The Mad Monk

Ji Gong
Chinese DVD cover
Directed by	Johnny To
Written by	Sandy Shaw
Starring	Stephen Chow Maggie Cheung Anthony Wong Kirk Wong Ng Man Tat
Release date	1993
Running time	85 min
Country	Hong Kong
Language	Cantonese

Ji Gong (濟公, pinyin: Jì Gōng; The Mad Monk in English) is a 1993 Hong Kong comedy film directed by Johnny To, and starring Stephen Chow as the "Mad Monk" Ji Gong, a popular Chinese folklore figure from the Southern Song Dynasty. The film follows "Dragon Fighter Luohan" as he accepts a challenge from the gods to change the fate of a beggar, a prostitute, and a villain in three heavenly days. He is reborn on earth as a mere mortal and ultimately battles an evil demon to stave off hell on earth.

The movie starts out with all of the gods in heaven complaining to the Jade Emperor about the malicious practical jokes played on them by Dragon Fighter Lohan. The Emperor summons Dragon's sworn-brother, Tiger Fighter Lohan (Ng Man Tat), in order to find Dragon. Dragon (Stephen Chow) eventually appears and rebuke the various gods for their horrible judgments on mankind. He insisted he can do a better job and is banished to be reincarnated into an animal by the Jade Emperor. The Bodhisattva Guan Yin (Anita Mui) intervene and issues Dragon a challenge. If he can change the fates of three people—a beggar, a prostitute, and a villain—doomed to nine incarnations as their current position in life within three heavenly days (thirty years), without heavenly powers, he will be upgraded in heavenly status. If he fails, he will be downgraded from an arhat to an animal. The Bodhisattva gives him a magical fan that can only be used three times a day for sleight-of-hand-like magic tricks to help him in his mission. However, heavenly soldiers force him down from heaven before he has the fan in hand.