science

Liu Kang

Liu Kang is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Liu Kang rather than just read about it. In short: Liu Kang (Chinese: 劉康) is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the Mortal Kombat fighting game franchise by Midway Games and NetherRealm Studios. Depicted as Earthrealm's greatest warrior and champion, he debuted in the original 1992 game as a Shaolin monk with special moves, which were intended to be the easiest for players to perform.

Key takeaways

Liu Kang belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Liu Kang to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Liu Kang from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Liu Kang (Chinese: 劉康) is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the Mortal Kombat fighting game franchise by Midway Games and NetherRealm Studios. Depicted as Earthrealm's greatest warrior and champion, he debuted in the original 1992 game as a Shaolin monk with special moves, which were intended to be the easiest for players to perform. Since his introduction, Liu Kang has appeared as playable in every main installment except Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance (2002). He is also one of the protagonists of the action-adventure spin-off Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks (2005). The character's storyline sees him win the eponymous Mortal Kombat tournament in the first and second games, saving Earthrealm from being conquered by the opposing forces of Outworld. During both the original and rebooted timelines, Liu Kang receives a more villainous depiction by Raiden appearing as a reanimated corpse in the former and an undead revenant who rules Netherrealm in the latter. He returns to his heroic role in Mortal Kombat 11 (2019), in which he becomes the god of fire. Liu Kang has appeared in various media outside of the games, including as the hero of the 1995 film adaptation and its 1997 sequel Mortal Kombat Annihilation. Reception of the character has been mainly favorable for his special moves and gameplay, although criticism has been directed towards his Bruce Lee-inspired yells. His characterization in the reboot games received negative response for his death at Raiden's hands but his resurrection in Mortal Kombat 11 earned better response for becoming a more heroic figure.

Creation and design

Original concept sketches for a proposed Midway Games fighting title by artist and lead game designer John Tobias featured a Japanese character named Minamoto Yoshitsune. However, according to Tobias, during production of what would become Mortal Kombat, the Midway staff "just couldn't deal with the name". The character was renamed Liu Kang as a nod to actor Gordon Liu, who starred in the 1978 film The 36th Chamber of Shaolin. His ethnicity was subsequently changed to Chinese and he "was originally going to be a traditional monk – bald and in robes". Liu Kang was played by Korean actor and martial artist Ho-Sung Pak in the first two games, but Pak's refusal to shave his head resulted in the character instead being modeled after Bruce Lee and depicted as "a renegade monk [who] grew his hair back". Tobias additionally drew inspiration from the 1973 film Enter the Dragon in developing Liu Kang's backstory. Liu Kang's design in the first game had him shirtless with short hair, while wearing only black pants and white shoes. Starting with Mortal Kombat II, his outfit incorporated a red palette by way of single vertical stripes on his pants and a matching headband, in addition to black shoes and studded wrist guards; the MKII introduction cutscene shows a background fight of him in his original attire defeating old Shang Tsung while in the foreground he is shown in his updated costume. Mortal Kombat 3 contained minor changes to the character's depiction, with longer hair and thin black leg strips wrapped above his ankles in order to give him a "sleeker" look. In a 1995 interview, lead series programmer Ed Boon, discussing the development team's immediate decision to include Liu Kang in Mortal Kombat 3, said: "It'd be like doing part three of Star Wars and not having Luke Skywalker in there. You don't do that." This design was carried over into Mortal Kombat: Deception and Mortal Kombat: Armageddon, but due to his resurrection as a zombie, his skin was ash gray and he wore hooked chains around his wrists; his alternate costume featured him as a living person. The character's death in the previous game, Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance, inspired the composition of a "funeral song" by series music composer Dan Forden, titled "Liu Kang's Tomb", and was included in Deception in the arena containing his tomb. After the developers had received feedback that unlocking him in Deception had proved difficult, Liu Kang became a regular playable character in the PlayStation Portable port Unchained. Like the other characters chosen for the 2008 crossover game Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe, Liu Kang was added to the game's roster because of his popularity. He retained his Mortal Kombat 3 design that was accentuated with a championship belt adorned with the Mortal Kombat dragon emblem. In May 2023, Boon stated he had decided to put Liu Kang on the cover of Mortal Kombat 1 to signify a new story arc, in turn diverting from Scorpion and Sub-Zero, who were regularly chosen for the games' covers. Liu Kang and fellow fighter Kung Lao, according to Tobias, were meant to complement each other: one as the present-day chosen one and the other as a reflection of a failed past, with their sense of righteous purpose bonding their friendship. The producers of the 1995 Mortal Kombat film chose to combine Liu and Kung Lao's characters, making Liu the descendant of The Great Kung Lao, which, according to Tobias, "caus[ed] confusion in our games for years to follow". Any mention of Liu Kang as descendent of The Great Kung Lao in the games "was a mistake". Tobias has said that although "there have been deviations in different media to serve their purposes, ... the truth of Liu's hero's journey and the root of the character's inspiration usually seemed to find their way." Actor Tom Choi voiced Liu Kang from MK vs. DC Universe to Mortal Kombat X, and explained in 2021 that Boon wanted the character to rapidly speak nonsensical lines for his special moves in MK 2011. Choi stated that while he enjoyed playing an "iconic" and "archetypal" character and Liu Kang was notable for being a non-stereotypical Asian lead, he noticed the creative teams change leading decisions involving changes in the story such as Liu taking a lesser role in several games. Matthew Yang King, who replaced Choi in MK11, compared Liu Kang and Kung Lao to brothers with a competitive friendship, and opted to voice Liu Kang in MK11 as an "ode" to Bruce Lee, which he opined that Caucasian actors who voiced the character in the past had intentionally avoided.

Gameplay

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Liu Kang

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Liu Kang claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Liu Kang before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Liu Kang ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Liu Kang

In research: Liu Kang appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Liu Kang in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Liu Kang is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Fictional Buddhist monks, Fictional Chinese people in video games, Fictional characters with fire or heat abilities, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Liu Kang outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Liu Kang in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Liu Kang means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Liu Kang out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Liu Kang in simple terms?

Why does Liu Kang matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Liu Kang?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Liu Kang.