- “I've been asking myself that question. Am I the son of a panda? The son of a goose? A student? A teacher? Turns out I'm all of them. I am the Dragon Warrior!”
- ―Po.[src]
Master Lotus "Po Ping" Shan is the titular protagonist in the DreamWorks Kung Fu Panda franchise.
Background
Po was born as Lotus Li in a remote farming village in southern China, inhabited by pandas. It was there that he spent part of his infant life happily with his father Li Shan and an unnamed mother. One winter night, however, the village came under attack by an army of wolves under the command of a power-hungry peacock named Lord Shen, who sought to eliminate all pandas in China. As Shen and his wolf followers set the village ablaze and massacred almost every panda, the Boss Wolf charged at Lotus, who was sitting in the middle of the chaos, but Li stood in the way and whacked him away with a rake, permanently damaging the wolf's left eye. While he stayed behind to fight back, his wife picked up their son and carried him with her into the surrounding forest with the other fleeing villagers. The peacock and his wolf minions gave chase, eventually catching up with most of the panda runaways, but Po's mother evaded them and came to a ship docked on the bank of a nearby river preparing to depart with crates of vegetables as cargo. With no time to lose she placed Po in one of the radish crates and bade farewell to him before returning to lure Shen and the wolves away, sacrificing her own life.
Po and the crate of radishes he was hidden in was sadly shipped to the other side of China, miles from home, to a suburban village in the Valley of Peace, where the local noodle shop's owner, Mr. Ping, discovered the panda cub. Although reluctant to get involved at first, the goose pitied for Lotus and took him inside feed him and gave him a bath. As Ping continued to feel caring for him, he grew to love the cub and decided to adopt him after realizing that nobody was going to look for such a child, giving him the name "Po" and raising him as his own son. Years went by, and Po grew into adulthood as chef and waiter at the noodle shop, learning noodle-making from his adoptive father. He never questioned Ping about whether or not he was adopted since they both shared deep love and respect for each other, but did have doubts that they were related.
Personality
Po could adequately be described as a geek. Despite being an adult, he lives with his father, working in the family noodle bar and collects action figures, much to the bemusement of his neighbors. It is a traditional part of Chinese culture for the son to live with the parents for his entire life and to care for them in old age. He gives the impression of being free-spirited and eternally upbeat but his carefree exterior hides his self-loathing. He tells Master Shifu "...every time you threw a brick at my head, or said I smelled, it hurt, but it could never hurt more than it did every day of my life just being me."
Po's inferiority complex is probably the result of his heaviness and his lack of hygiene which are likely the result of his domineering father not teaching him independence. Nevertheless, under Master Shifu's encouragement and training, Po develops a healthy and full sense of self. Po's enthusiasm, determination, and sense of humor are among his greatest strengths. Despite his initial lack of self-confidence, he possesses a larger than life personality from the start of the film. He is also shown to be quite intelligent as shown by his deduction of the Dragon Scroll's symbolism, his vast knowledge of Kung Fu and how he worked out the technique of the Wuxi Finger Hold which not even the exceptionally talented Tai Lung knew the secret of.
Physical Appearance
Po wears a simple pair of burlap pants that consists of patchwork done in different colors, which occasionally sags down Po's waist. He also wears a striped red-and-gold strap around his waist, wraps around his ankles, and sandal-like shoes.
In Kung Fu Panda Holiday, Po's casual winter clothes consisted of a red snow hat with yellow-dotted black stripes and a yellow scarf. At the Jade Palace's formal Winter Feast dinner, Po wore his same pants, but with a tall dark coronet-like hat on his head and a large dark cape around his neck.
At one point in Kung Fu Panda 2, Po also wore a small straw hat for a short time when he went to confront Shen's fleet in Gongmen City.
In Kung Fu Panda 3, Po is shown in a new outfit that appears to match his fur, with a white robe that has black trimming, and long, black sleeves trimmed with gold. With this, he wears a long gold cape, a red sash across his waist, and a straw hat. This appearance greatly resembles that of the dream Po from the first film, and only appears when Po is in the Spirit Realm. While there, Po was also eventually given a special staff by Oogway himself.
Trivia
- Steve Carell, Zach Galifianakis, Seann William Scott, Ed Helms, Ricky Gervais, Jason Segel, Rob Schneider, Adam Sandler, Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Chevy Chase, Bradley Cooper, Chris O'Donnell, Ethan Hawke, Cillian Murphy, Adrien Brody, Ed O'Neill, Nathan Lane, Matthew McConaughey, Matthew Perry, Michael Richards, Thomas Lennon, Steve Zahn, Lewis Black, the late Robin Williams, Richard Kind, Jonathan Ward, and Phil Collins were considered for the role of Po.
- Po is allergic to feathers dust flowers and pollen.
- Jack Black, Po's voice actor said that Po was one of his favorite roles.
- In Kung Fu Panda 3 Po's real name is revealed to be Lotus Shan.
- Po's voice actor Jack Black also voiced Lenny in Shark Tale.
- Po is at least 20 years old, as it is stated by Mr. Ping in Kung Fu Panda 3 that he "raised Po for 20 years before [he] finally told him that he was adopted", and that he "lied to him [Po] for 20 years..."
- Tigress is also at least 20 years old, as she states in Kung Fu Panda 2 that she "used to punch the ironwood trees by the palace to train" for 20 years.
- Po has the biggest butt in the entire franchise.
- Po is the fourth hero in a DreamWorks Animation film to come back to life during the climax, after Insectosaurus from Monsters vs. Aliens, Shrek from Shrek Forever After, and Sandy from Rise of the Guardians.
- In Monsters vs. Aliens, when Gallaxhar is using a hologram to communicate to the world, Po and Shifu can be seen on a large TV screen on a building in Japan.
- Po makes a cameo appearance in the new DreamWorks logo.
