“There are nuances or characteristics of each performer. Oscar’s performance is certainly his own and cannot be used to directly represent Lam Sai-wing,” says Hing Chao, curator of the exhibition and executive director of IGA.

Lam Sai-wing was a butcher as well as a student of the legendary Chinese martial artist Wong Fei-hung. He has been instrumental in constructing hung kuen as we know it today. While we may think of hung kuen as only one kung fu style, it is a hybrid system that encompasses various southern Chinese martial arts.

Lam also contributed to the modernisation of the traditional art. “This is seen in his efforts to construct Nam Mou Athletic Association, which was the first athletic association in Hong Kong that took on board a lot of those Western sports education concepts, but focused on the heritage and practice of traditional southern Chinese martial arts,” says Chao.

The other martial arts family featured in the exhibition is that of Liu Zhan. Liu’s son is late film director Lau Kar-leung, who worked in the 1970s and ’80s for the Shaw Brothers Studio, first as an action choreographer before directing his own films. Selected scenes from his classics, such as The 36th Chamber of Shaolin and Martial Club, have been adapted into 3D and will be shown at the exhibition.