Chun-Li

**Chun-Li** (春麗 or チュンリー *Shunrei or Chunrī*?, Simplified Chinese: 春丽) is a video game character from the *Street Fighter* series, originally debuting in *Street Fighter II*. The first female fighter in the series, she is an expert martial artist and Interpol officer who relentlessly seeks revenge for the death of her father at the hands of M. Bison.

## Biography

### Name

Chun-Li's name is Mandarin for "spring beauty" (春 *chūn*, "spring"; 麗 *lì*, "beautiful"). It is properly romanized as *Chunli* in pinyin and pronounced "Chuen-lee", despite westerners commonly pronouncing it as "Chuhn-lee". The Japanese on'yomi reading of the name is *Shunrei*.

Older official sources from the early 90's indicate Chung was Chun-Li's surname, although it is worth noting this could very well not be the case anymore. In the live-action *Street Fighter* movie, Chun-Li was given the surname Zang/Xiang, but Capcom has not officially recognized it.

### Appearance

Chun-Li's appearance has differed several times in the *Street Fighter* series, as well as in official art and cameos she has made in other works. She is known for her very muscular thighs.

#### Clothing

Chun-Li wears a qipao, a Chinese dress imported over from Manchuria that became popular among girls during the early 20th century. Her outfit is modified to allow a far wider range of movement than a normal qipao. She also wears white combat/boxing boots of varying height (around calf-length in games such as the *Street Fighter II* series and older *vs. Capcom*titles, or around knee-high in games based around her *3rd Strike* sprite) and a blue leotard with dark brown sheer pantyhose and a blue thong underneath with her qipao. Her qipao is blue with golden accents. She was originally supposed to wear a peach-colored qipao, as seen in her in-game profile and ending in the original *Street Fighter II*. Large spiked bracelets, whose ring is black steel and spikes are white/chrome polished steel are worn on both arms. According to supplementary materials, she wears the qipao in honor of her late mother, who passed away in her early childhood and whose only photo showed her in a qipao similar to her daughter's. The spiked metal bracelets she is known to wear are made of iron, and weigh approximately 7-10 kg (15-22 lbs) each. Chun-Li also wears them to help tone and exercise her body; the qipao is fitted with weights to help build body strength and finesse, while her bracelets are for the purpose of balancing her body when performing her kicking moves, including helping stabilize her center of gravity during a Hyakuretsukyaku and limit her during supers such as the Senretsukyaku to avoid overexerting her muscles. The spikes are also used for the purpose of intimidation. [7]

During the period covered in *Street Fighter Alpha*, she wore an embroidered vest, unitard and athletic shoes, as well as studded wristbands. It is somewhat unclear why she chose to stop using this outfit and switch to the qipao in subsequent *Street Fighter* games; materials state that this was worn during her days as an active detective for comfort.[7] In the *Street Fighter Alpha: The Animation* movie, her vest has changed to red instead of blue. Her *Alpha* costume became her "Nostalgia" costume in *Street Fighter V*.

In *Street Fighter II V*, Chun-Li has seen wearing casual outfits throughout the episodes, including a red sleeveless v-neck qipao with a blue obi and it's ribbons are hanging loose at the right side, red Chinese pants, black Chinese shoes, her hair is tied in a high ponytail adorned with a long blue laced ribbon and a yellow formal sleeveless short dress adorned with orange lined ribbons (which resembles a skirt at the back), pink panties underneath and yellow open toed flats. When she was brainwashed, she wore her primary outfit but with minor changes, the color of her qipao is light blue with white accents, the front and back skirt are short instead of long, her brown pantyhose is replaced with blue kneepads and her hair is let loose.

In *Street Fighter IV*, Chun-Li's alternate outfit consists of a black sleeveless evening gown with gold accents at the bottom. She wears a black and gold sash held by a red rope-like belt. The outfit is completed with red shoes, gold earrings and black and gold bracelets. The outfit resembles the clothes she wore in one of the episodes in the cartoon series.

In various official art, she has also been shown in her police outfit, as well as (presumably) her favorite casual attire: a varsity-style jacket, T-shirt, jeans and white tennis shoes. It has been shown in some official art that when wearing her casual attire she also wears her Alpha wristbands.

In *Street Fighter V*, her first alternate costume is the sleeveless evening gown from *Street Fighter IV* and her hair is now loose. Her second is her police uniform, which is also paired with white featureless boots akin to her prior signature ones.

She gains new alterations of her main outfit and her police uniform; Her main outfit is similar to the one she wore in *Street Fighter II V* but in a sleeveless modified qipao with gold decorations and she wears black thigh-high socks and sneakers instead of kneepads and boots.

Her police uniform is her disguise form in *Pocket Fighter* as color of her outfit is indigo and her top now shows her midriff with the black mini vest and the sign "Police" on front and her pants and boots are black. She no longer wears a beret and her hair is tied in unadorned ox-horns.

#### Hairstyle

Her hairstyle is called "ox horns", a typical style in which Chinese children dress their hair; depictions of girls in Chinese paintings frequently show girls in ox horns.

During the Alpha series, she chose to wear them unadorned, while in the remaining games, she uses silk brocades and ribbons to cover them, colored white to signify the mourning of her father. These silk brocades and ribbons that cover them are sometimes called bao.

In *Street Fighter IV*, when wearing her alternate costume, she wears her ox horns unadorned, just like in her *Alpha* appearance, only this time it's held by red ropes with golden balls at the tip, and it's not braided.

In *Street Fighter II V*, Chun-Li wore her hair up in one in a bun or sometimes in a ponytail. Later, when Bison brainwashed her, Chun-Li's hair was let loose.

### Personality

Chun-Li is a resourceful and dedicated officer of the law with a strong sense of justice that rivals that of her father, as she strongly believes in protecting the innocent and saving the lives of others.

She is a highly disciplined, seasoned, and courageous woman, and is often the voice of reason. As an official of Interpol, she takes her work as a cop with pride (showing pride at what she does when she saves another), outside of her duty as a cop, she has an elegant, sweet, and feminine personality. Chun-Li, however, is not without her flaws, as she has shown to get very competitive with criminals in *Street Fighter* media, and does not take kindly to those who insult her pride as a cop. There are also times she is shown to have a fairly dense side to her personality, as shown in her ending of *Super Gem Fighter Mini Mix*.

Because of her devotion to justice, she often becomes allies and friends with other soldiers and cops. Additionally, she has shown great resilience and determination in pursuing intense crime organizations, such as Shadaloo.

## Gameplay

Chun-Li is the original fast character in the *Street Fighter* series, utilizing multiple rapid attacks rather than the slow damaging strikes of larger characters like Zangief. Her agile and swift movements are a favorite amongst game-players. It is interesting to note that in the early days of arcade fighting games, many other female characters played in a similarly speedy style, following the example set by Chun-Li. In previous games (mainly *Street Fighter II*) she was basically a charge character along with Guile and E. Honda but her style was changed in later games to give her a more technical feel as well as her trademark "speed" granted to the player.

Much of her basic moves involved brute force mixed with agility for a mixed fighting style in many cases, while also focusing on Chun-Li's thigh-build giving her various types of kicking attacks. However, as the games progressed as of *Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike*, Chun-Li's animations began to deviate from her original ones, and she adopts a more graceful approach to her martial arts (with some versions of her crouching stance instead making assume a lotus position of sorts).

Another notable trait of Chun-Li's was her various unique attacks that often varied from iteration to iteration, with only a few iconic ones being consistent in her arsenal.

### Techniques

In almost every game, Chun-Li's signature move is the Hyakuretsukyaku, which was her ability to throw multiple kicks in one sitting. Its easy accessibility (bluntly pressing a kick button rapidly) has become a staple in many games. Her Spinning Bird Kick acts like Ryu's and Ken's own Tatsumaki Senpukyaku. Chun-Li can also wall-jump, meaning that pressing in the opposite direction after touching the wall during a jump will allow her to bounce off of it. While jumping, she can perform a Stomp Kick on top of her opponent's heads. Beginning with *Street Fighter Alpha*, this move was replaced by the Sen'en Shuu, which was an overhead drop kick which knocked the opponent down. This, in itself, was replaced by the Hazanshu in *Street Fighter III*, which was a similar move where Chun-Li flipped in the air before attacking with her overhead kick. She also regained her Spinning Bird Kick in that game.

Her Kakukyakuraku was basically a move where she flips in the air and drop kicks her opponents on the head, causing them to fall down. This was replaced in *Street Fighter III* with the "Tenshin Shuu Kyaku" which requires her to jump all the way behind the opponent to attack, but also lets her combo afterward. Her trademark projectile is called the Kikoken, and has alternately been a motion attack and a charge attack depending on the game. Her Tenshokyaku enabled her to jump in the air and perform 3-4 consecutive kicks that can damage air born opponents.

Other notable moves that have appeared include the Sou Hakkei, a powerful palm strike that Chun-Li can do in her X-ISM mode in *Street Fighter Alpha 3*; the Reishiki Kikou Ken, a toned-down version of the Kikosho as it appeared in the *Alpha* games that Chun-Li can do at any time in the *Marvel vs. Capcom* series; and the Tenshin Embu in *SNK vs. Capcom: SVC Chaos*, a command grab similar to Yun and Yang's Zenpou Tenshin that does no damage but leaves the opponent open to a combo.

### Super Attacks

Chun-Li's first Super Combo, the Senretsukyaku, was an extended Hyakuretsukyaku that moved Chun-Li forward and could go through fireballs. Her Kikosho, which she received in *Street Fighter Alpha*, was a stationary ball of energy that could hit attacks coming from above and in front. Her Hazan Tenshou Kyaku was a powered-up version of the Tenshokyaku. These moves received typical power increases in the *Marvel vs. Capcom* series.

Her appearance in *Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike* saw her retain only one Super Combo from before, the Kikosho, in a version that more resembled the *Vs.* version than the original *Alpha*version. Her two new Super Arts were the Houyoku Sen, a re-imagined Senretsukyaku that was made up of two flurries of rapid kicks followed by a final kick that sent the opponent upward; and the Tensei Ranka, an aerial flip-kick that ended with a final kick crashing straight downward.

In *Street Fighter IV*, Chun-Li gains a new Ultra Combo called Hosenka. It is very much like Houyoku Sen, except instead of kicking the opponent away after the Hyakuretsukyaku, she kicks the opponent upwards and does a powered-up Spinning Bird Kick, which causes a tornado and does significant damage. She then kicks the opponent up into the air with a lot of force, landing gracefully *after* the opponent falls back on to the floor.

In *Super Street Fighter IV*, the Kikosho returns as Chun-Li's second Ultra Combo. The Kikosho animation is nearly identical to what is depicted in *Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike*.

In crossover games, Chun-Li gains a Hyper Combo called Shichisei Senkuu Kyaku. Chun-Li passes through the opponent with a powerful kick. As the two are momentarily paused mid-air, the screen turns black and the kanji of the Hyper Combo's name appears on the screen, with the screen flashing afterwards.

## TMNT X Pokemon

Chun-Li helps Kyoko and Shuichi during investigations. Quick on her feet, she became one of April's teachers to teach her about using brute moves with a mix of agility.

## Trivia

* Chun-Li and Ryu have made the most crossover appearances out of the entire *Street Fighter* roster. However Chun-Li appears in fewer *Street Fighter* series games than Ryu and Ken (both debuting in the game prior to her debut as well as appearing in the firsttwo installments of the *Street Fighter III* series, Chun-Li not appearing until the third installment, except for a cameo appearance in Ryu's stage).

* Chun-Li is one of the six characters in the *Street Fighter IV* series to have second rivals. Her second rival is Juri.

* According to an interview, Chun-Li's daily training regimen (at least during *SFII*) includes 7000 squat repetitions and bench pressing 150 kg. As a result her daily training, she takes pride in her foot moves. The spectacular active rumor is she's the target of Japan's female pro wrestling world scouts.[8]

* She's a narcotics investigator during the *SFII* series, an Interpol officer during *SFA1* and *SFA2*, and an anti- Shadaloo special criminal investigator during *SFA3* (she was promoted to that position in her *SFA1* ending, although that ending is non-canon but it's the position she seems to have during *SFA3*) The narcotics division is a special division within Interpol.[9]

* From an interview with Eri-pyon, credited to Chun Li's *Zero* (*Alpha*) series design, she wears Adidas TRX sneakers.[9]

* Chun-Li wanted to learn martial arts at the age of five because she saw a Bruce Lee movie, and is mentioned to be an avid Bruce Lee fan, with posters of him in her room and also having the same philosophies. The fact that Fei Long resembles Bruce Lee and how that would affect Chun-Li's viewpoint of Fei Long has never been mentioned.[8]

* Chun-Li's stage throughout the renditions of *Street Fighter II* has changed from morning to afternoon and later to dusk.

* In *Street Fighter X Tekken*, there is a running gag about Chun-Li's age when she faces certain female *Tekken* characters, e.g. Alisa and Xiaoyu, who comment about her age in their win quotes. Her win quote towards Nina also implies that Chun-Li is too embarrassed to speak of her age.

* In *Street Fighter II V*, Chun-Li is only two years younger than Ryu and Ken, while her official birth date has her as four years younger.
* During the Development of *Street Fighter II,* one of the game’s designer, Yoshiki Okamoto, originally wanted Chun-Li's health bar to be shorter than the other fighters'. He said “You know how each character has a life bar? At one point, I wanted to make the power gauge for Chun-Li shorter than for the other characters because women are not as strong. But [another designer] didn’t want to do that. We both had legitimate reasons, but then we came to an agreement to not make it shorter.”[14]