History YMMV / OnceUponATimeInChina

** Vincent Zhao's turn as Wong Fei-hong in the fourth and fifth was not well received by audiences, despite giving decent performance. Jet Li was brought back in the sixth and final film as a result.

* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDKiT3icMYM "To Be A Hero", the heart-stirring theme song of the franchise,]] based on the traditional Chinese Ballad ''Jiang Jun Ling'' (''General's Orders''). A hot-blooded song that tells you to "shine brighter than the sun!" It is also known as "男兒當自強" - [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2by2y3gkjcA A Man Should Strengthen Himself]], and is often sung in Cantonese. Be careful - it's a potent ear worm.

** [[BigBad Jackson]], an American dignitary in the first film, is a corrupt sociopath who runs a side business selling the Chinese as slaves, especially selling attractive women as prostitutes. Using the Shaho Gang as his personal army of thugs, Jackson orders an attack on the province's governor and hero Wong Fei-Hung at an opera, having his men fire into the crowd of civilians. When confronted by Fei-Hung at the end, Jackson attempts to use the Governor as a hostage while trying to kill Fei-Hung and his friends.
** Jackson's corrupt partner, the [[NoNameGiven unnamed leader]] of the Shaho Gang [[note]]Jackson calls him Hung in one scene, but it is very brief and near the end of the movie[[/note]], participates in the massacre at the opera house and abducts innocents to be sold in Jackson's slave trade. Terrorizing the province and murdering at will, the Shaho Leader also kidnaps Wong Fei-Hung's LoveInterest, Aunt 13, and makes clear his intention to rape her. When she fights back, he attempts to drag her to a boiler to burn her face off.
** ''Once Upon a Time in China II'': High Priest Kau-Kung, master of the White Lotus sect, [[AbsoluteXenophobe leads a crusade against anything even vaguely Western]]. Having his followers burn every Western item they can find, Kau-Kung even has [[BadPeopleAbuseAnimals Western dogs burnt alive]] before sending his men into the streets to attack and murder those with Western items, technology or clothing. Kau-Kung has his followers attack multiple institutions, [[WouldHurtAChild including a school for children]] to learn foreign languages, with Fei-Hung barely saving the lives of the children. He then has the foreign embassies besieged, intending to have every Westerner within massacred along with any Chinese citizen seen as a "collaborator."
* EnsembleDarkhorse: "Club Foot" Qi, a deliberately {{gonk}}ish character who turns out to be a LightningBruiser ExtremityExtremist, whom after his HeelFaceTurn enjoys an elevated role by the final movie. Basically, he's the [[Franchise/StarWars Darth Maul]] of the franchise.
%%* EvenBetterSequel: Part 2.

* MagnificentBastard: ''Once Upon a Time in China II'': Nap-lan is a military officer hunting down members of a revolutionary sect that seek to replace the dynasty with a republic. Gaining a respect for Wong Fei-hung in a sparring match, Nap-lan later fakes an attack by the fanatic White Lotus cultists to give himself an excuse to search the British consulate for rebels, murdering the consul when he sees through the ruse. Infiltrating the White Lotus to engage Fei-hung, Nap-lan even succeeds in eliminating his friend before attempting to steal a book of revolutionary names to clandestinely eliminate them.
* RetroactiveRecognition: Marvelous as Creator/DonnieYen's performance as AntiVillain General Nap-lan Yun-Suet was in ''Once Upon A Time In China 2'' (in which he actually won the ''Best Supporting Actor Trophy'' of the Hong Kong Oscars in 1993), nobody expected him to rise to the success of portraying Wing-Chun master ''Film/IpMan'' almost 15 years later.....
%%* {{Sequelitis}}
* SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped: The central theme of the film showed the European's stranglehold over the lives of the Chinese people during the twilight of Qing Dynasty and Heroic Chinese ideal. While it showed the evils of Imperialism, the films--especially the second part--showed a more nuanced approach that western knowledge can be used to aid people as shown by the positive portrayal Buck-Teeth-Soo's English in the first film and medical practitioners in the second film. Furthermore, the second film portrayed White Lotus sect's anti-western ideals as a dark mirror to the European's imperialism and racism; serving to show that CulturalPosturing by either Chinese or Westerners can be negative to both the practitioners and the victims.
%%* {{Tearjerker}}
* UnconventionalLearningExperience: Even if the series runs on RuleOfCool and ArtisticLicenseHistory, it still neatly covers the final years of Imperial China. Never heard about unequal treaties? Or maybe the fact that China was ruled by Manchurians? Or how Western powers tried to slice pieces of China for themselves? Then please, take a seat.

* MagnificentBastard: General Nap-lan Yun-Suet from ''II'' is a BadassNormal ArrogantKungFuGuy who is easily the equal of Wong Fei-Hung in combat, while also being a calculating and ruthless EvilReactionary, tactician and soldier tasked with crushing the revolution of Dr Sun Yat-Sen, to which end he manipulates and exploits the White Lotus Society into attacking the British Consulate in a bid to arrest Sun and his followers under the guise of arresting White Lotus members [[spoiler: and even murders the attache and frames it on them so his orders won't be questioned]].

* MagnificentBastard: General Narlan Yuenshu from ''II'' is a BadassNormal ArrogantKungFuGuy who is easily the equal of Wong Fei-Hung in combat, while also being a calculating and ruthless EvilReactionary, tactician and soldier tasked with crushing the revolution of Dr Sun Yat-Sen, to which end he manipulates and exploits the White Lotus Society into attacking the British Consulate in a bid to arrest Sun and his followers under the guise of arresting White Lotus members [[spoiler: and even murders the attache and frames it on them so his orders won't be questioned]].
* RetroactiveRecognition: Marvelous as Creator/DonnieYen's performance as AntiVillain General Narlan Yuenshu was in ''Once Upon A Time In China 2'' (in which he actually won the ''Best Supporting Actor Trophy'' of the Hong Kong Oscars in 1993), nobody expected him to rise to the success of portraying Wing-Chun master ''Film/IpMan'' almost 15 years later.....

* MagnificentBastard: General Narlan Yuenshu is a BadassNormal ArrogantKungFuGuy who is easily the equal of Wong Fei-Hung in combat, while also being a calculating and ruthless EvilReactionary, tactician and soldier tasked with crushing the revolution of Dr Sun Yat-Sen, to which end he manipulates and exploits the White Lotus Society into attacking the British Consulate in a bid to arrest Sun and his followers under the guise of arresting White Lotus members [[spoiler: and even murders the attache and frames it on them so his orders won't be questioned]].

** Jackson's corrupt partner, the [[NoNameGiven unnamed leader]] of the Shaho Gang, participates in the massacre at the opera house and abducts innocents to be sold in Jackson's slave trade. Terrorizing the province and murdering at will, the Shaho Leader also kidnaps Wong Fei-Hung's LoveInterest, Aunt 13, and makes clear his intention to rape her. When she fights back, he attempts to drag her to a boiler to burn her face off.

* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDKiT3icMYM "To Be A Hero", the heart-stirring theme song of the franchise,]] based on the traditional Chinese Ballad ''Jiang Jun Ling'' (''General's Orders''). A hot-blooded song that tells you to "shine brighter than the sun!" It is also known as "男兒當自強" - [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2by2y3gkjcA A Man Should Strengthen Himself]], and is often sung in Cantonese. Be careful - it's a potent EarWorm.

* EnsembleDarkhorse: "Club Foot" Qi, a deliberately {{gonk}}ish character who turns out to be a LightningBruiser ExtremityExtremist, whom after his HeelFaceTurn enjoys an elevated role by the final movie. Basically he's the [[Franchise/StarWars Darth Maul]] of the franchise.

* SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped: The central theme of the film showed the European's stranglehold over the lives of teh Chinese during the twilight of Qing Dynasty and Heroic Chinese ideal. While it showed the evils of Imperialism, the films--especially the second part--showed a more nuanced approach that western knowledge can be used to aid people as shown by the positive portrayal Buck-Teeth-Soo's English and Aunt 13's photography hobby. Furthermore, the second film portrayed White Lotus sect's anti-western ideals as a dark contrast to the European's imperialism and racism; serving to show that CulturalPosturing by either Chinese or Westerners can be negative to the practitioners and the victims.

* SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped: The central theme of the film showed the twilight of Qing Dynasty and Heroic Chinese ideal as European powers began to eclipse over the lives of Chinese. While it showed the evils of Imperialism, the films--especially the second part--showed a more nuanced approach that western knowledge can be used to aid people as shown by Aunt 13's western medicine being used to help people and photography as an art. Furthermore, the second film portrayed White Lotus sect's anti-western ideals as a dark contrast to the European's imperialism and racism; serving to show that CulturalPosturing by either Chinese or Westerners can be negative to the practitioners and the victims.

* AwesomeMusic: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDKiT3icMYM "To Be A Hero", the heart-stirring theme song of the franchise,]] based on the traditional Chinese Ballad ''Jiang Jun Ling'' (''General's Orders''). A hot-blooded song that tells you to "shine brighter than the sun!" It is also known as "男兒當自強" - [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2by2y3gkjcA A Man Should Strengthen Himself]], and is often sung in Cantonese. Be careful - it's a potent EarWorm.

* SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped: The central theme of the film showed the twilight of Qing Dynasty and Heroic Chinese ideal as European powers began to eclipse over the lives of Chinese. While it showed the evils of Imperialism, the films--especially the second part--showed a more nuanced approach that western knowledge can be used to aid people as shown by Aunt 13's western medicine being used to help people and photography as an art. Furthermore, the second film portrayed White Lotus sect's anti-western ideals as a dark contrast to the European's imperialism and racism; serving to show that CulturalPosturing by either side can be negative to the practitioners and the victims.

* RetroactiveRecognition - Marvelous as Donnie Yen's performance as AntiVillain General Narlan Yuenshu was in ''Once Upon A Time In China 2'' (in which he actually won the ''Best Supporting Actor Trophy'' of the Hong Kong Oscars in 1993), nobody expected him to rise to the success of portraying Wing-Chun master ''Film/IpMan'' almost 15 years later.....

* RetroactiveRecognition - Marvelous as Donnie Yen's performance as AntiVillain General Narlan Yuenshu was in ''Once Upon A Time In China 2'' (in which he actually won the ''Best Supporting Actor Trophy'' of the Hong Kong Oscars in 1993), nobody expected him to rise to the success of portraying Wing-Chun master ''IpMan'' almost 15 years later.....

** ''Once Upon a Time in China II'': High Priest Kau-Kung, master of the White Lotus sect, [[AbsoluteXenophobe leads a crusade against anything even vaguely Western]]. Having his followers burn every Western item they can find, Kau-Kung even has [[KickTheDog Western dogs burnt alive]] before sending his men into the streets to attack and murder those with Western items, technology or clothing. Kau-Kung has his followers attack multiple institutions, [[WouldHurtAChild including a school for children]] to learn foreign languages, with Fei-Hung barely saving the lives of the children. He then has the foreign embassies besieged, intending to have every Westerner within massacred along with any Chinese citizen seen as a "collaborator."

* EvenBetterSequel - Part 2.

* {{Sequelitis}}
* {{Tearjerker}}

* AwesomeMusic: [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDKiT3icMYM "To Be A Hero", the heart-stirring theme song of the franchise,]] based on the traditional Chinese Ballad ''Jiang Jun Ling'' (''General's Orders''). A hot-blooded song that tells you to "shine brighter than the sun!" It iss also known as "男兒當自強" - [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2by2y3gkjcA A Man Should Strengthen Himself]], and is often sung in Cantonese. Be careful - it's a potent EarWorm.

* CrowningMusicOfAwesome - [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDKiT3icMYM "To Be A Hero", the heart-stirring theme song of the franchise,]] based on the traditional Chinese Ballad ''Jiang Jun Ling'' (''General's Orders''). A hot-blooded song that tells you to "shine brighter than the sun!"
** Be careful - it's a potent EarWorm.

* UnfortunateImplications - White people in this series are mostly portrayed as violent, greedy, trigger-happy barbarians. While this is not a totally unfair picture of the behaviour of Westerners in China at the time by any means, the fact that a lot of things portrayed (like the massacre in Canton) flatout did not happen does not help.

* UnfortunateImplications - White people in this series are mostly portrayed as violent, greedy, trigger-happy barbarians, but frankly this is not an unfair picture of the behaviour of Westerners in China at the time.

* UnfortunateImplications - Americans in this series are mostly portrayed as violent, greedy, trigger-happy barbarians, but frankly this is not an unfair picture of the behaviour of Westerners in China at the time.

* AlasPoorVillain - The death of Master Yen Jer Dong under the gunfire of American mercenaries.

* CompleteMonster - With few exceptions, the Western invaders. Also, the Chinese people who sell out their people to the West.
** Inverted in the second movie, where the villains are a violent Chinese cult and the corrupt Chinese government. The British ambassador can even arguably be considered heroic.

* UnfortunateImplications - Americans in this series are mostly portrayed as violent, greedy, trigger-happy barbarians, but frankly this is not an entirely unfair picture of the behaviour of Westerners in China at the time.

* EvenBetterSequel - Part 2, though YourMileageMayVary.