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True Legend

2010 film by Yuen Woo-ping

Manuscripts, fine bindings, an engraving plate and preserved performance ephemera
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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJun 25, 2026
Entity authorityQ910896
Source-derived summary

True Legend (苏乞儿) is a 2010 Chinese–Hong Kong martial arts film directed by Yuen Woo-ping, his first since Tai Chi Boxer (1996). A Chinese-Hong Kong co-production, the film starred Vincent Zhao as Chinese folk hero Su Can, and co-starred Zhou Xun, Jay Chou, and Andy On. Gordon Liu, Leung Kar-yan, Michelle Yeoh, and David Carradine make cameo appearances. Set in late 19th-century and early 20th-century China, the film follows a retired general whose peaceful life is interrupted when his vengeful sworn brother returns from war armed with a deadly skill. Weakened but not destroyed, he learns drunken boxing from the God of Wushu to defeat his sworn brother.

The film has been shown in both 2D and 3D, and was promoted as the first Chinese 3D film. It was released in the United States on 13 May 2011 by Indomina, grossing US$62,200 during its run. Though it was a rather large financial loss for producer Bill Kong, making only RMB 46.5 million (US$6.82 million) against an estimated budget of US$20 million, the film received generally positive reviews from critics, particularly for its action choreography. True Legend was awarded the Lotus Action Asia at the 13th Deauville Asian Film Festival and won the Best Asian Action Movie award.

Synopsis

Su Can, a former general, has retired from military service to focus on wushu.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “True Legend” as 2010 film by Yuen Woo-ping. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around True, Legend and film.

Editorial reviewA productive route into publication, performance and collection histories when the underlying object or edition remains clearly identified. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—2010, 1996, 2011—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with True, Legend and film providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “True Legend”, the useful work is to connect “2010 film by Yuen Woo-ping” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Object files, edition statements, performance records and contemporary criticism preserve different stages of the work’s history. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 25, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q910896. The first chronological checks are 2010, 1996 and 2011.

Critical limits

Titles can refer to several editions, objects or performances, making precise identification essential before interpretation. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.

Best used for
  • Identifying works and editions
  • Tracing reception history
  • Finding collection records
Verify next

The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “True Legend”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow True Legend primary sources, True Legend archive and True 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 “True Legend”?
  2. Which edition, object, performance or recording is being described?
  3. How did later circulation or interpretation alter the work’s reception?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from True Legend” 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.