If you want to see Jet Li before his "Shaolin Temple" days check out the kung fu documentary Dragons of the Orient (available from Tai Seng). It offers us a glimpse of Li's style, both training and performing. On this tape we can see an eleven-year-old Li on the White House lawn, dressed in a bright red outfit performing a two man fighting set with his team mate Chu Shi Fai. Also we can see him at twelve, practicing, competing and wielding a broadsword. Want to see an older Li? We cut to him at nineteen, handsome (like he was ever ugly), muscled and strong, with long hair in his face. He gives the camera a taste of the double broadsword, the whip chain, the three-section staff, the spear and the pu dao.

Li is good at literature and art. Here is a poem written by Li (roughly translated):

There's always a mountain
So there are always good fighters
Therefore one must know his strengths and weaknesses
to become perfect.

Li on being called a prodigy:

"I am not a prodigy and newspaper reports about my having consciously trained and practiced wushu since I was a child often annoyed me beyond measure. It was simply not true. Like everyone else, I came accross numerous problems in the ourse of training and many a time I wavered and thought of dropping out. It was my coach Wu Bin who helped me steer clear of all obstacles and encouraged me never to give up. His admonitions and his patience in guiding me along will always remain in my heart of hearts."

Wu Bin (his coach) became a father figure to Li, who lost his own father when he was two-years-old.

Wu Bin noticed Li lacked strength in punching and kicking. When he visited the Li home, he discovered that they did not eat meat because at one time, the grandmother had fallen ill and the doctor advised her to avoid it. Afterward, Wu Bin brought food to the struggling Li household for years. from Qigong/Wushu Kungfu (May 1998)