Inside the Elite Center!
Elite Center is a multinational sports conglomerate under the UFC, with branches all over the world. Every year it sends a huge number of athletic talents into the pipeline, and it has enormous influence worldwide.
Its Hong Kong branch is one of the world’s five major divisions and the second-largest branch in the entire Asia-Pacific region, trailing only the Tokyo branch. It offers courses ranging from track and field and ball sports to chess and combat sports, as well as film and television performance.
But because it is a UFC-affiliated group and an important part of what sits behind UFC, the most famous and influential part of Elite Center is still its combat division, which covers almost every mainstream fighting style in the world.
Because kung fu films and action movies are such an important category in Chinese-language cinema, and because of Elite Center’s scientific management, a lot of currently hot celebrities in the industry often come here to work out and study. Zhou Huimin, for example, is a regular here, even a VIP member.
Elite Center only established its Hong Kong branch in the last few years. Before that, the entire Asia-Pacific region had only the Tokyo branch. Now, with UFC’s expansion into the Pearl River Delta and Hong Kong-Macao area, Li Changsheng was honestly very unfamiliar with this place.
Zhou Huimin was still very enthusiastic, taking the initiative to explain the glorious history of their Hong Kong Island branch to Li Changsheng.
“Elite Center’s combat division is incredible. It has repeatedly won international competition awards and has even produced more than ten official UFC fighters who made it into the main roster. Among them, boxing, kendo, judo, and taekwondo are the most famous. In particular, the judo captain Black Bear has remained undefeated in the UFC middleweight main card for two straight years, successfully defending the title of ‘Outstanding Fighter.’ His signature move, Sky-Overturning Sea, is extremely sharp, and I’ve heard quite a few film companies want to invite him to act.”
“Sky-Overturning Sea? Boundless Ocean? What does any of that have to do with judo? And doesn’t this place have Chinese kung fu? I remember Wing Chun and Hung Kuen are both famous around Hong Kong Island. Are you telling me there isn’t a single fighter here who can really handle himself?”
“What you’re talking about is screen martial arts. Modern combat is the real thing, every punch landing on flesh. It’s not filming. Where would all these masters come from? It’s not like I’ve never acted in kung fu movies before; they’re all fake. If you’re really interested in fighting styles, why not try taekwondo? Your legs are long, so it should look good when you use them.”
When Li Changsheng heard the three words “taekwondo,” his face filled with disdain. I’m a cultivator, and you want me to learn martial arts? And taekwondo, of all things, that flashy, second-rate imitation? Looks like there probably aren’t any real masters here either. Sky-Overturning Sea?
I’ve got my own Invincible Fire Wheel too!
Elite Center was huge, not at all smaller than the grounds of Hong Kong University. It was basically the largest comprehensive school in Hong Kong for sports competition, and many professional athletes from Hong Kong’s representative teams had trained here.
So Elite Center was divided into many areas and had many gyms. The one Zhou Huimin brought Li Changsheng to was the film performance area, which mainly catered to celebrities in the industry. There were professional coaches here too, but most of them taught screen martial arts centered on film and television performance.
“Changsheng, over there is where they train sword techniques. That one is called Faan Siu-hung. He debuted as a child actor and is said to have real skill. He acted in a lot of kung fu films back in the day, but now he’s older and his image is just average, so he mainly works behind the scenes as an instructor, with the occasional supporting role.
These are the sword techniques we use when filming. Usually, the choreography is designed specifically according to your physical condition and the type of production, and then they teach you hand in hand how to use the techniques smoothly.
Of course, what they practice here are only the basics. The point is to get you roughly accustomed to it. When it comes to actual filming, there will also be rehearsals and on-set walkthroughs, so kung fu movies are nowhere near as easy to shoot as you might think. They’re exhausting. Not many people want to make them anymore.”
Li Changsheng nodded. Compared with other genres, kung fu films were definitely the most exhausting and the most dangerous, but they were also one of the most distinctive strengths of Chinese-language cinema, and one of the few special genres that could go overseas and sell worldwide.
After watching that faded star named Faan Siu-hung instruct a few handsome men and beautiful women in sword techniques for a while, Li Changsheng could tell that Faan Siu-hung had real ability and a very high level of attainment in swordsmanship. He had already reached a fairly advanced stage and could be counted as a rare sword expert.
But swordsmanship was still only swordsmanship, not the dao of the sword. It was not enough to make Li Changsheng take him seriously, so he did not pay it much mind.
As for feeling sorry for talent, sorry, the entertainment industry was just that realistic. Whether you could fight was one thing. Whether you fought well on camera, and whether you looked good to begin with, that was the key.
Faan Siu-hung wasn’t ugly, but he really wasn’t handsome. Even if Li Changsheng knew nothing at all and just casually waved a few moves around in a half-assed, step-by-step way, he would absolutely have a better market than him.
The entertainment business was ultimately still a place that judged by face. A hero had to be tall, imposing, and dashing to match the fantasies of ordinary people, and that was only because ordinary people themselves were so superficial.
After passing through many crowded indoor training areas, Zhou Huimin brought Li Changsheng to the private gym she usually used. This was a professional gym reserved for hot celebrities, and the nearly three-hundred-square-meter space had only two customers in it: Zhou Huimin and Li Changsheng.
It wasn’t that only Zhou Huimin could use this gym. VIP clients like her, after making an advance reservation, were the only ones allowed to use it during that time slot together with the friends they brought. Everyone else was forbidden from entering.
Under normal circumstances, there would be a dedicated personal trainer guiding the workout. The celebrity trainers here were not the cheap, generic kind you find outside; they were all elites in this industry, and very expensive. A single lesson, one hour long, reportedly cost anywhere from ten thousand to thirty thousand.
You could say that for hot celebrities like Zhou Huimin, the money they spent every year on fitness and body management ran into the millions. In special situations where they needed to lose weight or bulk up quickly, the cost could be even higher.
Many hot celebrities seem to earn a lot, but that is only the shine on the surface. That was also why so many once-glorious superstars, after gradually fading away later on, ended up living rather miserably in their old age.