Seven Little Fortunes celebrate 50th anniversary

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the “Seven Little Fortunes,” a famous troupe of Peking Opera performers from Master Yu Jim-yuen’s China Drama Academy that claims among its many alumni some of Hong Kong’s top action film talents including Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung, Yuen Biao, Corey Yuen, Yuen Wah, Yuen Tak, and Yuen Bun.

Yuen Wah (far left), Yuen Biao (middle left), Jackie Chan (far right).

These students were not related. The stage surname “Yuen” was adopted and retained by most of them out of respect for Master Yu.

In 1959, the China Drama Academy was founded by Yu Jim-yuen, a strict northern kung fu practitioner who taught stage acrobatics, singing and acting to children enrolled for 10 years. Despite the harsh requirements of the school, many children were enrolled by their parents due in large part to Master Yu’s reputation in the Shanghai Opera arena and the celebrity status of his famous daughter, wuxia film star Yu So-chow.

Located in Kowloon, Hong Kong, this Peking Opera school would come to be home to 60 to 70 children forced to endure painful and grueling physical conditioning, demanding performance art training and rigid discipline under Master Yu’s iron-fisted tutelage.

A dramatic account of this experience was depicted in PAINTED FACES (1988), where Sammo Hung portrayed Master Yu. Sammo has mentioned that the film does not show the worst that he and his fellow students endured. Jackie Chan has stated that this training, which included caning, would be considered torture today and is now outlawed in modern opera schools.

From this hellish training ground emerged the Seven Little Fortunes, a performance troupe of highly skilled, revolving members from the academy that toured theaters and parks. Members from this troupe, who could be as young as seven, were also frequently sourced out to local movie studios as extras.

While this training regime was harsh, it did produce tangible results that the Fortunes members came to appreciate and benefit from professionally in years to come.

As interest in Chinese opera gradually waned in the late 1960s and martial arts films became increasingly popular, graduates of Yu’s school found their unique physical skills in greater demand on film sets.

Sammo Hung was one of the school’s earliest alumni to find success in filmmaking after he quickly rose through the ranks as an extra and stuntman to become an action director at fledgling studio Golden Harvest. Other members gradually followed. The most famous, of course, was Jackie Chan. Then there was future action director Corey Yuen (BLOOD: THE LAST VAMPIRE) and many others.

Yuen Biao and Yuen Wah were both highly skilled acrobats who frequently doubled more famous actors like Bruce Lee during scenes involving difficult flips. They both gradually became action stars themselves. Yuen Biao famously starred in Sammo Hung’s THE PRODIGAL SON in 1982 and in recent years is still fighting onscreen in martial arts TV series such as WING CHUN (2007). Yuen Wah gained international fame as “Landlord” in Stephen Chow’s smash hit KUNG FU HUSTLE and recently had a dramatic supporting role in AUSTRALIA.

Yuen Tak is currently a leading action director on films such as THE SNIPER and THREE KINGDOMS: RESURRECTION OF THE DRAGON. Yuen Bun is an active action director and actor.

The mark that Master Yu and his famous Seven Little Fortunes have left on the world is substantial. Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung and their peers have left us with unforgettable action film classics that in turn have influenced a generation of current and future film talents. The level of skill and dedication they have brought and continue to bring to the action film genre is unique, irreplaceable and pure magic.

Members of the Seven Little Fortunes reunite on stage at the Hong Kong Film Awards on April 19, 2009. (left to right) unidentified, Yuen Biao, unidentified, Sammo Hung, Yuen Wah, Yuen Bun, unidentified.