Hong Kong Synopsis
螳螂
“Now that he learned the secret… he was ready to kill!”
When scholar Wei Fung is forcibly hired by the Manchu Emperor to infiltrate a clan of rebellious Ming Loyalists, his mission goes adrift when he falls in love with the clan's leader's granddaughter. Wei Fung must choose between his new love and his family, who will be put to death if he doesn't return to the palace successfully.
Titles With Overlapping Themes
Films and series that share thematic tags with Shaolin Mantis. Number on each card indicates how many keywords overlap.
Other Titles From Shaw Brothers
Action + Drama in Hong Kong
136 Hong Kong titles in our catalog blend the Action and Drama genres. Below: the top-rated of them (excluding Shaolin Mantis itself).
The 1977–1979 Hong Kong Window
Shaolin Mantis holds position #27 of 56 Hong Kong films in the 1977–1979 window, below highlighted by audience rating.
The 1970s Hong Kong Landscape
1978 was the decade’s peak output year for Hong Kong — 22 titles released, including Shaolin Mantis. Bars below show how the 1970s stacked up year by year (122 total).
Position in Catalog
Released alongside 21 other Hong Kong films in 1978.
The 98th Hong Kong title from Hong Kong we index (earliest catalogued entry: 1955).
Our Hong Kong catalog contains 836 titles in total (828 films).
Audience Engagement
22 audience reviews — more than 46% of Hong Kong films in our index.
Popularity sits at the 56th percentile among Hong Kong films.
Thematic Fingerprint
Tags on Shaolin Mantis, grouped by how common each theme is across the full Asian catalog. Rare tags are more distinctive signals.
- training-montage · 2
- animal kung fu · 1
- shaolin kung fu · 11
- martial arts · 369
- kung fu · 121
- marriage · 36
Reception Benchmarks
Ranked #342 of 836 Hong Kong films indexed here (59th percentile by TMDB audience score).
Rating is +0.2 points above the Hong Kong average of 6.3/10.
Among Hong Kong Action productions specifically: #223 of 516 (top 43%).
Production Details
| Primary Country | Hong Kong |
|---|---|
| Original Language | Chinese |
| Production Companies | Shaw Brothers |
| Runtime | 1h 36m |
| Release Date | June 28, 1978 |
| IMDb | tt0078360 |