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1[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tai-chi-zero-2012-movie-poster_1357.jpg]]
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3A 2012 {{Steampunk}} Martial Arts film from the writer of [[Film/DetectiveDee Detective Dee and the Phantom Flame]]. When a young martial arts prodigy seeks training in the secret tai chi style of Chen Village, he quickly and repeatedly finds his requests refused. [[{{Determinator}} This does not stop him.]] However, with the Qing dynasty coming to an end, and industry beating at the gates, the town finds itself in need of a hero. Well, [[WorldOfBadass one among many.]]
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5The movie had been filmed together with it's sequel / second half ''Film/TaiChiHero'' released soon after.
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7----
8!!Tropes:
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10* ActionGirl: Yu Niang.
11* AlmightyJanitor: "Uncle Laborer." [[spoiler:Actually Master Chen.]]
12** Just like ''Film/KungFuHustle'', just about everyone in the village.
13* [[AndNowYouMustMarryMe And Now He Must Marry Me]]: A rare heroic example. [[spoiler:To prevent Lu Chan from getting his limbs disabled, Yu Niang marries him, thereby bringing him into the family.]]
14* AndThenWhat: Brought up unsuccessfully [[spoiler:in Lu Chan's defense by Master Chen. When he tries to assert that such a prodigy is unlikely to be rendered unable to use the tai chi style that he's learned by PowerCopying, the elders simply state that if severing his tendons and breaking his legs will not work, they will just have to punish him more harshly]].
15* AutobotsRockOut: During some fight scenes. Arguably, something rare on {{Wuxia}} stories that doesn't have a modern or futuristic setting.
16* BirthmarkOfDestiny: Lu Chan's "Three Blossoms on the Crown", a hornlike growth on his head, marks him as a kung fu prodigy.
17* BossSubtitles: For nearly every major and some minor characters when they are introduced, with the bigger stars getting [[ActorAllusion mentions of their past works]].
18* ButNotTooForeign: The actress who plays Claire is half white and half Chinese. Averted, however, in that she is depicted as a foreigner. Interestingly, Angelababy who plays the female lead is also of mixed race, but portrayed as purely Chinese.
19* ButtMonkey: Fang Zi Jing. Despite being raise for his entire early life in Chen Village, he was still treated as an outsider due to being born outside the village. When he came back as an adult trying to impress them with his advanced technology, his presentation fails due to accidental sabotage. He comes back to build the railroad through force... [[spoiler:whereupon his true love, Claire, dies in his arms when]] the village strikes back against him. Then in the final battle of the first film, despite the fact that he did try to get the troops not to open fire, he's still treated as though he was the worst of the bunch by the elders and dragged face first through gravel. [[spoiler:By the end of the second film/half where he gets more and more wounded with his failed attempts to destroy the village he gets dragged off to a asylum/hospital where it is implied he will be experimented on.]]
20* CombatMedic: Two of them!
21* ConcealmentEqualsCover: Master Chen seems to stop a barrage of bullets by throwing ''produce'' between the soldiers and the villagers.
22* EdibleAmmunition: The villager assault the invaders with produce.
23* EverybodyWasKungFuFighting: Everyone in Chen Village knows kung fu.
24* FamousNamedForeigner: Claire [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Heathrow_Airport Heathrow]]
25* GlowingEyesOfDoom: Once, when hit on his horn and his power manifests, Lu Chan's eyes glow.
26* HeroicRROD: Lu Chan's "Three Blossoms on the Crown", combined with the kung fu he has been taught, have been killing him. Most of the fights he engages in result in him bleeding from the nose and passing out in short order.
27* LittleMissBadass: one of the people who beats up Lu Chan when he tries to get into the village is a little girl. Also true in real life, as her actress is apparently an actual kung fu prodigy (if her introduction text is to be believed)
28* MarkedChange: When Lu Chan's horn is struck, it [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything swells and darkens]], and he briefly becomes an unstoppable fighting machine. The first time this happened to him, as a child, he developed TaintedVeins on his face. The second time we see it, he briefly displays GlowingEyesOfDoom.
29* [[CoversAlwaysLie Movie Posters Always Lie]]: the posters in the US show Lu Chan with glowing white eyes in front of a towering machine. In the film, his eyes only glow briefly for one scene, in the beginning, and the tank on the poster, while impressive, is a latecomer to the story, and is never fought directly.
30* OneManArmy: Master Chen. One wonders why he even had to bother arming the villagers.
31* OnTheNext: ''Tai Chi Zero'' ends with a preview of the next movie ''Tai Chi Hero''
32* PowerCopying: Lu Chan gains a solid footing in the tai chi style of Chen Village by observing it. [[CurbStompBattle First-hand]]. [[MadeOfIron Lots]].
33* SecondLove: Claire is this to Fang Zijing after he breaks off his engagement with Yu Niang. [[spoiler:Claire's death is what pushes him towards becoming a true villain.]]
34* TheShangriLa: Chen Village.
35* ShoutOut: Several to different video games and media.
36** During the scene where Lu Chan is challenging various random villagers each fight starts with a 'VS.' screen and 'K.O.' caption similar to those in the FightingGame genre.
37* {{Steampunk}}: The giant steam-powered robotic tank/railroad track laying machine.
38* TakingTheBullet: [[spoiler: Lu Chan takes a bullet intended for Yu Niang]] at the end of ''Tai Chi Zero''.
39* ThenLetMeBeEvil: Fang Zijing was raised in Chen Village, but not being a native son was never taught the fighting style everyone else there was instructed in. His motivation is clearly for the respect of the village, and it isn't until the end of the movie [[spoiler: after his display of electric lighting went terribly wrong, and his attempts to force the rail line through have ended not just in failure, but in Claire's death]] that he cements his place as a true villain.
40* TheUriahGambit: [[spoiler:Master Chen supports Lu Chan and guides him in destroying the war machine that Fang Zijing brings with him. But he confides to his daughter that this was primarily so that the village wouldn't take the blame.]]
41* WokFu: The climax of ''Tai Chi Hero''.

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