Women in the Martial Arts- from No Way Net Magazine

Women in the Martial Arts
by Java Bomani

One of the most vivid memories of my childhood was
going to the Adams Theater in Newark, New Jersey to
see Enter the Dragon for the first time. It was
just a short while ago when the sudden death of
Bruce Lee shook the world. It felt as if time stood
still. We came to celebrate, to witness and to morn.

There’s a term which seems to mainly be brought up
in pro football but can apply to any sport or
competitive venture. It applies to a player who
possesses immense talent but has only performed on
an equal level with his teammates – then suddenly
they do something great. ‘He flashed,’ the stunned
onlookers say, after witnessing a glimmer of the
potential greatness to come. That’s the way I felt
when I witnessed Angela Mao Ying catch one of O’
Hara’s attackers that were chasing her, with one of
the greatest spinning hook kicks you will ever see.
My interest was instantly peaked. Who is this
amazing, petite, attractive young woman kickin
these assailants butts all over the screen?

That single, fluid, bad intending move inspired me
to see more of what Angela Mao Ying has to offer.
If this is the effect she had on me, I can only
imagine what it must’ve meant to young girls and
women. It must’ve been somewhat empowering for
females who were led to believe they can’t compete
with bigger and stronger men. The martial arts have
always set out to prove that superior technique
will overcome superior strength. Angela Mao and
other women in the martial arts have proven this to
be so. Angela’s traditional name is Mao Fu Ying,
she was born September 20th, 1950 in Taiwan. Her
father Mao Yung Kang, was a Peking Opera star.
Angela attended ballet classes before joining The
Fu Shing Peking Opera in 1958 where one of her
classmates was James Tien.

James would later star in the The Chinese
Connection, Fist Of Fury and was to originally co
star in The Game of Death with Bruce Lee. He
appeared in many more films, even sharing the
screen with Angela in ‘Thunderbolt’. She was
discovered by Huang Feng who also discovered Sammo
Hung and Carter Wong. The success she would have in
a string of films that were popular in the east,
won her the opportunity to play the role of Bruce
Lee's sister in "Enter The Dragon". Although the
role was small and she didn’t appear on the screen
for that long, I guess the effect she had on me
wasn’t alone. When she FLASHED on the screen a lot
of interest was generated in her earlier work,
which inspired the eastern film companies to
release her prior films to the west. She retired
from the industry in 1982 to devote herself to
family.

Much of the information in this article was found
at
www.fortunecity.com/lavendar/westside/70/angela_mao.
html

and is accurate to my knowledge.

No Way Net Magazine - the web's best free martial arts magazine

From the February 05 Issue of

James Tien

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