Jet Li Explains His “Drunken Style” of Fighting

Li Lianjie, better known by his stage name Jet Li, is one of the most acclaimed martial arts actors of all time. The Chinese film star made his cinematic debut in 1982 with Shaolin Temple and has gone on to star in several widely-celebrated action movies, including Hero, First of Legend, Romeo Must Die and Fearless. But aside from his acting work, the most impressive thing about Li is the fighting itself. As a teenager, Li trained in the Wushu discipline under the tutelage of the legendary Wu Bin. In fact, it was when Li was just eight years old that his potential was spotted at a summer school course.

When Li was only 12 years old, he won the Chinese national championship. Discussing this early victory, he later reflected in the book China’s Internet Celebrities: “My first place caused quite a sensation because I was so young. I was 12 years old, and the other two medalists were about 20 years old.” He added: “During the awards ceremony, standing on the top step of the podium, I was still shorter than the 2nd and 3rd place medalists. It must have been quite a spectacle.” Unfortunately, a knee injury forced Lee to retire from martial arts competition at age 18, but fortunately it led to his illustrious career as an actor.

During a 2005 interview with Conan O’Brien, Li opened up on his fighting style and how the secret to his success is an “attitude” rather than any specific move. “It’s a smile,” he said. “It matters to people because the way you’ll hurt people, they will [want] revenge. You’ll fight again and again and never stop. Just smile, make people happy, and then we will stop.” But as to the particular style of fighting, it’s called “drunken style”. Li explained that the style is called thus because “we create a movement and a physicality like a drunk guy physically. But mentally, it’s very clear.”

O’Brien then asked what the advantage of pretending to be drunk is, swaying one’s arms and body around against an opponent. Li replied, “You know, when they punch you, you sit back and duck and duck”. In typical Conan fashion, he then pretended to perform the style, flailing about. Li generously claimed he was doing it “very good, very good”. So Lee’s style is to smile and sway like a drunken buffoon, but to great effect. However, he hates it when people fuss too much with his hair and makeup during filming. “If I’m doing a movie, a hair stylist will take care of my hair,” he said. “[They] always bother me, bother me. One day I talked to people and said, “Okay, you can beat me up.” You can kill me. But don’t touch my hair.”