The 36th Chamber of Shaolin 1978

A young student named Liu Yu-de, portrayed by Gordon Liu Chia-Hui, is drawn by his activist teacher into the local rebellion against the Manchu government. The government officials, headed by the brutal General Tien Ta Lo Lieh, quickly discover and suppress the uprising, liquidating the school and killing the students’ friends and family members. Yu-de decides to seek vengeance and liberation for the people, and heads for the Shaolin temple to learn kung fu.

Wounded by Manchu henchmen during an escape, Yu-de reaches the temple and seeks sanctuary. Initially the monks reject him since he is an outsider, but the chief abbot has mercy on the young man and lets him stay. One year later, Yu-de — now known as San Te Gordon Liu Chia-Hui — begins his martial arts training in the temple’s 35 chambers, where novices are trained in one aspect of the kung fu fighting arts.

San Te advances more rapidly than any previous student, reaching the rank of deputy overseer within six years. Challenged by the monastery’s Discipline Chief, he is beaten in several exhibition matches, but after inventing the three-section staff, he finally prevails and gains the chief abbot’s permission to become overseer of one of the chambers.

When San Te professes that he wants to create a new chamber where he can train ordinary people in the basics of kung fu so they can defend themselves against their oppressors, the temple officially bans him in a surreptitious way to allow him to carry out his mission. He returns to the outside world, namely to his hometown, and assists the people, gathering several young men who loyally follow him and become his first students. Before the political revolution where his aspirations reach completion, he is forced into conflict with Tien Ta. A fierce duel ensues, where San Te is victorious. Finally, he returns to the Shaolin temple, where he establishes the 36th chamber, a special martial arts class for laypeople to learn kung fu.