Two aging martial artists get together once a year for a timed duel. One is master of the short sword, King of Sabres (Sammo Hung), and the other is King of Spears (Lau Kar Wing). Every year the fight ends in a draw, and as the masters are getting old, they decide the best course of action is to each take on a student to determine who is the better teacher. They agree to meet up again 10 years later, with their students and let the next generation carry on the duel.
The story opens at a fabric dyeing mill. The quality of the dyes has noticeably worsened, and the factory owner, Wang, and his subordinate chief, Boss Wa, decide to hire some Manchu overseers to improve the work. Wang decides to cut the workers' salary to pay the mercenaries, and when the workers protest they are viciously thrashed.
Teen-aged Fong Sai-Yuk is a gifted Martial Artist but he is a poor student at school and is a constant troublemaker, despite the fact that the school is run by his father. Powerful Manchu officials in Guangdong are achieving hegemony over the native Han Chinese population and threaten to shut the school down.
Ciao Lei est le seul survivant d’une tuerie de toute sa famille. Il a eu le temps, auparavant, de confier Qian Qian sa compagne, à son ami Chuan. Les responsables de ce massacre sont des mercenaires dirigés par Ting, une redoutable combattante. Elle l'épargne et tombe sous le charme de Ciao. Le jeune homme est cependant bien décidé à apprendre le kung-fu avec la compagnie de Ting afin de retrouver son ami Chuan qui découvre que ce dernier est sur le point de se marier avec sa fiancée.
A brother and sister escape from Japanese-occupied Shanghai to Japanese-occupied Taiwan, to stay with their grandfather who runs a Kung-Fu school there. However, the master of a Japanese Karate school in Taiwan has designs on bringing all other schools on the island under his domination, and part of his plan involves the murder of the siblings' grandfather. Undaunted, the brother and sister reestablish their grandfather's school, leading to a final confrontation with the Japanese Karate master. Jackie Chan plays a young thief who at first does not want to learn Kung-fu, but finally realizes that he can no longer stand by and let the Japanese trample the rights of the Chinese people. He proves extremely adept at the martial arts, and carries the fight to its final conclusion.
Lam Sai-wing (Sammo Hung), also known as Butcher Wing, is a student of Wong Fei-hung (Kwan Tak-hing). Butcher Wing's long-lost brother Lam Sai-kwong (Chiang Kam) comes to town with his beautiful bride Yuet Mei (Tang Jing). Ko Tai-hoi (Fung Hak-on), the son of Master Ko (Lee Hoi San), sees Yuet Mei and, lusting for her, abducts her. The abduction is witnessed by Master Ko's goddaughter Lan Hsing (JoJo Chan Kei-kei).
Celle qui avait pris la place de l'impératrice ayant été démasquée par Stephen Chow, la belle Lin Ching-hsia la remplace et continue les intrigues autour du palais impérial. Pendant ce temps, Chow prend plus de pouvoirs au sein de la cour et acquiert des techniques d'arts martiaux invincibles qui l'aideront à sauver une seconde fois son ami l'empereur des griffes de la secte satanique qui lui veut sa perte.
The 1978 version uses portions of the original footage married to an entirely new plot involving a new character, Billy Lo,(盧比利) struggling against a racketeering "syndicate" after gaining international success as a martial arts movie star. When Billy refuses to be intimidated by syndicate henchman Steiner (Hugh O'Brian) and his gangs of thugs, syndicate owner Dr. Land (Dean Jagger) orders his assassination to serve as an example to others.
Chan plays a bumbling long haired acrobat named Jiang who really wants to practice kung fu. He finds an advertisement for work at the Mansion as a body guard. Jiang doesn't get the body guard position, but cons his way into a job using his kung fu skills, and gets himself into the middle of some shady business. He is told not to go near the "guest room" where the special guest is staying. A fellow employee tells Jiang that there is an evil witch who lives in the guest room and is not to be disturbed. Jiang of course is caught spying on her and is run off the land. He then encounters two kung fu masters fighting in the woods. He watches one kill the other, and when he leaves Jiang takes the body into town to collect the reward. Using the money from the reward, Jiang tries to fulfill his kung fu dreams and find a master. He is suddenly attacked by the crazy witch and is about to lose until a mystery master shows up and beats her. The master turns out to be a bum, and teaches Jiang kung fu. He then goes on a journey with a princess to find a special jade plant.
A young female martial-arts champion, Cheng Tai-nun (Kara Hui) marries an elderly landowner so the old man can keep his estate from falling into the greedy and unscrupulous hands of his brother Yu Yung-Sheng (Wang Lung Wei). Tai-nun inherits his estate when he dies, and is soon in Canton, staying with her older nephew by marriage, Yu Cheng-chuan (Lau Kar Leung), and his son Yu Tao (Hsiao Ho). When the traditional and conservative Tai-nun, a woman from the provinces, runs into the modern and Westernized Yu Tao for the first time, the sparks fly and a clash of egos begins.
After the armies of the Eight-Nation Alliance occupy Beijing, the collapse of the Qing Dynasty is imminent. Wong Fei-hung and his companions return to Foshan in southern China and prepare to move to Hong Kong (then a British colony). In the meantime, Wong Fei-hung develops a love triangle with his romantic interests "13th Aunt" and "14th Aunt".