Jiang Hu (film)

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Jiang Hu
VCD Cover
Directed by	Ching-Po Wong
Written by	Chi-long To
Starring	Andy Lau Jacky Cheung Shawn Yue Edison Chen
Release date(s)	May 26, 2004 October 22, 2004 December 10, 2004 April 4, 2005 April 9, 2004
Language	Cantonese
IMDb profile

Jiang Hu (江湖) (aka Gong Wu, Blood Brothers) is a 2004 Hong Kong film about Hong Kong gangs. It was directed by Ching-Po Wong and stars Andy Lau and Jacky Cheung.

[edit] Title

"Jiang hu" is the term for the fictional world in which many Chinese classical wuxia stories are set. The term can be translated literally as "rivers and lakes". Metaphorically, however, it refers not to a physical place or geographic location but to the wild and romanticized domain of secret societies, gangs, fighters, entertainers, prostitutes, assassins, thieves, actors, beggars, and wanderers that is roughly the Chinese equivalent to the English terms "bohemian" and "the underworld".

In modern days, the term jianghu is frequently used to refer to the triads and the secret societies of gangsters.

[edit] Plot

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Jiang Hu simultaneously tells two stories. One story is about a gang leader, Mr. Hung (played by Andy Lau), and the tensions that arise between him and his old friend and second-in-command, Lefty (played by Jacky Cheung). Mr. Hung's wife has just had a child and Lefty feels that Mr. Hung should leave the gang business as he has now become too burdened with family. Mr. Hung is unhappy with Lefty's leadership style. To further complicate matters, it is rumoured that someone is trying to assassinate Mr. Hung. Three underbosses are plotting against Mr. Hung, but the extent of their plotting isn't revealed.

The second story is about two teenage low ranking gang members named Yik and Turbo, who are hoping to gain respect and rank in the gangs by performing a hit on a gang leader. The gang leader is not displayed in the movie, and the audience is to expect that Yik and Turbo are planning to murder Mr. Hung. What the audience doesn't know at this stage of the film is that Yik and Turbo are in fact Mr. Hung and Lefty in their youth. This story-line details their journey together up until the assassination, and displays the friendship between the two.

The film ends with Mr. Hung and Lefty fending of hoards of assassins in a final act of friendship before eventually being killed by some of the assassins. It is not made clear who sent the assassins to kill Mr. Hung. The film also touches on Mr. Hung's rise to power by showing his assassination of the gang leader and displaying how it gained him respect in prison.