Born to Defence

Born to Defence is a 1986 Hong Kong action film, which marked the directorial debut of Jet Li, who also stars in the film. The film features fight choreography by Tsui Siu-Ming. The film is set in China following the end of World War II and the liberation of China. Li stars as an avid athlete who encounters conflicts with American navy sailors, primarily in the boxing ring. Plot Jet (Jet Li) returns to his hometown of Qingdao after the fighting the Japanese. He and his fellow soldiers discover that much has changed since the end of the war, and American soldiers are taking all the glory for the victory achieved, and they feel unappreciated. Jet eventually meets with his old friend Zhang (Zhao Erkang), a fellow soldier who saved Jet's life in battle, but was seriously injured with shrapnel. Zhao makes a living as a rickshaw driver. Jet decides to stay at Zhao's house for a while. Jet asks Zhang about his daughter. Zhang replies that she died. One day, an American Navy Captain named Hans (Kurt Roland Petersson) is driving recklessly through Qingdao's streets, causing a mob to become angry and surround his car. Jet and Hans fight briefly, with Hans being impressed with Jet. The angry mob proceeds to burn his car, causing a riot. Jet and his fellow band of soldiers and rickshaw-drivers retreat during the chaos to a bar, which they discover now caters primarily to foreigners with a boxing ring and is frequented by prostitutes. Jet and his friends are angry at the insults hurled at them by American Navy patrons, which leads to an American soldier named Bailey (Paulo Tocha) challenging Jet to a formal boxing match. During the match, Jet struggles with only being allowed to use his fists, and frequently breaks the rules due to his ignorance of American boxing. Frustrated, Jet attempts to leave the ring, but Bailey kicks him to prevent him from leaving. Jet continues the fight using both kung-fu and boxing techniques, and even demonstrates that he has finally adapted to boxing and shows superiority over Bailey. Jet wins the fight, along with a lot of money, and the Chinese in the crowd are proud of him.