamppost. I saw them myself, two of them.

Just hanging there. What are we going to do about it? What is it?

I'd just been at the station. On my way back here, well, there they were.

Hanging there. Mr. Feng and that cook, Tian.

Are you sure that it was them? Quite sure?

Yes, I'm quite certain. They're hanging there for everyone to see.

I know there's no mistake.

Come on and show me. Right.

What now?

What is it?

Something's happened to Feng and Tian.

They're dead.

Look at that.

What is it? Why?

See, I was right.

All right,

let's go back inside.

Come on.

Find a phone, get a car, will you?

Yeah, sure.

Did you see them? What a sight.

I've never seen anything like it.

Who could have done such a thing?

Well, whoever it was, they're going to blame it on us.

How can they blame us? We're all totally innocent.

Yeah, God only knows.

But I'll bet they blame the Ching Wu school.

What on earth does it matter?

It's nothing to do with us.

They were employed by us.

This is not Chinese territory.

This is the international settlement.

We must find the killer first.

I have done.

They were killed by Chen.

What? Are you sure?

He left me a note that said, teacher was poisoned by Feng and Chen.

I suppose he's hiding somewhere around here.

So he's hiding. I can't see how that'll help.

Yeah, that's typical.

Why couldn't he have told us all where he was running away to?

Yeah, well, we're going to have to find him quickly.

Chen, I'm so big. Where do we look first?

There is one thing that might help us find him.

And that is, he doesn't know Shanghai very well.

Let's organize a search for him.

We'll settle this.

But we must find Chen first.

Tonight.

Hold it.

It's me.

I thought I'd find you here.

Listen to me. Hiding won't help you.

Come back now.

And we'll discuss it.

No, I can't.

But how does it help, hiding out here?

It's not going to solve anything.

Come back.

Or don't you trust me then?

No, it isn't that.

I don't want you involved.

What are you going to do then?

I'm not hiding.

I have made plans.

But still you won't... won't tell me.

And I don't know why not.

We used to trust each other before.

So why not now?

Especially when I could help you.

You've changed so much.

That's not true.

In that case, you must know that I love you.

But to help, I must know what you're doing.

Yes, I love you as much as I always did

I Believe you

don't ever doubt me

Do you remember all the plans that we used to have?

I do.

The ideas we used to have for the school?

The way we said we would keep it going?

The family we said we would have?

What did we decide on?

A little girl.

A boy, too.

And then, while you were out teaching every day at your own school, I'd do the

housework.

Then I'd come round and collect you here.

And we'd go and bring the kids home from school.

And now, what'll happen?

Will any of it come true?

I'm sure it will.

If you go on like this, you know it might never happen.

Don't think that.

Of course it'll work out.

Do you really love me?

Of course I do.

You mean more to me than anyone.

So will you please tell me now about your plan?

Why don't you speak?

I'll tell you this much.

I'm taking you away with me.

Where to?

To somewhere, somewhere where they'll never find us.

Somewhere where we'll be safe.

Does the name Wu mean anything?

I think so.

I think he knows about Teacher's death.

Wasn't he that interpreter who came with the Japanese?

Could he be the right one?

Master?

Something terrible's happened.

What is it?

What is it?

Look at today's papers.

Mr. Yoshida's brother, Mr.

Feng, they were killed, sir.

They were found hanging.

Yes, I know.

Sit down now.

My brother got a job there as the cook, just to discover their plans.

And now he's dead. We must do something about them.

Let me avenge his death now.

Of course.

There's no point in waiting any longer.

No one will say they didn't ask for it.

I'll go get the men ready.

Hold on.

Sir, if we do it like that, we'll get far too involved in it. They'll connect

us with Ho's death.

Oh? What do you propose then?

There's one idea that might work.

Let's hear it then.

Oh, someone else will do it for us. And that someone else will be the police.

It's like this. Force them to hand over Chen.

That is to say, give them an ultimatum. Either he surrenders, or the police

close the school.

Chen is too gallant to let them do that.

He would have it on his conscience forever.

So he surrenders, and then we do what we like.

with no one suspecting that we arranged it. Then, my friends, you can have your

revenge on him.

Well, tell me, what do you think of my little plan?

You may be one of Japan's best friends.

I do my best, and you agree this is the best way, yes, the only way, to get

Chen, as I suggest.

Yes. You go ahead.

Right.

Now about this young guy, Chen.

I think you'll agree we've been very lenient with you all.

Now I think it's gone far enough.

Why did you go and raid the school?

They came to us first.

And if they hadn't done that, then of course we would never have gone anywhere

near those fellows.

But you must have provoked them.

You have to admit that.

I've just been explaining it. If they hadn't come here first...

So now you tell me how your men Feng and Tian died then. Do you know?

I've no idea.

Of course you do.

No, we don't.

Why can't you be reasonable now?

I'll find out soon enough. So why not tell me?

This is no simple affair. You know how strong the Japanese are.

Especially here in the settlement.

I'm only doing my duty as a policeman. Don't you see that?

Where is Chen hiding out?

Come on, tell me.

We really can't answer that question.

But he's not here.

Any idea where he is?

No, we don't know. We're looking for him, too.

I don't believe you.

You know something?

My patience is running out.

I've told you.

We don't know where he is.

And we're telling you the truth. You'll have to believe us.

Look here.

Do you realize how serious this matter is? The Japanese consul has demanded

action and he's not joking.

I'll give you two days.

Either you hand over Yang Chen or Qingwu School will be closed.

Come on.

Oh.

Goodness me, what a time we're having.

I've never seen anything like, nothing ever like this.

Now that I'm here in Shanghai, I'm your man.

Ah, I must say, it's very gratifying to hear that. Good.

What's that?

What did he say?

a ride to join our school here from Russia.

He had a little misunderstanding and decided to take a holiday here with us.

Oh, you're safe here. Nothing to worry about here at all. We're all good

friends here, you know.

Mr.

Petrov, will you join me?

He's three cups.

Three cups?

All right, three cups.

like a Chinese.

And why

not?

You want me to crawl now?

Get up Where to

just go along the North Road

Hey, hold it here. Where are you going?

This is a dead end!

Hey,

what is this?

I want to ask you something.

Now you talk.

You tell me.

Please don't ask me anything. I don't know anything about it.

What bit do you want me to tell you then?

But I didn't do it.

Oh, sure. Someone asked me.

Someone told me to.

Suzuki was the one. He said to give the poison to Mr.

Fung. He was to give it to Tian.

That was the plan.

I was being used.

I was only carrying out their orders.

Have pity on me.

Please, sir.

Pity for Huyen Chia.

First of all, Chen invaded our school.

Now our interpreter's dead.

What sort of a law do you have?

It's getting to the stage where it's not safe to walk the streets here.

If we don't get protection, I'll make a report to the consulate.

Okay?

Look, sir.

Aren't you rather exaggerating this matter?

I've given them just two days to deliver this, Chen.

If they don't by then, I'll close their school.

I am not too sure of that.

You're protecting them.

Just because you're the same race as them.

I don't care who they are.

That has nothing to do with it.

I only enforce law.

You enforce the law?

But Chen has broken the law.

Now why don't you go and arrest him?

Look, sir.

We couldn't do that.

That just isn't the way the law works here.

We must have some proof first.

And without that, we have no right to arrest Chen.

You... Okay,

then. If that's the way you want it, you just give me no choice.

Either you arrest Chen, or we'll close the school.

make it all the more difficult.

Nobody said the job was going to be easy.

But if you can't handle this job, then I've got my own ways.

All right.

I shall do my best for you.

to do everything he can to help them.

I say we should report him anyway.

Report him to the Japanese consulate.

Here.

Paper.

You see what they're doing?

Forcing my hand.

But where can I find him in this place?

Sir.

Why not try to get back to Qingwu school?

See if he's turned up there yet, huh?

I'm sorry to have to say, I can't wait any longer now. The time limit is up.

Another man has been murdered, and I'm told Chen did it.

If you don't give him up now, I'll have no alternative.

But, sir, we still can't help you. We haven't found him yet.

Honest, we're not lying to you.

We're telling you the truth.

We've got no idea where he is now.

We've looked everywhere we can.

Well, either you find Chen...

or else I am going to have to close the school.

Chen is now our chief suspect, and we have got to interview him.

The Japanese consulate's putting a lot of pressure on me to arrest you right

now, and you know how much weight their word carries here in the international

settlement.

Even if you shut the school and arrested us all, we still couldn't help you in

there.

I'll give you one more day.

That's all I can give you, I'm afraid.

You either hand over Chen or be prepared to go to prison.

I'll see you tomorrow.

Come on. Yes.

I

don't

like the sound of that at all.

Just what are we going to do? Listen, let's stop looking.

Because if we do find him, we'll have to turn him over to the police.

But if they had him, then the Japs would leave it alone.

You really think so?

By God, you are naive.

What?

Oh, it's just... If they really can't find Chen,

will there then be some trouble? I think so.

There is bound to be.

You heard what they said.

The inspector wasn't lying about the Japanese pressure.

What if they do find Chen?

What then?

Then I'm sure they would put him on trial for his life.

And you know they'll find him guilty.

If we could find him, we could help him to get away.

I... You what?

Do you know where he is then?

It's really a matter of life or death, you know.

If you do know, then you must tell me.

Well, I know where he is at night.

Tell me, where is it then?

Good afternoon there. I'm from the telephone company.

Oh, what on earth took you so long?

We haven't got all day, you know.

Just got my orders minutes ago.

Aha.

Come on this way.

Hey, don't just stand there get on with it

There's

another one over there come on

You stay here. All right?

The man's here to fix the telephone.

Okay.

Sir, the guy for the phone.

Send him in.

You heard him.

Hey, come on, come on.

Hate to bother you.

Over here.

If only I could find that Chen.

I'd enjoy killing him. It would give me great pleasure.

Yeah, but I hear he's an extremely good fighter.

I've had him called Fist of Fury.

I think it'll be wiser.

If we concentrate on his school.

Hold on.

Wait a second.

What do you suggest?

We'll kill them.

Every one of them. In one stroke.

What have you thought of the consequences?

Don't worry. No one will be able to prove a thing.

If we move quickly, and there are no survivors, then who can testify?

Right.

Do it tonight.

But God help you if you leave any alive.

Sir.

Look around in the bushes.

Where

could

he have gone?

Let's wait here. He'll be back.

Where is he?

I wish I knew.

I have come here to avenge my teacher.

This doesn't concern you.

I'll allow you to leave.

I want your master.

Your chum?

of him.

Yao Cheng!

Yao Cheng!

My God!

What happened? Who did it?

Zou... Zou Qi!

Huh? What about the others? Any left alive?

No one.

Yao Cheng!

Here he's alive.

He might pull through.

Okay Look around and see if any of the others are still alive

What the hell have we come to?

Teacher, I'm unworthy of you.

Captain, there's no one left.

Tell me, what do we do now?

We were also wrong.

And Chen was right.

He was right.

I'm telling you, I must get through here.

As the Japanese representative, I must order you.

It would help if you didn't shout at me. If he's in there, I'll bring him out for

you. I must go in. I order you to let me pass.

All right.

As long as it's only you.

And you stay here. I'll call you.

Sir, right.

What's all this?

Suzuki.

Suzuki's boys have been here.

What? You watch what you say.

Hold your tongue.

Or you'll find yourselves in court.

What proof have you?

Same proof you have on Chen.

And according to you, that's easily enough.

In fact, it's more than enough and you know it.

What are you talking about?

I'm not interested in allegations.

Only in finding that young murderer.

If you have a complaint, then you take it up with the authorities tomorrow.

I'm sorry, but the Japanese consulate has filed a complaint.

Chen is charged with the murder of Mr. Wu, translator at Hongqiu School.

He must stand trial.

What's that?

These guys have just killed most of our fellows. And what are you going to do

about that then? Are you going to arrest Chen and let these guys off?

Is that the idea?

Really? Do you call that justice?

That still doesn't let off Chen.

Frankly, I don't like it any more than you do.

But I've no choice now. I must arrest Chen.

But I don't know where he is.

He still hasn't come back yet.

All right.

In that case, why not arrest all of them?

So you honestly don't know where he is now?

since he left.

Well, I think I've been pretty reasonable until now. Wouldn't you

agree? But you leave me no alternative.

Are you arresting us just like that?

Yes. I have no alternative.

You know how powerful the Japanese are.

Their word is law.

I have to obey their orders.

Okay, tell me one thing.

Do you Japanese believe in justice?

Isn't there any law around here?

I'm the law in Shanghai.

You should know that.

Besides, don't blame me. Blame Chen.

If he weren't such a coward, he'd surrender.

For your sake.

Blame it on Chen.

Hey! Chen's here now.

Tell me the truth.

No more lies.

If I turn myself over to you, will you leave the Qingwu School alone?

The truth.

You have my word on it.

Don't worry.

On my word of honor.

I shall accept punishment for the lives that I took.

You just leave the school alone.

Yeah, sure, sure.