Chinese Cultural and Philosophical Inspirations in Kung Fu Panda

PS, MY BAD, Jennifer Yuh Nelson the Head of Story (and director of Kung Fu Panda 2 & 3) is Korean American, not Chinese American

Shout out to my Patreon GUARDIAN LIONS:
Benji Sudolcan
do-it-out-of-spite
Felix Chaplin
Molly McAllister

[XiranJayZhao]

MY BAD, correction, Jennifer Yuh Nelson the Head of Story (and director of Kung Fu Panda 2 & 3) is Korean American, not Chinese American.

[Jaynevermore]

“There are no accidents.”

Cat blocks cam. Video goes viral. Book sales skyrocket.

[gamechanger]

"Master Shifu is literally Master Master"
Chai Tea: Finally a worthy opponent our battle will be legendary!

[that_random_artist]

I still find it hysterical how this channel started as a huge "f*ck you" to Mulan 2020, and became this awesome source of knowledge and culture.

[MiguelGonzalez-dude]

I love the scene where Po finishes his training and says that he's not hungry, because earlier in the movie he says he gets hungry whenever he's anxious. It means that he has learned to overcome his insecurities and has some self-stem in him now

[zoeleene]

What I love about Shifu is that when he saw that his initial method wasn't working with his new student, he stopped trying to change the student, changing his method instead. That is what a good teacher does.

[TonicSpirits]

It's wild to think this entire Youtube channel started out of pure, unadulterated spite for a certain atrocious film released last year. You've come a long way!

[Mr_Mimestamp]

"Master, I have good news!"
"There is just news, there is no good or bad."
"Xiran Jay Zhao made a 30 minute video on Kung Fu Panda!"
"Ah, that is good news!"

[josealmeida]

I love how in the sequel, Poe’s father changed his restaurant to “Dragon Warrior Noodles and Tofu” which not only shows how proud of he is of his son, but shows that Poe inspired him as well since he told Poe that he once had crazy notion about making tofu.

[Ichigonephilimdark]

"what gender are you?"
"oh, sorry I don't have a smooth ball or a lion cub actually."

[Shnoodle]

I had NEVER made that connection of Po being immune to the acupuncture foreshadowing being immune to Tai Lung's stun attack

[yeehaw]

I think the main reason I liked Kung fu panda so much was because po never had some montage where he gets super fucking ripped like absolutely shredded they kept him as him while he improved his skills and he even used it to his advantage in a fight. Best body positivity film imo

[AlexTenThousand]

I feel like Kung Fu Panda actually shows that, if you actually do your homework and have some respect for the culture you're portraying, you can make something good no matter where you're from.

[OmoonmoonO]

something that I really loved about this movie was how Po was never treated bad by the rest of the villagers who are smaller animals. sometimes in this type of stories were the main character is different from the rest they get made fun of or worse by everyone else.

[rabnerd]

"Grabs popcorn" I am ready to get educated about things.

[TheDanibits]

Can we all just apreciate how fluidly Xiran can use chinese words while speaking english flawlessly? I'm sure all of us bilinguals know how hard it is to use proper pronunciation while alternating between languages mid sentence. It's just so cool to hear it this flawlessly.

[domidium]

25:55 This is even more profound to Po's character development when you remember that Oogway observed that Po eats when he's upset. But now, he's not hungry, because he's not upset.

[stormageddon]

You explained the meaning of Dao while demonstrating it perfectly by just allowing your cat to take up the shot and not refilming that part is just perfect. If it was intentional, that is brilliant.

[gquinn]

There is a saying: Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift. That is why it is called the present.
Grand Master Oogway

[SuperCrazf]

I appreciate how at the beginning you were like “the Chinese government IP black listed me, but that’s ok because I can use a VPN to deal with it” and I was like, this is peak advertisement right here. Excellent video as always.