FANS OF HONG Kong’s Shaw brothers – purveyors of gloriously roustabout kung-fu films – know the name Jimmy Wang Yu well. The Taiwanese star of the 1960s and ’70s is best remembered from “One-Armed Swordsman” (1967), known in Thailand as “Dech Ai Duan”.

Wang came out of retirement in 2011 to appear in another martial-arts film, Peter Chan’s “Wu Xia”, and was still a powerful presence onscreen. But interest in Chinese movies has been on the wane in Thailand, so most of these guys dropped off the radar. Last week, however, Wang reappeared – sadly – as a patient in intensive care at a Bangkok hospital. And he’s been there quite a while.

The Oriental Daily News in Hong Kong and Singapore’s Straits Times report that the 72-year-old suffered a stroke at one of the local airports and was taken to a “five-star hospital”, where he twice underwent brain surgery.

His eldest daughter Linda Wong (Dad’s other name is Wong Yu-lung), taking turns with her two sisters visiting their father, confirmed it was a stroke and said his friends, especially those living in Thailand, had rallied to his side. Medical expenses have already topped Bt10 million.

Linda told another newspaper, Apple Daily, that her father has been in hospital since last month and has had “two or three [minor] surgeries”. She said her father came here on business and had just cleared Immigration at the airport when he collapsed unconscious. Staff found his identification documents and contacted his family.

Worryingly, this isn’t the first time Wang has suffered a stroke. There was an earlier, milder episode in 2011 while he was on the Chinese mainland and therapy was required to regain mobility in his left arm.

We certainly hope he’ll bounce back again quickly this time.

Jaa sings – in English!

Staying with the martial-arts beat, let’s see what’s occupying homegrown superstar Phanom “Tony Jaa” Yeerum’s since he completed three movies last years.

Though not quite as swift with his English as he is with his fists, elbows and knees, Jaa made an appearance on Tuesday promoting a GMM Grammy TV campaign in which the Ministry of Education encourages Thais to speak more English.

Not only that, he’s signed a four-year contract with the entertainment firm that will also involve some singing! Jaa said it’s another of his childhood dreams come true, to be able to sing for the masses. We await details on what exactly he’ll be crooning – maybe some elephant love songs.

And he confirmed that his next Hollywood project will be a co-starring turn opposite Vin Diesel in “xXx: The Return of Xander Cage”, which will also feature Jet Li, so fans of the fighting game are surely in for a treat.

His acolytes are no doubt just as delighted with the GMM Grammy contract, since that means we should see a lot more of him here in Thailand instead of having to share him with California. Maybe there’ll even be another rock ’em sock ’em Thai movie emerging from the deal, along the lines of “Ong-Bak” and “Tom Yum Goong”. Fingers are crossed.