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Gordon Liu

Chinese martial arts film actor (born 1955)

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 8, 2026
Entity authorityQ1071583
Source-derived summary

Gordon Liu Chia-hui (born Sin Kam-hei, August 22, 1951) is a retired Hong Kong actor, martial artist, and filmmaker, best known for his roles in martial arts films. He was one of the biggest male stars of Shaw Brothers Studio's martial arts cinema during the 1970s and 1980s.

Born in Guangdong, Liu studied Hung Ga kung fu at the school founded by Lau Kar-leung's father, Lau Cham. He entered the Hong Kong film industry as a stuntman. His early acting credits include minor roles in several Hong Kong kung fu films, including the Shaw Brothers-produced 5 Shaolin Masters (1974). He went on to appear in many Shaw Brothers films, such as Challenge of the Masters (1976), in which he portrayed the folk hero Wong Fei Hung, Executioners from Shaolin (1977), The 36th Chamber of Shaolin (1978), in which he played the lead role as Shaolin hero San Te, Dirty Ho (1979), Return to the 36th Chamber (1980), Martial Club (1981), The Eight Diagram Pole Fighter (1984), and Disciples of the 36th Chamber (1985). By the late-1980’s, he had begun accepting smaller roles, such as in Lau Kar-leung's Tiger on the Beat (1988). In 1993, he appeared opposite Jet Li in Last Hero in China.

Liu made his American film debut in 2003. He played two roles in Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill films: Johnny Mo, the leader of the Crazy 88 yakuza gang in Volume 1 (2003), and kung fu master Pai Mei in Volume 2 (2004).

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Gordon Liu” as chinese martial arts film actor (born 1955). Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA productive starting point for separating a subject’s documented career from later reputation and commemoration. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1951, 1974, 1976, 1977—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1955-08-22. The account is most persuasive where Gordon, Chinese and martial can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the people & ideas register because the source frames it as chinese martial arts film actor (born 1955). Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 8, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1071583. VIAF identifies the subject as 95336990. The Library of Congress control number is no96051818. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1951, 1974, 1976 and 1977.

Critical limits

A concise life account rarely captures disputed attribution, private networks or the changing language used to describe a career. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
Verify next

Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Gordon Liu”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Gordon Liu primary sources, Gordon Liu archive and Gordon research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Gordon Liu”?
  2. Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
  3. How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Gordon Liu” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.