China Ip Man is a China–Hong Kong co-production — one of only a handful of such cross-border film titles indexed here.
Synopsis
葉問
“The celebrated Kung Fu master of Bruce Lee.”
A semi-biographical account of Yip Man, the first martial arts master to teach the Chinese martial art of Wing Chun. The film focuses on events surrounding Ip that took place in the city of Foshan between the 1930s to 1940s during the Second Sino-Japanese War. Directed by Wilson Yip, the film stars Donnie Yen in the lead role, and features fight choreography by Sammo Hung.
Audience Engagement
3,444 audience reviews — more than 97% of China films in our index.
Review volume (97th percentile) outruns trending popularity (79th) — a durable title with sustained audience attention.
China × Hong Kong Co-Production
Other China×Hong Kong titles
Titles With Overlapping Themes
Films and series that share thematic tags with Ip Man. Number on each card indicates how many keywords overlap.
Other Titles From Mandarin Films
Drama + Action in China
129 China titles in our catalog blend the Drama and Action genres. Below: the top-rated of them (excluding Ip Man itself).
The 2007–2009 China Window
Among 63 China films we catalog from this window, Ip Man places #4 — near the top of its class.
The 2000s China Landscape
Catalog density by release year across the 2000s in China, 142 titles in total. Highlighted year (yellow) is when Ip Man premiered alongside 16 others.
Budget & Box Office Efficiency
At a 1h 46m runtime, production spent $111K per minute on screen and earned $209K per minute back.
Position in Catalog
Released alongside 16 other China films in 2008.
The 190th China title from China we index (earliest catalogued entry: 1935).
Our China catalog contains 946 titles in total (747 films).
Thematic Fingerprint
Tags on Ip Man, grouped by how common each theme is across the full Asian catalog. Rare tags are more distinctive signals.
- rice · 5
- bravery · 4
- master · 4
- wing chun · 4
- market · 3
- sadist · 3
- foreigner · 2
- bayonet · 2
- katana · 20
- tragic hero · 7
- second sino-japanese war (1937-45) · 7
- racism · 7
- martial arts · 369
- kung fu · 121
- sports · 59
Reception Benchmarks
Ranked #112 of 946 China films indexed here (88th percentile by TMDB audience score).
Rating is +1.1 points above the China average of 6.7/10.
Among China Drama productions specifically: #72 of 547 (top 13%).
Production Details
| Primary Country | China |
|---|---|
| All Production Countries | China, Hong Kong |
| Original Language | Cantonese |
| Spoken Languages | Mandarin, Japanese, Cantonese |
| Production Companies | Mandarin Films, Golden Harvest Company, Beijing ShengShi HuaRei Film Investment & Management Co., China Film Co-Production Corporation, New Film Studio of Beijing Starlight International Media Co. Ltd. |
| Runtime | 1h 46m |
| Release Date | December 12, 2008 |
| IMDb | tt1220719 |
| Official Site | www.ipman-movie.com |