Best movies like Once Upon a Time in Shanghai

A gorgeous lethal killer, brainwashed by the villain, makes a startling discovery in a mission to eliminate a person she can in no way imagine.

Wong Fei Hung must deal with both foreign threats and the nationalist Red Lantern Society in this continuation of the popular kung fu series.

So goes to the U.S. to open a martial arts school. Around this time, many Chinese people were sold off to U.S. railroad companies, and were brutally treated by the Americans under the harsh working conditions. Thus, the American workers' hatred towards the Chinese immigrants is high. As a result, So gets into trouble with the Americans and the mob, and calls Master Wong for help.

The workers of a dye factory have their pay cut by 20% when the factory owner brings in some Manchu thugs to try and increase production. Desperate to reclaim their full wages, the workers hire an actor to impersonate a priest and kung-fu expert from the temple of Shaolin. The factory owner proves the actor a fraud, and punishes all those involved. The young actor feels he has let the workers down, and promises to atone. He sets out for Shaolin, determined to be accepted as a kung-fu pupil at the elite temple.

In 1868 during the late Qing Dynasty, rampant corruption on the Imperial Court inflicts much suffering in people's lives. For years, the Black Tiger’s fearsome boss Lei Gong has been trying to get rid of the leader of the Northern Sea. One of his latest recruits is Fei, a fearless fighter who takes the Northern Sea leader’s head after a fierce fight. Just as Lei Gong believes he has total control of the port, a new gang called the Orphans rises in power. Led by Fei’s childhood friend Huo, the Orphans are out to eliminate all the criminal power from the port…

It's the 1940s, and the notorious Axe Gang terrorizes Shanghai. Small-time criminals Sing and Bone hope to join, but they only manage to make lots of very dangerous enemies. Fortunately for them, kung fu masters and hidden strength can be found in unlikely places. Now they just have to take on the entire Axe Gang.

A martial arts instructor working at a police academy gets imprisoned after killing a man by accident. But when a vicious killer starts targeting martial arts masters, the instructor offers to help the police in return for his freedom.

Tsui Chik tries to lead a quiet life as a librarian. However, he is really a former test subject for a highly secretive supersoldier project and the instructor of a special commando unit dubbed "701." The 701 squad is used for many government missions, but after one of the agents kills a team of policemen in an uncontrollable rage, the government decides to abort the project and eliminate all the subjects. Tsui Chik helped the surviving 701 agents flee the extermination attempt. Having escaped, Tsui Chik went separate ways from his team. Later, he discovers that the rest of the team were responsible for a violent crime spree that was beyond the capability of the local police. He sets out to stop them, donning a disguise and using the superhero alias of "Black Mask". Having lost the ability to feel pain due to the surgery performed on the super-soldiers by the military, Black Mask is almost invulnerable.

Shaolin practitioners and brothers Wu and Hung kill the merciless Pai Mei. However, Pai Mei's even more merciless brother White Lotus takes revenge; killing most of the Shaolin disciples, including Wu and Hung's girlfriend, leaving only Wu's pregnant wife and Hung as the only remaining practitioners of Shaolin left to avenge the deaths. But Hung's kung-fu will not be powerful enough so he must learn feminine kung-fu techniques to help him try and defeat White Lotus.

Detective Sergeant Ma Jun, known for dispensing his own brand of justice during arrests, teams up with an undercover cop, Wilson, to try and bring down three merciless Vietnamese brothers running a smuggling ring in the months before mainland China's takeover of Hong Kong. Jun pursues the gang tirelessly, sometimes ignoring police protocols. A showdown is inevitable!

When scholar Wei Fung is forcibly hired by the Manchu Emperor to infiltrate a clan of rebellious Ming Loyalists, his mission goes adrift when he falls in love with the clan's leader's granddaughter. Wei Fung must choose between his new love and his family, who will be put to death if he doesn't return to the palace successfully.

Chen Zhen, a Chinese engineering student in Kyoto, who braves the insults and abuse of his Japanse fellow students for his local love Mitsuko Yamada, daughter of the director, returns in 1937 to his native Shangai, under Japanse protectorate -in fact military occupation- after reading about the death of his kung-fu master Hou Ting-An in a fight against the Japanese champion Ryuichi Akutagawa.

The hero Fong Sai Yuk becomes involved in the secret brotherhood "The Red Flower", who are trying to overthrow the Manchurian emperor and re-establishing the Ming dynasty. The social upheaval is combined with Sai Yuk's personal moral conflict about how to conform to the rigid regime of the brotherhood and on top of that sort out his difficult love life, saddled with two presumptive wives.

In ancient China, Zhi Ming trains at the legendary Northern Shaolin temple to avenge the death of his father at the hands of a nefarious magistrate.

Flying Swords of Dragon Gate picks up three years after the infamous Dragon Inn was burnt down in the desert when its innkeeper Jade vanished. A new gang of marauders had taken over - innkeepers by day and treasure hunters by night. The inn is the rumoured location of a lost city buried under the desert, and its hidden treasure would only be revealed by a gigantic storm every 60 years. The gang used the inn as a front to locate the lost treasure.

Iron Monkey is a Hong Kong variation of Robin Hood. Corrupt officials of a Chinese village are robbed by a masked bandit known as "Iron Monkey", named after a benevolent deity. When all else fails, the Governor forces a traveling physician into finding the bandit.

The Japanese forces occupy Shanghai and slowly start spreading terror in the city. Chen Zhen, who was presumed dead, returns to fight against the Japanese and put an end to their tyrannical rule.

There is no place more hallowed in the martial art world than China's Shaolin Temple. This special place deserves a special epic, which is what the martial arts maestro delivers in this battle between a brave brand of Chinese boxers and literally thousands of Qing troops - complete with betrayals, intrigues, and such novel fighting machines as 108 wooden robots. The conflicts grow in complexity, intensity and even suspense as monks struggle to stay alive in the face of overwhelming odds.

Ma Wing Jing and his older brother Ma Tai Chueng arrive in Shanghai to make their fortune at the end of the Qin Dynasty. Be-friending a powerful mobster Wing Jing is given his nightclub in return for saving Tam Sei's life. Unfortunately, another Gangster wants the territory a well. Corruption and violence rule the streets as Wing Jing and Tam Sei must battle not only the rival gangs but the corrupt police officials as well.

Cheng, a young man who is set up by the chief of police, must leave the life he knows and Qiu, the woman he loves, to start again. After escaping prison Cheng quickly and violently moves his way up the ladder of Shanghais criminal underworld to become on the most powerful mob bosses in Shanghais history. But fame and notoriety take their toll when Cheng finds himself stuck between the looming Japanese army and the scheming local secret service. Matters are only made worse when he bumps into the love of his life QIU, along with her writer husband. Will love re-kindle in the dusk of an era?

Uncle Tak is famous for using Chinese herbal medicines to cure diseases. A martial arts expert, he also teaches the young how to defend themselves. One of his students, Johnny, dreams of monopolizing the teaching of kung fu throughout the United States. To accomplish this, he tries to kill Uncle Tak. Chuck, Uncle Tak's best student from Hong Kong, comes to Los Angeles to find his master. Chuck is willing to let Johnny have his way, and tries to take Uncle Tak back to Hong Kong. But Johnny and his men will not leave Chuck alone. Chuck, on his way back to Hong Kong, returns for the showdown.

In 1375, China was in chaos between Yuan Dynasty and Ming Dynasty. Coryo (an ancient kingdom of Korea then) sent a delegation of many diplomats, soldiers and a silent slave to make peace with the new Chinese government. However, this delegation got charged as spies and sent in exile to a remote desert.

The Wong family kung fu school gets smacked around by a rival school. Wong Fei-hong gets fed up with the abuse and goes to learn from his fathers master. After one of the rival schools members kills some of the towns people Wong Fei-hong becomes enraged trains even more comes back and gets his revenge.

A female Chinese cop teams up with a lady kung-fu master to stop two female Japanese gangsters from stealing a valuable painting.

Rebel fighter Yuen Ming (Max Mok) must protect an important letter with content that can expose the corrupt Chinese government. Sent to retrieve the letter is Ma, the Fire Dragon (Brigitte Lin) and she infiltrates the small village where Yuen Ming has settled. Along the way the cold blooded Ma's kind hearted side is awaken and the time comes when she must decide where her loyalty lies....

Ming dynasty traitors have sent a secret message in a jade goddess statuette, containing their plans of treason to help tribal warlords usurp power from the Ming government. The message and statue being intercepted, powerful swordsmen (and a swordswoman) of a famed security company are hired to protect the statue and its hidden message.

A powerful triad boss has been kidnapped, and the new police superintendent Koo decides to recruit the help of Mann, a former supercop who has since been relegated to back-up duty. Mann has his work cut out for him when he realizes his opponent is Sam, a former cop with plenty of grudges. When Sam takes the fight to Mann’s family, Mann is more than determined to bring down the dangerous kidnapper and his gang.

A Shanghai doctor named Tangsan, is trying to help the town's poor people. Meanwhile, he has the murderous Axe Gang to deal with as well as his feelings for the gang leader's sister.

An undercover agent is assigned by his corrupt chief to infiltrate a rival department and sabotage their investigation of counterfeit currency. What he discovers is the counterfeiter's real plan. To overthrow the capital. Not by flooding it with funny money, but with an army of undead.

A career-long undercover Hong Kong cop is sent to Mainland China when his former protégé becomes the primary suspect in a murder.

When social unrest plagues a Kingdom in ancient China, the Imperial Court collects stockpiles of gold from local governments to expand the royal army. However, the gold is robbed while in transport. In a desperate move to retrieve the stolen treasure, elite royal guards are sent on a mission to go after the gold but soon find out they are not the only ones in pursuit of it.

The 5 Kao brothers, separated since childhood, are unaware that the master Teng Lung Manor, Lung Chen-feng has killed their father. All five, however, seek to defeat the vicious gangsters at the Manor.

When the boss of a ruling Hong Kong triad is arrested and executed in China for counterfeiting money, mayhem ensues as the mob's leading contenders circle the throne.

Though policewoman Hsie Wan-chin (Cynthia Yang Li-ching) is merrily planning for her wedding with fellow cop Wilson Tsiang (Lawrence Ng Kai-wah), he is having an illicit affair with her best friend, May (Moon Lee). When Wilson tries to break things off, May doesn't take it well. When she learns that Wilson and Wan-chin are moving to England, she completely loses it.

Chen Wo-Fu plays construction worker Ku Ting, whose skill at "tai chi" (shadow boxing) is as great as his pacifism. But when his girlfriend is raped by vicious gangsters, he shows everyone the true power and beauty of tai chi.