Thought this was kinda interesting, and really hits home how old the SF series is. If we were going by time lines then this is how she's been aging.
Street Fighter Alpha1&2 (1988) = 20 years old
Street Fighter Alpha 3 (1990) = 22 years old
Street Fighter 2 (1993) = 25 years old
Street Fighter 3 (1998) = 30 years old
Current day (2008) = 40 years old
So let's give all cheer to the queen of fighting games!
Also... if you want a long read... The chun-li faq ripped out of the plot guide
CHUN-LI (SFA3 uses both Chun-Li and Chun Li. Ack! We'll stick with
Chun-Li). Originally CHUN-LI CHUNG.
Birthday: 1968 March 1
SFA Height: 169cm
SF2 Height: 170cm
Weight: Unknown
BWH sizes: B84, W59, H89 (SFA), B88, W58, H90 (SF2)
Blood type: A
Birthplace: China
Special Skill: Shooting (ranked 6th in an international contest)
Likes: Fruits, European treats
Dislikes: Crime, people who aren't clear of themselves, M. Bison
Fighting Style: Taichi
SSF2 nickname: Splendid Dancing which tears the sky
SFA3 nickname: Determined to attack the great evil
SF3:TS nickname: "The Kicking Force is Back!!!" or The kicking beauty
XMvSF nickname: The beautiful vengeance person
MvC2 nickname: Beautiful female detective
CvS nickname: "Long-legged beauty of fascination.
SFA stage: The Great Wall of China
SFA2 stage: Beijing
SFA3 stage: Zhidan Plaza, China
SF2 stage: The shopping quarters (China) or Shopping District, Peace Road
SF3:TS stage: CHINESE RESTAURANT 2:00 PM (China)
Street Fighter Alpha 2: Chun-Li's father has gone missing on assignment.
Following the lead from a friend of her father's, Gen, Chun-Li sets out to
investigate the evil organization known as Shadaloo and find out who's
responsible. She finally came face to face with the leader of Shadaloo, M.
Bison. Demanding to know what happened to her father, M. Bison and her
fought, and M. Bison proceeded to kick the crap out of her then flew off,
saying that next time they met, he would kill her quickly like he did to
her father. Realizing that Bison killed her father, Chun-Li is angrier
than ever and vows revenge [Official].
Street Fighter Alpha 3: Chun-Li is the I.C.P.O.'s special detective
assigned to Shadaloo. With management corruption, she was powerless as an
official. So, she works in cooperation with Charlie to defeat Shadaloo.
Unfortunately, Guile came to intervene. Chun-Li tried to stop him, telling
him that the army was corrupt and that Charlie had to be left alone so
Charlie could take care of Bison, but Guile would have none of it.
However, after Guile himself met Charlie, he himself had realized what was
going on, and he joined them too. The bombardment of Shadaloo, however,
was called off due to corruption in Interpol and Bison's manipulation, so
Chun-Li realized that she had to destroy the base, herself. As Guile and
Charlie go to destroy the Psycho Drive, Chun-Li proceeds to set explosives
around the base. While doing this, she captured a brief glimpse of a
mysterious young girl, but wasn't able to see much more before that girl
(Cammy, and maybe some of the other Dolls) ran off [Conjecture based off
in-game storyline and official statements]. Unfortunately, Charlie doesn't
make it out of the explosion thanks to Bison. However, many of Shadowloo's
facilities and bases have been shut down, finally... [Official]
Street Fighter 2: While reeling, Shadaloo isn't dead, yet. Worse off,
apparently Bison is somehow still alive. Chun-Li recieves an invitation
from him personally to participate in the 2nd Street Fighter tournament.
She participates in the SF2 tournament to go after him and avenge her
father once and for all [Official]. She's one of the most likely
candidates (along with Guile) for the one who reached the top and battled
M. Bison [see Urien's comments to her about how her 'powerful legs brought
down that organization' in SF3], though Akuma jumped in and finished M.
Bison off for good [Official]. After that, Chun-Li systematically took it
down for good. After Shadaloo was destroyed, Chun-Li visited her father's
grave, telling him that he can finally rest in peace. But for her, the
fight is never over [Chun-Li's SF2 Revival ending].
Caption from likely post-SF2 art: "I've returned to an ordinary girl."
Friends and a trip abroad.
Alternate Caption: "I've returned to an ordinary girl," says Chun Li but,
now training however is her primary daily task.
...eh, Chun-Li's whole "ordinary girl" ending to SF2 was either retconned
or down-played to fit her into SF3. Or maybe her still being a detective
or official still counts as ordinary to her. The "continued to train"
thing is still there even from old arts like these, though.
Street Fighter 3 Third Strike: Chun-Li withdrew from "Street Fighting" long
ago until one day her Kung-Fu student mysteriously dissappears. She is
left with no choice but to come back to the world of "Street Fighting"
and search for her lost student. [Official]
She goes out to investigate, and finds out that Gill's
organization has kidnapped her. She finally confronts Urien, and fights
for her freedom. Urien promises to release the girl if Chun-Li entertains
him for a while with her fighting ability, for he has heard of her
legendary status. Impressing Urien in battle, Chun-Li manages to convince
Urien to release the girl. Rescuing her, Chun-Li discovers her new purpose
in life (since her old one is finished now that Shadaloo is gone), and she
takes the girl in. Six months later, Chun-Li thinks back about what she
learned, that day. Now, for her father and her country, as well as all the
warm-hearted people she met throughout the world, she shall train the next
generation and teach them the true meaning of strength and beauty
[from the game].
Where Is She Now: Chun-Li is training a lot of kids in martial arts and
teaching them to be... well, good guys and stuff. [from the game and displayed
in various non-canon games after SF3 TS]
Miscellaneous Facts and Notes
SF2 Anniversary Website Blurb: A woman in the narcotics investigations
division whose father was murdered by someone. The gleam in her eyes
pursuing the truth...
Chun-Li from Gamest SF2:
The first woman fighting stylist, China's Chun Li.
She's traveling through various places in the world searching for news
of her missing father. Having come across the Narcotics Investigations
Division becoming a detective herself following as her father's
successor she's the investigations top end, to ascertain that her father's
disappearance is leaning toward the evil enormous organization "Shadoloo."
As for where's the organization's wirepuller Vega....
Such is the rather glum story of Chun Li. However she fights amidst true
intentions boasting wherever "I am the world's best fighting stylist!"
to her knocked out opponents with comfort in remembering the circumstances.
The intentions of searching for her father and fighting cannot be drawn
off. True, with that whim as a young girl, and a warm eye that watches
over that's that!
As for sure killing techniques an infinite beauty of leg lines, the
hyakuretsu kick, also the magnificently becoming dance, the spinning
bird kick.
As a result her daily training takes pride in her foot moves. The
spectacular active rumor is she's the target of Japan's female pro
wrestling world scoutmen. With intentions completed could it become a
not too distant day when later Chun Li will be seen in the ring...?
If it's the case then surely Chun Li would become the beautiful and
strong queen of the ring. And then truly the world's best fighting
stylist she'll become!
Chun-Li's name is supposed to be Chunli, NOT Chun-Li. Chun-Li being
her name was a screw up on Capcom of USA's part when they translated her
name. Though I guess officially now, her name in the US is Chun-Li, now.
Or Chun Li. SFA3 uses both. Ah well. As stated above, this FAQ will
stick to Chun-Li. Going by Chunli would be kinda silly since Capcom has
shown that they're sticking with Chun-Li / Chun Li for her US name,
anyway. ^^ And the version with the dash shall be used because it is
possible to properly translate a Chinese name with the dash, at least, as
compared to just a space (and it's possible that it was meant to be Chun-Li
but couldn't be because the little dash '-' thingy doesn't exist in the
Japanese language).
...actually, in Capcom vs SNK 2 (and probably a few other games where
applicable), Chun-Li's name in lettering is spelled as Chun-Li, too, so I
guess that's what her true name is supposed to be, after all. Special
thanks to Jabel D. Morales for pointing that out.
At 18 she began aspiring to be a detective.
From an interview with Eri-pyon, credited to Chun Li's Zero series look,
she wears Adidas TRX sneakers.
Chun Li claims to be the strongest woman in the world. By the time of
SF2, she's probably right (strongest in the Street Fighter world, at least)
Chun-Li's father (who does not have an official name. Don't trust the
names given by anime and manga. It is NOT Dorai) was friends with Gen.
Gen taught her a couple moves (in SFA2 during Chun-Li's midboss fight vs
him, he offers to teach her, though official statements are now the friend
of father thing), but obviously wasn't her primary teacher (only a couple
moves. Nothing more).
One of the moves Gen taught her is her crouching roundhouse, though
most people probably noticed that already. The name of the attack is
Gendenansatsushu, which literally translates to "Gen's legendary assassin
kick".
The old man training a child Chun-Li in that picture is neither Gen
nor Chun Li's father. His name is Shao-efei and he taught Chun Li chinese
martial arts. He's Chun-Li's uncle, but it is unknown if this pic is
canon, as the pic was done for the graphic novel, "Street Fighter Zero
Chun Li" (ISBN: 4-8470-3180-6). It was released in March of 1996, and
drawn by Edayan. Shao is Chun Li's mother's last name, so he is her
mother's brother. Chun Li takes her father's last name in her novel
bio Fuang, while Shao is in parentheses. Of course, a novel isn't a
very canon source most of the time. The closest to an actual canon
last name for Chun-Li is actually Chung from older sources.
Gen's SF Eternal bio states that some of his maneuvers were taught to
Chun-Lis father, who would in turn pass them on to her. Perhaps Saiki
accidentally misinterpreted and Gen didnt train Chun-Li personally?
It would appear that her father's body was never found nor buried, even
though her father got a grave. Chun-Li didn't even know for sure that he
was dead until Bison told her he killed her father at the end of SFA2. At
the end of SFA3, she remarks that she feels her father's still alive,
apparently trying to cling to the old adage of "If you don't see him
actually die, he's still out there some where". I'd be extremely surprised
if he were alive, though. Ditto for Charlie for whom Guile says the same
thing.
From Udoneko (of Udon Studios, makers of the new SF comic) about
Chun-Li's father: "And funning thing about Chun Li's father.... we asked
Capcom how he looks like, and they said they never designed him. And they
just ask us to reference the 2V Anime for him..... so that becomes the
comic "father" too."
So while Dorai is unofficial, Capcom is perfectly fine with him
being used in the comic since they themselves never made a design for
Chun's father.
Chun-Li was very close to her father. He was constantly away doing
investigations, but she always eagerly awaited his return. Neighbors
and such respected her father and when impressed by Chun-Li's agility,
would say "As one would expect of the Chung family's daughter" with
applause (this is in her Gamest SF2D mook, and where the last name
Chung is mentioned)
Chun-Li's fighting style was never listed or stated by any Japanese
source to be WuShu. ...weee, back when I thought it was, I had a whole
paragraph surrounding that and Capcom's reasons for changing it but now
that I got around to fixing this fact, I've been able to reduce it to just
one sentence sans this long disclaimer sentence!
...why not? Here's more. Every Japanese SF-related site says Chun-Li's
fighting style is Chinese kenpou or Chinese martial arts. I've never seen
it listed as "Tai Chi".
AASFZ3 calls it Tai Chi. It literally calls it the northern Chinese kenpo
or Chinese martial arts, which is known as Tai Chi Chuan, or tai chi as
more commonly called. It's called "northern" because it was historically
verified during the 1800's in the northern Chinese province of Henen,
home to the Chen style of tai chi, which directly or indirectly gave the
basis for all other major schools of the art. Also AASFZ3 seems to emphasize
the "Double Rising Leg Attack" form of tai chi in Chun Li's fighting style
section.
Chun-Li is a very maternal lady who has a motherly side to her. While
this is better shown in SF3, it is also shown in SFA3 in her storyline. I
guess Capcom figured that if they were going to give her a plot when you
play as her that doesn't happen in the actual canon in any way, they might
as well use it to show a side of her character some more. Chun-Li is very
mad at Bison for using 'just girls' as killers. This is more in-game
confirmation that all the Dolls are underage, by the way, if you didn't
figure that out already.
I.C.P.O. stands for International Criminal Police Organization, or
Interpol for short (http://www.interpol.com). Though.... Capcom's version
of Interpol varies a bit from the real world version (The real interpol
doesn't send officers on combat enforcement missions, I believe, for one
thing...).
Apparently, judging by her birthdate and when SFA2 took place, Chun-Li
was only 20 to 21 tops when she joined Interpol. In real life, you have to
be at least 23 to get into Interpol, I believe (or maybe 25). But... then
again, Street Fighter's Interpol tends to deviate from details like that (I
don't think real life Delta Red lets in little kids, cyborgs, or 19 year
olds, either). Of course, if you go by Final Fight dates, I guess you
could bump SFZ2's canon date up 2 years which would make Chun-Li old enough,
but that's a stretch sorta.
She wanted to learn martial arts at the age of 5 because she saw a
Bruce Lee movie. She's got Bruce Lee posters in her room. That Fei Long
resembles Bruce Lee and how that would affect Chun-Li's viewpoint of Fei
Long has never been mentioned, alas
The Peking Opera fascinated Chun-Li as a child. Its part of the
reason why she started practicing martial arts. She began by learning
Tai Chi. However, Tai Chi was much different from the gorgeous movements
she remembered from Peking Opera. Soon afterwards, her father taught her
Hong Quan as well as various basic exercises from then on. With that,
Chun-Lis skills in Chinese martial arts improved rapidly. Chun-Li used
mostly kicks when fighting. This was something she picked up from her
father, who was also said to have legendary legs. Chun-Li continued
to develop her kick attacks, embracing techniques from a variety of
martial arts, such as capoeira, Chinese martial arts, battle karate,
Tae Kwon Do, thus eventually creating her own style.
Chun-Lis father was a detective for the Hong Kong police. Hes
the reason Chun-Li became a detective.
She's a narcotics investigator during the SF2 series, an Interpol
officer during SFZ 1&2, and an anti- Shadaloo special criminal investigator
during SFZ3 (she was promoted to that position in her SFZ1 ending. SFZ1
isn't canon but it's the position she seems to have come SFZ3). The
narcotics division is a special division within Interpol.
She has an SF3 Third Strike win quote where she remarks that she's
never thrown any of them away. This was not in the Japanese version,
though. Also, it might just be a joke on how there were rumours for a
long time in SF2 about how Chun-Li had a bracelet projectile attack
(false rumours, of course).
Her bracelets weigh 7-10 kg each (from HnN). Heavy! Gamest World
Capcom JOKED that they weighed 20 kg, but that's just nuts.
Her last name is NOT Xiang/Zang. That's from the Street Fighter live
action movie. Um... EW. At least, I'm pretty much positive that it's just
from the live action movie. There is no proof that it's official. I've
searched through every official art archive, and didn't see any of the
artworks have Xiang on it even when it had Chun-Li written on it, none of
the bios I was given by my sources mention the name, etc. The only remote
proof of Chun-Li's last name is an official art of Chun-Li's youth where a
younger Chun-Li is dressed in a suit that has a tag on it with some
writing, but the writing was very blurry and the name tag very small, so
the most I could make out from it that was closest to "Xiang Chun-Li" was
was "Xyg Cal". Nevermind the fact that typically, something as important
as a character's last name for a character as high profile and in as many
games as Chun-Li would be plastered all over at least SOME of the games or
the official art or official bios SOMEWHERE.
UPDATE: Old old sources have been dug up for Street Fighter 2 where
Chun-Li's bio lists her as a member of the Chung family. In addition, that
picture where people say her tag says her last name is Xiang upon closer
inspection supposedly looks like "Chung" as well. This would mean that
Chun-Li's last name could officially have been Chung, but is likely one
of those many "forgotten facts" that even Capcom doesn't remember, by now.
Chung would be the best possibility for her last name. Red Cyclone's
webmaster has an analysis for all the last names she's been given in
Capcom related products, from Zang-live movie to Li-XvSF to Fuang-SFZ
novel, and this is the only one from he's noted as being from Capcom's
direct word, Chun Li's account from the Dash pre-mook. So it would
definitely qualify as a "forgotten" fact. It is mentioned in
SF2 Dash Gamest issue #77 (account above, the daughter of the Chung family
so her father's last name is Chung), and the pic's in several places:
the Wani Books SFZ Chun Li novel, Eternal, a nice big version in the
US SFA2 guide.
On a random note, that same official art about Chun-Li's youth also has
a very young Chun-Li playing the cello (or some sort of string instrument)
for some reason. Dunno what's up with that, though.
Looking at SF3 dialogue, Chun-Li was most likely the winner of the SF2
tournament (next to Guile). See her SF2 story summary above. Urien's
comments to her in SF3 aren't a complete guarantee (for one thing, Chun-Li
played a BIG role in bringing down Shadaloo whether she was the one to beat
Bison or not), but they are quite a hefty chunk of evidence.
Chun-Li is friends with Ryu, Ken, and Sakura. This is one of the
reasons why she appears in Ryu's SFA3 ending as Ryu flashbacks about his
friends. Though... while I can picture her running into Ryu and Ken, I
don't know how on earth she could have gotten to know Sakura. Strange.
Chun-Li almost positively knows Yun and Yang. Besides the special
intro Yun gets with her in CvS2, Yun has a specific win-quote to her where
he's surprised at what she looked like when she was younger ("Wow! I never
imagined you could look like this!") in the GBA version of SFA3. It's pretty
logical that she'd know Yun and Yang, since she knew Gen and all.
For how Chun-Li teamed up with Charlie in SFA3, see Charlie's bio.
Although the official bio states "Unknown", Chun-Li's weight might be
68 kg. That's what Juni rated her "SP" at, and for most characters, their
SP is 100 times their weight. This is pretty heavy for a female character,
considering that most female characters in fighting games weigh as much as
a stick. Course, Chun probably is one of the less stickly non-wrestler
female fighters around, judging by those thick-as-tree-trunk legs that she
kicks people with
I don't think Chun-Li and Ryu will ever hook up, and I think it would
be very out of character for both of them to fall in love with each other.
While Ryu's ending in SFA3 implies that he did meet Chun-Li once, it's
obvious that it was a brief meeting and mostly just for a fight to test
fighting skills. Other than that, Ryu has never been portrayed with
Chun-Li in any way beyond that, so it's obvious that Capcom isn't pursuing
a Ryu Chun-Li relationship. I don't think Chun-Li will ever be getting a
boyfriend. She adopted a girl in SF3, as well as a whole bunch of other
kids, which I feel might be Capcom's way of giving her a successor/daughter
without her having to actually fall in love with someone. I myself think
Charlie would have been most likely to have been paired up with Chun-Li,
but he's dead now so no hope of that (which is another reason why I think
Capcom had Chun-Li adopt. Her main prospect boyfriend... um, died). Heck,
for a while, she actually was pretending to be Charlie's girlfriend.
Course, 'pretend' being an important word but still...
Looking back, I'm not sure I remember ever getting an official statement
that she actually adopted anyone so much as just had a bunch of students she
deeply cared about. Well, regardless, the whole "successor" theme remains.
From Gal's Island #2 Capcom interviews: Chun Li's daily training regimen
at least during SF2 includes 7000 squat repetitions and bench pressing 150
kg.
From Gal's Island #3 Capcom interviews: if Chun Li ever got together
with Ryu, she'd have to get over his sloppy table manners
One of the win quotes of US Third Strik is the following: "Hey,
leave me alone! I'm a fighter, not a news reporter!"
I am not sure if such quote exist in the Japanese version, but this quote
is probably a joke reference to the Van Damme movie.
Her earliest proto-type's name was Chi-Lei (she looked sorta like
Lucia of Final Fight 3). Her next one (once Ryu and Ken were decided to
be returned for the SF2 roster) named her simply China Girl.
The old man in her NG stage was stated by Electronic Gaming Magazine
to be the same old man as the one arguing with a woman in her SF2 stage.
Dunno if that's true. Maybe it's the same old guy as the one teaching
those people in Chun-Li's SFA3 stage as well?
