Stephen Chow martial arts comedy King of Beggars on Eureka Blu-ray in January

Eureka Entertainment is to release King of Beggars (Mo jong yuen So Hak Yee, 1992), the classic Stephen Chow martial-comedy directed by Gordon Chan, presented from a new 2K restoration on Blu-ray for the first time outside of Asia as part of the Eureka Classics range. Coming to the UK and North America in January, this edition is strictly limited to 2,000 copies and comes housed in an O-card slipcase with a collector’s booklet.

At the dawn of the 1990s, following a decade in which Hong Kong martial arts cinema was dominated by Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung, a new superstar emerged: Stephen Chow. Chow rose to fame as the star of both the Fight Back to School and Royal Tramp series and King of Beggars – a comedic take on the story of famed martial artist and folk hero So Chan.

o Chan (Chow) is a naturally gifted martial artist – but lazy, unmotivated and spoiled by his wealthy parents. He is forced to make something of himself when he falls in love with Yu Shang (Sharla Cheung), a prostitute who agrees to marry him on one condition: that he enters and wins the upcoming imperial martial arts tournament. So Chan only hopes to win Yu Shang’s hand in marriage, but entering the competition soon leads him to become embroiled in a bitter feud between the famed Beggar Clan and a corrupt government official, Chiu Mo-kei (Norman Chiu).

A beloved character previously played by the likes of Yuen Siu-tien, Lau Kar-leung, Philip Kwok, Chow Yun-fat and Gordon Liu, So Chan – popularly known as Beggar So – was a legendary master of drunken boxing who lived during the late Qing dynasty, vividly brought to life in King of Beggars by a star on the rise in Stephen Chow. Eureka Classics is presenting the film on Blu-ray for the first time outside of Asia.