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Importance Of Confucianism In The Film IP Man

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In the film IP man directed by Wilson Yip, we are taken on an adventure with Master IP he lives In the town of Fo Shan, a town of martial arts, where he is one of the greatest of all the teachers in this town. Everything is going wonderfully for the town until World War 2 starts and the Japanese invade China. With this invasion comes General Miura who wants Master IP to teach the Japanese Wing Chun because "Admires his talent." He refuses and IP man and general Miura have a fight in front of the entire town. The film summarizes and demonstrates two huge Asian philosophies, Confucianism and Bushido but not just through the eyes of Master IP.
In the transition scene between the talk with General Miura and IP man, we see him summarize as to …show more content…

Has some correlation and similarities to Confucianism. When Master IP states "you abuse military power, and turn it into violence to oppress others," (IP Man, Donnie Yen) this phrase was simply said to help the viewer understand specifically how the Japanese don't understand Confucianism. To be more specific in Confucianism there is a value called "Rén (Chinese: 仁)," ("Confucianism") this value simply states treat other's how you would want to be treated.
Bushido or in other words "way of the warrior" plays a huge role in how this film is displayed and shown. Now I understand that the word Bushido specifically applies to Samurai. But there are still some similarities to how Master IP did things compared to a Samurai, we will also look at how Bushido affected the Japanese in this film. Now Master IP demonstrates all of the "8 virtues of Bushido" ("The Bushido Code: The Eight Virtues of the Samurai") throughout this film, but I have decided to focus on just 2. "Benevolence or Mercy" ("The Bushido Code: The Eight Virtues of the Samurai") and "Character and Self-Control" ("The Bushido Code: The Eight Virtues of the Samurai"). "The Bushido Code: The Eight Virtues of the Samurai" define benevolence/mercy as "A man with the power to command and kill was expected to demonstrate equally extraordinary powers of benevolence," as well they define character/self-control as "What's right is right, and what's wrong is wrong… not

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