However, he does take up issues of concern to the representation of America, and specifically Los Angeles, to the world.
Although Rodney King and the uprising that resulted when his attackers eluded justice in April 1992 does not explicitly form the foundation for the show's narrative the same way that Tian'anmen Square in 1989 does in Vanishing Son, the fact that Sammo arrives on the scene to help out the LAPD, because it is implicitly tarnished by the Rodney King beating and its aftermath, seems likely. Like Chang, Law embodies the best of East and West by bringing a renewed sense of color-blind justice and martial arts skill to the cynical, superficial, and racist world of the LAPD. Also, like Chang, Law can never be an "official- part of the force, or of American society, and, at the end of the series, he returns to Shanghai. As an outsider, he can freely criticize the American police without having to become part of the system.
Certainly, Law sweeping in to clean up the LAPD parallels Sammo Hung, Jackie Chan, Chow Yun-Fat, John Woo, and Martial Law's executive producer and sometime director Stanley Tong sweeping in to clean up on Hollywood screens. Sammo the character and Sammo the actor bring a multicultural punch to a Eurocentric institution, saving the LAPD and Hollywood from being out of touch with multicultural America and global popular culture through the spectacle of Chinese martial arts.
Because of Stanley Tong's cross-over success with Rumble in the Bronx (1995), it is not surprising to see him team up with Jackie Chan associate Sammo Hung. [6] Given the striking similarities between Martial Law and Rush Hour (1998), it is pointless to attribute the idea of a Chinese police officer coming to Los Angeles and teaming up with reluctant American law enforcers to either Chan or Hung. While Chan's character comes from Hong Kong and Sammo's hails from Shanghai, the change in sovereignty of the British colony the year before makes the matter of the difference in nationality moot.