| “ | We do not stop when our enemy is down! No mercy... no mercy in the studio... no mercy in competition... no mercy in life! Our enemies deserve pain! | „ |
| ~ Master Li to his students. |
Master Li (李师傅) is the main antagonist of the 2010 drama film The Karate Kid, which is a remake of the 1984 film with the same name.
He is a Kung Fu teacher who teaches his students to be completely merciless, and is the shifu/owner of the Fighting Dragons Kung Fu studio. Li is the former master of Cheng and his gang and the arch-enemy of Mr. Han.
He was portrayed by Yu Rongguang.
Biography[]
Master Li is the owner and teacher of the Fighting Dragons Kung Fu studio. Li is a ruthless and authoritative king-fu master, who teaches his students to be just as merciless as he is. Master Li goes as far as to force his students to viciously spar with each other, and even goes as far as abusing them if they display any act of mercy or compassion.
Master Li is first seen in his studio teaching his students when Dre Parker enters to observe them. Master Li does not seem to notice Dre as he drills his philosophy of “No Weakness. No Pain. No Mercy.” Into his students. Dre immediately flees the studio however, when he sees Cheng and his friends are his students. He was later informed by Cheng that he and his friends were attacked after confronting Dre Parker. The confrontation however was in fact an earlier incident when Cheng and his friend’s cornered and attacked Dre until he was saved by his apartment's maintenance man Mr. Han.
The next time he is shown, Master Li makes his students Liang Zihao and Qin Zhuangzhuang spar with each other. Zhuang bests Liang in their spar, but holds back from delivering a fatal blow as he already had him pinned. Master Li however, viciously orders Zhaung to finish Liang, which Zhaung does by chopping Liang’s neck. For showing mercy to his friend, Li punishes Zhaung by slapping him in the face. Li reminds his students that they cannot show mercy to their enemy, even when they are unable to fight back. Li then notices Cheng was not paying attention, to which Cheng informs his master that they were being interrupted. Master Li turned to find Dre Parker and Mr. Han, who witnessed Master Li’s teachings.
Mr. Han insists that they have only come to make peace, but Li harshly rebuffs their peace offer, and says that Dre should take care of his problems by himself. Mr. Han refutes him, claiming that 1-1 is no problem, but 6-1 is too much of anybody. Deliberately seeing this as a challenge, Li orders Cheng to prepare for a match with Dre. When Mr. Han refuses to fight, he and Dre attempt to leave. Li refuses to let them leave however, claiming that Mr. Han attacked his students and disrespected his studio, physically keeping Mr. Han from leaving. Li then says that since both Dre and Mr. Han both showed up at his studio, one of them has to fight.
Realizing that Li will not let them leave otherwise, Han then gestures to a poster for the open Kung Fu tournament, which the Fighting Dragon's are the reigning champions of, and tells Master Li that Dre will fight his students there. Li laughs momentarily and says that he and his students accept the challenge, as well as agree to Mr. Han’s condition to not bother Dre while he train’s under Mr. Han's guidance. Li strictly instructs all of his students that Dre is to be left alone until the tournament. As Dre and Mr. Han prepare to leave, Li momentarily stops them and then tells them if Dre fails to show up to the tournament, he will personally bring pain to both of them.
On the day of the tournament, Li witness’s Dre’s remarkable improvement in kung-fu as he defeats his students one by one, advancing to the semi-finals. Refusing to acknowledge Dre or Mr. Han, Master Li orders Liang to break Dre’s leg to put him out of commission for the tournament. Liang is reluctant to do this as it would disgrace him. Li however does not care as he want break Dre’s body and spirit. Liang is forced to comply as he grabs Dre’s leg in their fight, and repeatedly elbows it. Because of this, Liang is disqualified leaving Cheng as the only remaining eligible fighter of the tournament, as well as the Fighting Dragon's. Before he can be announced as the winner however, Mr. Han is able to heal Dre's leg, allowing Dre to fight Cheng in the final round. Master Li sarcastically congratulates Han for getting Dre back on the tournament.
Master Li watched as Cheng fought against Dre, who proved to be a challenge even with his semi-injured leg. After managing to secure two points, and delivering a punch to Cheng similar to what Cheng did to Dre in their first meeting, Cheng is forced to go to back to Master Li to ensure his nose was not broken. While examining his nose, Master Li orders Chang to finish what he ordered Liang to do and break Dre’s leg. For the first time, Cheng is hesitant to comply with his master, but goes through with his orders by attacking Dre’s leg. With their score tied, Dre takes the serpent stance as he prepares for his final attack against Cheng. Master Li viciously shouts at Cheng to finish Dre off once and for all. Cheng charges at Dre, but Dre defeats Cheng by delivering a spin-flip kick. Cheng presents the trophy and apologizing to Dre. After this, Cheng and the rest of the Fighting Dragons students, now finally realizing Li's true nature, all bow down to Mr. Han, accepting him as their new master.
It is unknown what happened to Li after the tournament, but it is implied that he was exposed as a cheater and disgraceful mentor and was arrested for his terrible influencing on his students. With his students now choosing to follow Mr. Han as their master, his studio most likely resulted in going bankrupt and defunct.
Personality[]
Master Li is a man of few words, but what is for certain, is that he is a ruthless, cutthroat, and merciless man.
Li strongly believes that kung fu is a weapon that can only be fully developed by discarding concepts like compassion and benevolence. He despises any acts of mercy in his presence and is willing to go as far as to abuse his students if they go against his orders.
Li does not tolerate anyone who questions his methods, believing anyone who does so is an insult to his honor and a direct challenge. Li is quick to confrontation, and refuses to listen to reason, implying that he follows a very “might makes right” philosophy. Li is also shown to be quite sadistic as he ordered Cheng to go as far as to break Dre's leg during the tournament in order to break his spirit.
Throughout the film, Master Li shows little interest in Dre, referring to him as a "thing" rather than as a person, implying he does not acknowledge weaker people. Master Li’s focus seems more fixated on Mr. Han, who presented himself as a contradiction to Master Li’s methodology of martial arts, and seems more interested in proving to Mr. Han that his philosophy is stronger than his.
Trivia[]
- Towards the end of the film, as Li's students bow to Mr. Han and show respect to him, Li is seen astounded, but when Dre and Mr. Han leave the tournament, he is inexplicably seen on the floor without explanation.
- This error is given that in an alternate ending, Li was very angry with Cheng for losing to Dre and showing respect towards both him and Mr. Han. Master Li is about to slap Cheng, but Mr. Han stops him, fights him and nearly defeats him. Li was seen resting angrily and later got punched in the jaw by Dre's mother as punishment for instructing his students to brutally attack her son. It got removed apparently because it would have taken too much focus away from Dre's victory.
- In the biggest twist of irony, despite being the titular martial art; neither Li nor the other characters of the film are shown using karate to fight, using kung fu instead. Indeed, back when the remake was in development, Sony considered to change the title to reflect this, but the franchise producer Jerry Weintraub rejected the idea, possibly to keep the title in line with that of the previous films.
- Li is based off John Kreese from the original trilogy and Cobra Kai and Colonel Dugan from The Next Karate Kid. However, in comparison to Dugan & Kreese, Li is much darker and far more enigmatic than both Dugan and Kreese due to his lack of a tragic backstory and the fact that Li physically abused his students for showing mercy and respect even before the Fighting Dragons lost the tournament.
- Li never speaks English throughout the whole movie which might suggest that he does not know English or knows it very little.
