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The Magic Crystal

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The sai ( Japanese : 釵 , lit.   ' hairpin ' ; Chinese : 鐵尺 , lit.   ' iron ruler ' ) is a pointed melee weapon from Okinawa . It was historically utilized in martial arts such as Okinawan kobudō and southern Chinese martial arts, and has been absorbed into the curriculum of many modern martial arts. Although similar weapons can be found in other parts of Asia, the sai is the Okinawan take on the basic concept and should not be confused with the other weapons. The sai is primarily used for stabbing, striking, parrying and disarming opponents. It consists of a pointed metal main prong, that projects from a one-handed handle, two shorter metal side prongs, which project from the opposite sides of the base of the main prong and point in the same direction as it, and a blunt metal pommel fixed to the bottom end of the handle. The sai came to international attention when Okinawan kobudō and karate reached international popularity in the mid-20th Century.

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38-576: The Magic Crystal ( Chinese : 魔翡翠 ; released in the Philippines as Fight to Win ) is a 1986 Hong Kong action film written and directed by Wong Jing . The film stars Andy Lau , Max Mok and Cynthia Rothrock . The film is primarily set in Greece and Hong Kong . In the film, a mercenary has to rescue an archaeologist from the KGB . An important document, to be presented as evidence in court

76-507: A baggage containing the mysterious artifact in Andy's hotel room before being captured by Karov, head of the KGB. Shum is then tranquilized by Karov when he refuses to tell him the whereabouts of the artifact, but Karov is able to deduce that it may be kept by Andy. After returning to Hong Kong, Andy's older sister informs about a phone call for him made by Shum's younger sister, Winnie, and gives him

114-509: A certain extent in South Korea , remain virtually identical to traditional characters, with variations between the two forms largely stylistic. There has historically been a debate on traditional and simplified Chinese characters . Because the simplifications are fairly systematic, it is possible to convert computer-encoded characters between the two sets, with the main issue being ambiguities in simplified representations resulting from

152-578: A mysterious artifact in Greece and wants Andy to examine it with him, but also warns him to be cautious as Shum is being tailed by international spies. Andy arrives in Greece with his nephew, Ban-ban, and assistant, Snooker. While Andy was sightseeing at the Parthenon with Ban-ban and Snooker, he bumps into Shum. Shum is ambushed and chased down by KGB thugs posing as Interpol agents. Andy, along with actual agents Cindy Morgan and Billy give chase and beat up

190-419: A pair of Sai against them until Andy delivers a devastating punch on Karov. Karov then chase Ban-ban but Andy subdues Karov with a big statue and Ban-ban is able to use the jade to help Venus return home while Karov furious jumps into the wave bringing Venus home and is transported out of Earth. The jade dies after using all its energy and bids farewell to a crying Ban-ban before it hatches a baby jade, much to

228-613: A standard set of Chinese character forms used to write Chinese languages . In Taiwan , the set of traditional characters is regulated by the Ministry of Education and standardized in the Standard Form of National Characters . These forms were predominant in written Chinese until the middle of the 20th century, when various countries that use Chinese characters began standardizing simplified sets of characters, often with characters that existed before as well-known variants of

266-410: A variety of blocks, parries and captures against attackers from all directions and height levels. Use of the sharp points, the main prong and the pommel is emphasized, as well as rapid grip changes for multiple fast stabs and strikes. One commonly depicted technique in sai kata is to use of one of the sai ' s side prongs to entrap an opponents weapon and then disarm them of it. Some variations of

304-869: Is 産 (also the accepted form in Japan and Korea), while in Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan the accepted form is 產 (also the accepted form in Vietnamese chữ Nôm ). The PRC tends to print material intended for people in Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, and overseas Chinese in traditional characters. For example, versions of the People's Daily are printed in traditional characters, and both People's Daily and Xinhua have traditional character versions of their website available, using Big5 encoding. Mainland companies selling products in Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan use traditional characters in order to communicate with consumers;

342-424: Is a weapon typically wielded in pairs, with one in each hand. In modern Okinawan Kobudo, five kata (choreographed patterns of movements in martial arts) are commonly taught, including two kihon kata. The utility of the sai is given away by its distinctive trident-like shape. It is a weapon primarily used for fast stabbing and striking, but being very versatile, it has many other uses as well. These include

380-493: The Chinese Commercial News , World News , and United Daily News all use traditional characters, as do some Hong Kong–based magazines such as Yazhou Zhoukan . The Philippine Chinese Daily uses simplified characters. DVDs are usually subtitled using traditional characters, influenced by media from Taiwan as well as by the two countries sharing the same DVD region , 3. With most having immigrated to

418-534: The Eagle Claw and Northern Praying Mantis fighting styles. The Magic Crystal was released in the Philippines as Fight to Win by Pioneer Releasing, and became a box office hit, introducing Cynthia Rothrock (credited as Cindy Rothrock) to Filipino audiences. Numerous imported films were later released under new titles by various distributors to make them appear as sequels to the film: Traditional Chinese characters Traditional Chinese characters are

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456-606: The Kensiu language . Sai (weapon) Before the creation of the sai in Okinawa , similar weapons were already being used in other Asian countries including India , Thailand , China , Vietnam , Malaysia , and Indonesia . The basic concept of this kind of weapon was brought to Okinawa over time from one or several of these places. However, the sai is the Okinawan take on this weapon concept, and should not be mixed with

494-640: The Shanghainese -language character U+20C8E 𠲎 CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-20C8E —a composition of 伐 with the ⼝   'MOUTH' radical—used instead of the Standard Chinese 嗎 ; 吗 . Typefaces often use the initialism TC to signify the use of traditional Chinese characters, as well as SC for simplified Chinese characters . In addition, the Noto, Italy family of typefaces, for example, also provides separate fonts for

532-529: The sai in Okinawan kobudō was approved in 1668 by Moto Chohei, an Okinawan prince. Japan had a similar weapon, the jitte , which was originally used as a blunt weapon by guards in the Shogun's palace, and was subsequently issued to senior officials as a badge of office. Edo period examples of the jitte typically have only a single hook. The relationship between the sai and jitte is unclear. The sai

570-555: The People's Republic of China, traditional Chinese characters are standardised according to the Table of Comparison between Standard, Traditional and Variant Chinese Characters . Dictionaries published in mainland China generally show both simplified and their traditional counterparts. There are differences between the accepted traditional forms in mainland China and elsewhere, for example the accepted traditional form of 产 in mainland China

608-587: The United States during the second half of the 19th century, Chinese Americans have long used traditional characters. When not providing both, US public notices and signs in Chinese are generally written in traditional characters, more often than in simplified characters. In the past, traditional Chinese was most often encoded on computers using the Big5 standard, which favored traditional characters. However,

646-616: The address of a gymnasium where she trains. Ban-ban also opens the luggage containing the mysterious artifact, the Magic Crystal, a large piece of jade with magical powers and can talk, and befriends the jade. Meanwhile, Andy arrives at Winnie's gymnasium she states she has no news of her brother for a month. Andy, Winnie and Lo Sai, an aggressive pursuer of Winnie, were ambushed by Karov's thugs and Andy fights them off and rescues Winnie. Winnie goes to hide in Andy's house, while Lo Sai also follows, much to everyone's annoyance. Ban-ban and

684-439: The child protected at the police station. At the police station the jade uses its power where Ban-ban leaves the station and takes the jade to Greece by himself while police mole informs Karov the whereabouts of Ban-ban before being punched by Billy. Andy, Snooker, Cindy and Billy arrive in Greece where Cindy receives intel Ban-ban paid for a boat to a mysterious island. However, Ban-ban is once again captured by Karov on his way to

722-481: The delight of the child. According to Rothrock, she injured her right ACL while Norton suffered a staph infection on his leg in the Philippines prior to the start of the film's production. Rothrock re-injured her knee while filming the fight scene in Greece; the pain caused her to accidentally stab her opponent with her spear. She also accidentally slashed Norton on the eyebrow during their fight scene. The film features Rothrock's extensive use of weapons, as well as

760-493: The inverse is equally true as well. In digital media, many cultural phenomena imported from Hong Kong and Taiwan into mainland China, such as music videos, karaoke videos, subtitled movies, and subtitled dramas, use traditional Chinese characters. In Hong Kong and Macau , traditional characters were retained during the colonial period, while the mainland adopted simplified characters. Simplified characters are contemporaneously used to accommodate immigrants and tourists, often from

798-516: The island but Andy and the crew manage to follow them into a cave. Andy, Cindy, Snooker fall into an underground level full of booby traps while Billy chases Karov, and the trio find a device with the recording Venus detailing his journey to Earth and the jade, which is his technological pet, will help him return to his home planet. Karov, who has Ban-ban in his arms also hear this and a big fight between Andy, Cindy and Billy against Karov and his thugs. Andy and Cindy then join forces to fight Karov who uses

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836-571: The jade and he goes to rob a bank by himself and is taken to an asylum as a result. Andy then receives a call from Sergeant Shek that he has found Shum and is at his house. Andy arrives at Shek's home and finds both Shek and Shum dead while Andy was knocked unconscious. Andy wakes up while Cindy and Billy arrest him thinking he murdered Shek. Meanwhile, Andy's sister was attacked by Karov's thug at home but she fends them off. Karov arrives and fights Andy's sister, outmatching her until Cindy arrives and join forces to fight Karov, who kidnaps Ban-ban and takes

874-459: The jade play tricks on Lo Sai, including swapping his hands and feet and he wakes up in shock. Ban-ban used the jade to defeat a bully at school. When Sergeant Shek comes, he questions Andy, Winnie, and Lo Sai about their attack the previous evening, with the latter trying to hide the awkward limb swap. When Cindy and his traveling companion also arrive in Hong Kong, they meet with Andy for a short time before running into Karov, who demands Andy hand up

912-420: The jade, which Andy finds confusing. Andy fights off Karov's thug and escape with Winnie and tells Snooker to take a look at their baggage brought back from Greece. At this time, Lo Sai also discovers the jade, who swaps Lo Sai's hands and feet back to normal and gives him a superpower where he can command people to do whatever he says. However, Lo Sai did not catch that the superpower only works within five feet of

950-424: The jade. Karov then hires a thug to kill Andy with ice bullets but fails. Andy then escapes from prison helped by Billy, who reveals the plan to avoid the attention of moles in the police force. The two join with Cindy, Snooker and Andy's sister at Karov's headquarters where they fight off Karov's thug. Karov escapes after Andy engages in a fight with him but they were able to rescue Ban-ban and Cindy suggests to keep

988-725: The mainland. The increasing use of simplified characters has led to concern among residents regarding protecting what they see as their local heritage. Taiwan has never adopted simplified characters. The use of simplified characters in government documents and educational settings is discouraged by the government of Taiwan. Nevertheless, with sufficient context simplified characters are likely to be successfully read by those used to traditional characters, especially given some previous exposure. Many simplified characters were previously variants that had long been in some use, with systematic stroke simplifications used in folk handwriting since antiquity. Traditional characters were recognized as

1026-682: The majority of Chinese text in mainland China are simplified characters , there is no legislation prohibiting the use of traditional Chinese characters, and often traditional Chinese characters remain in use for stylistic and commercial purposes, such as in shopfront displays and advertising. Traditional Chinese characters remain ubiquitous on buildings that predate the promulgation of the current simplification scheme, such as former government buildings, religious buildings, educational institutions, and historical monuments. Traditional Chinese characters continue to be used for ceremonial, cultural, scholarly/academic research, and artistic/decorative purposes. In

1064-983: The merging of previously distinct character forms. Many Chinese online newspapers allow users to switch between these character sets. Traditional characters are known by different names throughout the Chinese-speaking world. The government of Taiwan officially refers to traditional Chinese characters as 正體字 ; 正体字 ; zhèngtǐzì ; 'orthodox characters'. This term is also used outside Taiwan to distinguish standard characters, including both simplified, and traditional, from other variants and idiomatic characters . Users of traditional characters elsewhere, as well as those using simplified characters, call traditional characters 繁體字 ; 繁体字 ; fántǐzì ; 'complex characters', 老字 ; lǎozì ; 'old characters', or 全體字 ; 全体字 ; quántǐzì ; 'full characters' to distinguish them from simplified characters. Some argue that since traditional characters are often

1102-529: The next day against a triad boss, has been stolen from the Hong Kong police. Due to time constraints, Sergeant Shek of the Special Duty Unit recruits mercenary Andy Lo, known as the "Eagle Hunter", to retrieve it. Andy breaks into the triad boss's mansion where he fights his henchmen and tricks the triad boss into opening his safe where the document is hidden. Later, Andy receives a letter from his archaeologist friend, Shum Kwan, where he discovered

1140-677: The official script in Singapore until 1969, when the government officially adopted Simplified characters. Traditional characters still are widely used in contexts such as in baby and corporation names, advertisements, decorations, official documents and in newspapers. The Chinese Filipino community continues to be one of the most conservative in Southeast Asia regarding simplification. Although major public universities teach in simplified characters, many well-established Chinese schools still use traditional characters. Publications such as

1178-700: The original standard forms, they should not be called 'complex'. Conversely, there is a common objection to the description of traditional characters as 'standard', due to them not being used by a large population of Chinese speakers. Additionally, as the process of Chinese character creation often made many characters more elaborate over time, there is sometimes a hesitation to characterize them as 'traditional'. Some people refer to traditional characters as 'proper characters' ( 正字 ; zhèngzì or 正寫 ; zhèngxiě ) and to simplified characters as 簡筆字 ; 简笔字 ; jiǎnbǐzì ; 'simplified-stroke characters' or 減筆字 ; 减笔字 ; jiǎnbǐzì ; 'reduced-stroke characters', as

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1216-480: The other similar weapons. Some sources theorize that this weapon concept may be based on the Indian trisula , an ancient Hindu-Buddhist symbol that may have spread along with Hinduism and Buddhism into South-East Asia. The word trisula itself can refer to either a long or short-handled trident. In Okinawa the sai was used by the domestic police ( ufuchiku ) to arrest criminals and for crowd control. Use of

1254-833: The predominant forms. Simplified characters as codified by the People's Republic of China are predominantly used in mainland China , Malaysia, and Singapore. "Traditional" as such is a retronym applied to non-simplified character sets in the wake of widespread use of simplified characters. Traditional characters are commonly used in Taiwan , Hong Kong , and Macau , as well as in most overseas Chinese communities outside of Southeast Asia. As for non-Chinese languages written using Chinese characters, Japanese kanji include many simplified characters known as shinjitai standardized after World War II, sometimes distinct from their simplified Chinese counterparts . Korean hanja , still used to

1292-495: The thugs while Shum escapes. Afterwards, Cindy and her partner reveals to Andy that they know of his identity as the Eagle Hunter and informs him of Shum's situation of being hunted by the KGB and persuades him to cooperate with them to help his friend. Shum arrives at the hotel where Andy was residing but gets shot by a KGB thug posing as Andy's assistant, but manages to subdue the thug before escaping. Afterwards, Shum leaves

1330-636: The traditional character set used in Taiwan ( TC ) and the set used in Hong Kong ( HK ). Most Chinese-language webpages now use Unicode for their text. The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) recommends the use of the language tag zh-Hant to specify webpage content written with traditional characters. In the Japanese writing system , kyujitai are traditional forms, which were simplified to create shinjitai for standardized Japanese use following World War II. Kyūjitai are mostly congruent with

1368-985: The traditional characters in Chinese, save for minor stylistic variation. Characters that are not included in the jōyō kanji list are generally recommended to be printed in their traditional forms, with a few exceptions. Additionally, there are kokuji , which are kanji wholly created in Japan, rather than originally being borrowed from China. In the Korean writing system , hanja —replaced almost entirely by hangul in South Korea and totally replaced in North Korea —are mostly identical with their traditional counterparts, save minor stylistic variations. As with Japanese, there are autochthonous hanja, known as gukja . Traditional Chinese characters are also used by non-Chinese ethnic groups. The Maniq people living in Thailand and Malaysia use Chinese characters to write

1406-518: The ubiquitous Unicode standard gives equal weight to simplified and traditional Chinese characters, and has become by far the most popular encoding for Chinese-language text. There are various input method editors (IMEs) available for the input of Chinese characters . Many characters, often dialectical variants, are encoded in Unicode but cannot be inputted using certain IMEs, with one example being

1444-587: The words for simplified and reduced are homophonous in Standard Chinese , both pronounced as jiǎn . The modern shapes of traditional Chinese characters first appeared with the emergence of the clerical script during the Han dynasty c.  200 BCE , with the sets of forms and norms more or less stable since the Southern and Northern dynasties period c.  the 5th century . Although

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