International martial arts superstar Jet Li got his start in The Shao Lin Temple (1982), and he followed that up with the semi-sequels Kids From Shaolin (1984) and Martial Arts of Shaolin (1986). Lau Kar Leung, director of Martial Arts of Shaolin, is one of the most incredibly talented and pervasively influential action directors of Hong Kong cinema history, most known for his films with Shaw Brothers from the late sixties to the mid-eighties. He offers in Martial Arts in Shaolin some unforgettable battles in the Forbidden City, the Great Wall, and even on the Yangtze River, in which Jet Li also shows off his superb kung-fu.

A magnificent martial arts saga with more than 300 martial experts supporting the massive fighting scenes, Martial Arts of Shaolin sees Jet Li as monk Chi-ming from the Northern Shaolin Temple. He meets a girl Yan (Huang Chiu Yen, Jet Li's real-life ex-wife), a secular disciple of the Southern Shaolin Temple, when they co-incidentally attempt to assassinate a villainous aristocrat. The mission almost costs Chi-ming's life, but he also discovers that Yan is more than just a Shaolin martial arts girl