Chun-Li, the character on Street Fighter, holds a significant place in video game history as the first playable female character in a fighting game.
The character is a a Chinese martial artist and an Interpol officer seeking justice for her father's murder at the hands of the villain M. Bison, the franchise's main antagonist. With an exceptional skill in Kung Fu, Chun-Li has a signature move, known as the Spinning Bird Kick, alongside her Lightning Kick.
Chun-Li’s design is inspired by traditional Chinese aesthetics, with her blue qipao dress and twin "ox horn" buns. Not to mention her spiked bracelets, often referred to as spiked cuffs, which have been one of her most recognizable accessories.
They are as iconic as her overall outfit, contributing to her unique character design.
Her cultural influence extends beyond gaming, making her an iconic figure in pop culture, and a staple in cosplay and beyond.
The character was designed by Akira Yasuda, a Japanese animator, character designer, game designer and mecha designer, who works under the pseudonym "Akiman".
When he was working for Capcom, he was tasked with designing the characters, such as for the Final Fight series and Street Fighter II: The World Warrior. And at the time, he was responsible for designing Chun-Li, and make the character ready for her debut in 1991.
Chun-Li is designed to be attractive. While she's not designed to be sexually provocative, her qipao, which is a traditional Chinese dress, is fitted with a high side slits.
Her outfit is made potentially more sexy because of this more contemporary modification, and indeed, it allows the potential for voyeurism. While the design is meant to make her more suitable for combat, it's designed to showcase Chun-Li's physique, which is portrayed to have a balance of power, athleticism, and femininity.
This is making her an iconic character in gaming.
While the outfit is meant to allow unrestricted movement during fights, the high slits are mostly designed in a way to make viewers focus on the the exposure of the character’s thighs.
As a result, many players have eroticized them.
But what is unique about Chun-Li is that, she has been sexualized for her thighs that violate typical beauty standards.
Her muscular legs are kind of off balanced, when compared to her overall appearance.
According to Capcom, it was said that Chun-Li is 169 centimeters tall, with a bust-waist-hip ratio of 88-58-90.
These measurements are considered proportionally balanced, which give her a beautifully feminine silhouette for an Asian woman.
But the thighs though, despite emphasizing her mastery of kicking techniques, her athletic and slim build is a contrast to her rather bulky legs.
The real reason for her overly-muscular legs was revealed by Yoko Shimomura, the soundtrack composer for Street Fighter II in a post on Polygon.
She said that back in the day, she asked Akira Yasuda about Chun-Li's big thighs, and why they were kind of unbalanced if compared to the rest of her athletic body.
Yasuda responded with the reason of the design.
"I can't believe you don't understand the appeal," he said, and started explaining the attraction.
Shimomura said that Yasuda has "really strong feelings toward his creations" and that "there's a reason for everything being the way that it is," adding that it was "kind of got awkward when he started explaining his fetishes."
Chun-Li's initial design was inspired by the character Tao, from the 1983 anime film Harmagedon: Genma Wars. Yasuda was inspired by Tao's design, and incorporated some of her traits to design Chun-Li.
The idea was to make her intimidating in the male-dominated fighting championship, but retain her aesthetic as a fine-looking woman. It was only after this, that the nationality of China for the character stuck.
Yasuda originally envisioned Chun-Li to wear trousers, but as her appearance was further established, he traded them for tights pants, further emphasizing her thighs.
So here, the design has really captivated pop culture.
The overall significance of Chun-Li cannot be separated from Street Fighter, which is undeniable amongst fighting games.
The fighting game is initially responsible for the growth of the mad popularity that fighting games enjoyed in the early ‘90s.
Another title, Mortal Kombat was released a year after Street Fighter II and did, of course, contribute to this popularity as well.
But Chun-Li serves as the initial representative of the female sex in the genre.
In this sense, Chun-Li is the First Lady of fighting games, and she is unusual in some regards to how the genre has evolved in its representation of female fighters.
Chun-Li is like some other notable female characters in other games, like Lara Croft from Tomb Raider, Mai Shiranui from Fatal Fury, Jill Valentine from Resident Evil, Nina Williams from Tekken, Kitana from Mortal Kombat, and more.
These female characters were all born in the 90s, during the decade where advancements in graphics technology allowed developers to create more detailed character models.
Simultaneously, gaming was marketed predominantly to young male audiences, leading to a focus on sexualized female characters.
However, many of these characters have since been reimagined or reinterpreted in ways that emphasize their personalities, skills, and storylines over their appearances.
But unlike most female characters in the gaming world, which have been portrayed to have outrageous breasts, for example, or having non-functional leotard as a fighting costume, or a miniskirt while fighting zombies, Chun-Li’s sexuality becomes something more than an incidental quality to be admired merely because she inherently possesses an extraordinary physical trait.
Chun-Li’s thighs might be eroticized by the internet, but they represent an earned physical extraordinariness.
