Chun-Li

Chun-Li (春麗 or チュンリー, Shunrei or Chunrī?, Simplified Chinese: 春丽 chūnlì), also known as the Martial Arts Master (格闘技マスター, Kakutōgi masutā?, Simplified Chinese: 武术大师) is the tritagonist and main female protagonist of 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. She later retires, becoming a Kung Fu teacher and caretaker of Li-Fen.

Biography Concept Chun-Li was designed by Akira "Akiman" Yasuda. According to Akiman, Chun-Li was modeled after Tao from Shotaro Ishinomori's Genma Wars: Harmagedon movie, which was the #1 box office anime movie of 1983. Chun-Li originally had big, wide legged pants and had a front and back apron. Akiman changed it because she didn't look "very sexy" and the design lacked visual impact and personality. Around the 11th hour, he experimented with her outfit choices. Finally, he decided to give her bare legs and a bodycon dress, making her look more like a professional wrestler. This became the finalized design for Chun-Li.

She shares similarities to Tong Pooh, from Capcom's Strider franchise. The Street Fighter III: New Generation Secret File appears to make a nod to this fact, showing a picture of Tong Pooh in a TV while wondering if it'd be the "next Chun-Li".

Name Chun-Li's name is Mandarin for "spring beauty" (春 chūn, "spring"; 麗 lì, "beautiful"). It is properly romanized as chūnlì in pinyin and pronounced "Chuen-lee", despite westerners commonly pronouncing it as "Chuhn-lee". The Japanese on'yomi rendering 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. Several Japanese drama CDs and novels created based on the series have given her surname as both "Feng" (楓, "Feng"?) and "Wang" (王, "Wang"?), though these are also not officially recognized by Capcom. 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 with a white waistband embroidered with a dragon pattern, a detail only seen in her Street Fighter II art before being officially added in Street Fighter V. 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. In the Street Fighter EX series within her CGI appearance, the dragon pattern of her white waistband and its trimmings are pale blue instead of gold.

During the period covered in Street Fighter Alpha, she wore an embroidered vest, unitard and athletic shoes, as well as studded wristbands. Of further elaboration and to the Alpha series' time frame, the embroidered vest draws upon real world Hong Kong style martial arts school uniform vests that became prevalent after the migration of Chinese martial artists from the mainland upon the Maoist Cultural Revolution during the 1960s, and were efficiently economical in their function in contrast to full body uniforms. 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. 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. In all of her costumes, she's shown with bright lipstick and enchanting eyeshadow around her eyes.

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.

In Street Fighter 6, Chun-Li's ox-horns hairstyle is now unadorned and her bangs are already slicked. Her primary outfit has been updated but minor changes. Her qipao now resembles a cheongsam with a pale blue as the primary color, with and the right short sleeve of her dress, as well as her leggings, being her signature blue. Design patters of the sky, clouds, birds, and water run all along her dress. With the sky blue being the main color on the outside of her outfit, gold serves as the primary color for the inside of Chun-Li's cheongsam, almost inverting the outside colors of the Chinese dress. Chun-Li replaces the pantyhose and boots with blue leggings and black Chinese toe shoes. Her leggings and her flats resembling the same leggings and flats worn by her anime counterpart in Street Fighter II V as her primary outfit.

Her second outfit in SF6 is a slightly modified version of her classic one.

In Chun-Li's third outfit, her hair is styled in a trendy Korean half-up topknot, with see-through bangs and loose strands cascading down. Two carved jade hoop earrings adorned her ears. She sports a white turtleneck backless sports bra with Pankou knots (frog fasteners) on the neck and a tasteful slit adorned with black opaque lace, offering a glimpse of her cleavage. To cover her body, she wears a sleeveless duster vest that is light and semi-transparent. The vest's color transitions from white at the top to beige at the bottom, incorporating white curvy patterns. It features a large slit starting from the upper back, allowing it to gracefully flow as she moves. For the lower half, Chun-Li opts for gray sweatpants. They are equipped with side buttons that run the full length of the legs, giving her the option to undo them at the waist[17]. A white waistband holds a knotted string adorned with two stylized orange aglets, similar to those on her loose wristbands. Completing the ensemble, Chun-Li wears turquoise breathable walking shoes.

Hairstyle Chun-Li's signature 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. This style of ox-horns is also called as odango in Japanese.

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.

In Street Fighter V, Chun-Li lets loose her ox horn hair style, and lets her hair down when she wears her Battle costume.

In Street Fighter 6, Chun-Li retains her ox-horn hair style, but now her buns are unadorned and her bangs are more kempt and out of the way of her forehead. In World Tour Mode, Chun-Li reveals that she loves to have variety with her hair style. She loved to let it grow out in the past. But when she isn't wearing her hair in ox-horn fashion, she likes to let it down, braid it, or tie it up in different ways.

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 rash side to her personality, as shown in her ending of Super Gem Fighter Mini Mix. As pointed out by Nash and Guile, Chun-Li tends to let her emotions get the best of her while on duty, this has at least on one occasion almost caused her demise at the hands of Bison. As shown in her story mode and in A Shadow Falls, Chun-Li has been told this and she has promised not to do it again while it keeps happening.

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.

In her Street Fighter V arcade ending, a surprising trait was revealed that Chun-Li is inept at cooking, (averting her usual femininity like Lucia, but not to the point when the food becomes humorously bad like the latter) to the point of burning her food while following cooking instruction and Li-Fen having to take over with what remains of the ingredients.

Chun-Li displays her kind and caring, almost motherly, traits in her Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike arcade ending. After rescuing Li-Fen, she goes on to teach Kung Fu to children. Chun-Li was inspired by all the people she's met on her journeys, and has made it her new goal to teach her new students about strength and beauty, as well as to help shape their future.

In Street Fighter 6, she maintains the same elegant and caring personality. Because she's taking a break from work, and she has Li-Fen to take care of, she isn't as headstrong to rush into dangerous situations like she used to be when she was in the past. But whenever a fight does come her way, she won't hesitate to defend herself or those she cares about.

She is a little stricter with Li-Fen this time around, now that she's older and often times spends way too much time on her computer, but deep down, Chun-Li still very much cares for her. She treats her like a little sister, although she admits she's young enough to be her daughter. It took some time for her to open up to her after being rescued from Shadaloo and taken in by Chun-Li. But ever since, the are rarely seen apart. Chun-Li loves spending time with Li-Fen, whether it be shopping, going to get sweets, or even just teaching kung fu, her motherly personality shines even more so than ever.

Chun-Li is also very encouraging and endearing to the Player. In addition to being one of the Masters you learn martial arts from, Chun-Li also encourages players to experience the many cuisines that the city and world has to offer. In addition, she teaches that solely focusing on martial arts can lead to inflexibility in mind and body, and that single-minded dedication is key for self-improvement. Chun-Li also encourages to take breaks from fighting from time-to-time, saying that a change of pace can do good for you.

Chun-Li's legs are her unmistakable trademark, and not only her source of power in her fighting, but also a source of pride in herself, her kung fu, and her strength. When Chun-Li asks the player what they think of them will result in different reactions from Chun-Li. Calling them "Inspirational" will get gratitude out of Chun-Li, and she'll be okay if you stared at them longer. Calling them "Thick" however will get Chun-Li flustered, and she'll threaten to teach you a lesson.

Chun-Li expresses delight the further the Player masters her martial art in World Tour mode. The Player reminds Chun-Li of her past self when she was training. She also compliments you as you progress in your journey of seeking strength, and even considers asking you to assist with her kung fu classes. Regardless where the Player's journey takes them, Chun-Li is delight to meet and train them, and is excited to continue fighting for the future.