Chun Li

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Context

Chun-Li (春麗) is one of the emblematic characters of the landmark brawling video game series, Street Fighter. But she wasn’t there from the very start, as she joined the cast in 1991.

She’s known for her kicks and her acrobatic fighting style. In several SF games, she’s also an easy character for beginners to get results with.

Background

Powers and Abilities

Chun Li is a world-class martial artist.

She uses a mix of Tai Chi and Kempo. Earlier versions of the game erroneously stated her style to be Wu Shu. Many of her acrobatic moves do resemble this, but her actual attacks are based on the aforementioned styles.

She can:

She’s also a star Interpol agent. While these aren’t demonstrated she’s assumed to be pretty good at detective work and other law enforcement related stuff.

Lastly she also placed sixth in an international shooting competition. So even though she’s rarely shown wielding a gun she is indeed a world class marksman.

Fighting strengths

Game play wise she’s a beast in close combat. Her superior speed allows her to get in close and dish out some particularly punishing combos. Chun Li is best played aggressively and can easily control the tempo of the match.

At mid range she’s not a slouch either. Her acrobatics allow her to avoid incoming attacks and quickly close the distance.

At long range she’s not super effective. But she does have a weak and slow projectile, so that’s something.

Her main weakness is that she doesn’t really have much in the way of defensive moves. The most defensive way to play her is to hop around avoiding attacks and then getting close to punish mistakes.

Compared to the rest of the Street Fighter roster, she’s average. She hasn’t had any real major victories and she has suffered a few losses. But those were mostly against the top tier fighters such as Bison.

History

Chun Li became fascinated with martial arts from a young age. That was after she saw Bruce Lee movies, and the Beijing Opera.

She was originally trained in Tai Chi, but would go on to study several other martial arts styles eventually leading her to develop her own.

Gen, a friend of her father, was among her teachers. But he left before her training was complete, as fictional martial arts sensei are wont to do.

Chun’s style used mostly kicks that she learned from her father. Mr. Li was famous for his legendary kicks when he was younger.

Chung Li was a famous detective, but he mysteriously vanished. Of course, young Chun vowed to do whatever it took to find him one day.

She became a detective at 18, and joined the ICPO (International Criminal Police Organization)’s narcotics division just like her father had. She eventually began hearing rumors of a vast criminal network called Shadaloo.

Street Fighter Alpha 2

Chun Li tracked down, and had a sparring match with, Gen. Afterwards Gen told her what he knew of Shadaloo. He also warned her to be careful should she choose to pursue them.

She eventually tracked down and fought Bison, but he easily defeated her. He then flew away, stating that if she interfered with him again then she would kill her. Just like he killed her father.

With tears in her eyes, Chun Li vowed revenge.

Street Fighter Alpha 3

To takle on Shadaloo, Chun Li teamed up with Lieutenant Charlie Nash of the US Air Force.

While investigating they encountered Lt. Guile. The USAF had sent him to bring back his AWOL friend Nash. Nash had deserted since he was well aware of the corruption within the agency.

Guile chose to join Nash and Chun, and together they located the Shadaloo base in Thailand. The Air Force had supposedly bombed it, but Bison’s bribes had derailed the raid.

The trio planted bombs of their own. But when Guile and Charlie went inside to destroy the Psycho Drive Guile suddenly came back running. He said that Charlie had ordered them to leave as the base was about to explode.

Meanwhile, Ryu defeated Bison. This along with the bombs planted caused the entire base to blow up. Chun Li caught a glimpse of Cammy escaping, then she and Guile got a wounded Ryu out.

To Guile’s dismay, Charlie was presumed dead in the explosions.

Chun Li was glad that her actions had contributed to the downfall of Shadaloo. She went back to being an Interpol agent.

Street Fighter II

Chun Li received an invitation to fight in the upcoming SF Tournament. Intrigued and suspicious, she accepted.

Chun Li and Guile once again teamed up. They and a few other fighters were able to confront Bison.

The crime lord wasn’t able to handle so many fighters, but refused to give up. He then apparently committed suicide by expending all of his remaining Psycho Power at once.

Street Fighter IV

Chun Li, Guile, and Cammy were tasked with stopping a rampaging Juri in a theme park.

Juri worked for S.I.N., a weapons development arm of Shadaloo. She had been augmented with a Psycho Drive cybernetic eye implant.

The trio split up to cover more ground. Chun Li was the first to find Juri, but not before she killed two people. Chun was badly beaten but Guile and Cammy came in – and Juri’s eye implant malfunctioned. She thus had to retreat.

Chun, Guile and Cammy joined forces against Shadaloo. The three of them all entered the next tournament. Their goal was to get close enough to permanently shut down the organization.

During the tournament:

Ms. Li finally got her rematch with Juri and was victorious. But she was unable to arrest her as Bison had initiated the base’s self destruct mechanism.

Chun Li was saved from falling debris by Gen and later rescued by Guile and Abel.

Street Fighter IV, part 1

Chun Li tracked down Vega in China.

During their fight he slashed her with his claw and stated that her kicks reminded him of someone. Realizing that he was talking about her father she demanded answers. However, he was able to escape.

Later in Russia she ran into Guile and a resurrected Nash. The three return to China and tracked down Vega once again. But this time he had brought back up as well. Birdie and a bunch of Shadaloo thugs were with him.

Chun Li squared off against Vega one-on-one. This time she was able to beat him, but he escaped on a helicopter. That day she learned a powerful lesson about trusting your friends and not working alone.

Street Fighter IV, part 2

Chun Li and Guile then investigated the black-out in New York City. It had been caused by Bison’s Black Moons, and their investigations lead them directly to him.

Chun Li recklessly charged in to settle her vendetta against the crime lord. She was nearly killed, but Cammy appeared out of nowhere and jumped in at the last minute to save her. They were then forced to retreat.

Chun Li was then enlisted by Karin Kanzuki to help stop the Black Moons. In Brazil, Chun was joined by Ken and Cammy. Their mission was to seek out Laura Matsuda. As they made inquiries, Ken was able to fight off F.A.N.G., a Shadaloo assassin.

On her end Chun Li encountered Sean, whom she recognized to be Laura’s brother. She asked him about a chess piece that he had given to his sister. It apparently held the key to shutting down the Black Moon.

They eventually located Laura. She gave up the chess piece after losing a sparring match with Ken. While they were fighting Decapre appeared and tried to intervene, but fell unconscious before she could do so.

The police arrived to arrest Decapre. Ken and Chun Li tried to defuse the situation, but Cammy attacked them to defend Decapre. During the confusion Juri was able to grab Decapre and escape on her motorcycle.

Street Fighter IV, part 3

Karin and Chun Li eventually rescued the hackers that created the Black Moons, and shut it down. But F.A.N.G. kidnaps little Li Fen, then forced her to restart the program.

Chun and Karin were joined by the rest of their team as they prepared for the final assault on Shadaloo. The detonation of the Moons was eventually stopped – and Chun Li, Guile, and Charlie fought Bison.

The fight did not go well for our heroes. But Charlie, realizing that his resurrected body was living on borrowed time, killed himself to weaken Bison. Chun Li stopped Guile from charging in blindly to rescue his friend, saving him from the ensuing explosion.

This separated them. Chun Li fought F.A.N.G. to rescue Li Fen, while Ryu would defeat Bison on his own. Both escaped before the base blew up. Chun Li could now rest easy knowing that she had finally helped put an end to Shadaloo.

Street Fighter III: 3^rd Strike

Chun Li had since retired. She opened up her own martial arts school with young Li Fen as he star pupil.

Urien kidnapped Li Fen to use as a scientific experiment. Chun Li tracked him down and challenged him. She beat him and returned to her school with Li Fen.

However, it was later revealed that Urien had allowed her to win and had instigated the whole plot merely to test her strength.

Where is she now?

She’s most likely still training the next generation and leading a relatively peaceful life.

Description

One of the most striking things about her is her exceptionally muscular legs.

Other than that she appears to be an attractive athletic Asian woman with light brown hair and eyes.

Her distinctive hair style is known as the “ox’s horns” in Mandarin. It appears to have been quite popular with little girls throughout the ages.

Outfits

In her first, and probably most iconic, appearance in SFII she wears a blue qipao with high slits up the legs, plus leggings.

The dress is bound together by a white sash, and her shoes are combat boots. She also wears her iconic oversized spiked bracelets.

In the Alpha series she wears a blue sleeveless unitard with yellow stripes on the sides, and a blue vest over it. The vest has a vaguely Chinese design on it.

She also wears some yellow tennis shoes and keeps her usual bracers.

In SFIV and V she keeps her original costume. She’s got a few minor alternatives in V, such her police uniform and a casual jeans and T-shirt combo.

The inevitable fan service alternative is a revealing, slit evening gown. This outfit is tied together with a gold sash and has a bit of gold trim.

Personality

Chun Li was driven by her burning sense of justice.

In her youth she was obviously a loving daughter and good student.

She vowed to seek justice for her father. Had he not been killed then she may very well have chosen a very different career path rather than to follow in her father’s footsteps.

That said law enforcement seems to suit her. She is dedicated and competent and always goes the extra mile to get the job done.

She has also demonstrated to be an excellent team player. She has worked quite well with other law enforcement agents in the past such as Charlie, Guile, and Cammy.

Other traits

Chun Li hates criminals with a passion – and particularly all things Shadaloo, and especially Bison himself.

Deep down underneath there’s something of that daddy’s little girl still buried in her heart as evidenced by her jumping around and laughing in her win poses.

And finally on a side note she’s never had any romantic relationships that we know about. Despite a lot of fan fiction and a ton of fan art she and fellow warrior Ryu never ever hook up.

This seems to be a common theme with most of the SF cast who always seem to be far too busy training and kicking ass to have romantic relationships.

Quotes

“Father…where could you be and what could you be up to right now ?”

“I’m the strongest woman in the world !”

“Is that your best ? Is that all ?”

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