| CHARACTER Wei Shen | |
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| Appearance(s): | Sleeping Dogs |
| Full name: | Wei Shen |
| Also known as: | Serpent |
| Status: | Alive |
| Gender: | Male |
| Date of birth: | 1983/1984 (28 years old) |
| Place of birth: | Hong Kong |
| Home: | Hong Kong |
| Nationality: | Chinese-American |
| Family: | Margaret Shen (Mother) Mimi Shen (Sister) - Deceased |
| Main affiliation: | Hong Kong Police Department Sun On Yee |
| Vehicle(s): | 270 DX 600 Coupe S Player's Choice |
| Voiced by: | Will Yun Lee |
- "You're a cop. I am an undercover cop. The rules are different."
- ―Wei Shen to Raymond Mak
Wei Shen is the main protagonist of Sleeping Dogs. He is a Chinese undercover police officer who is tasked with going undercover for the Hong Kong Police to infiltrate the Triads. Wei is a very talented martial artist, marksman and driver. He is voiced by Will Yun Lee and played by Brian Ho in the official live-action trailer.
Biography
Background & Early Life
Shen was born in Hong Kong to Margaret Shen and his father who abandoned his family. Wei had an older sister named Mimi. Shen moved to San Francisco from Hong Kong at age 10 with his mother and sister in an attempt to help Mimi overcome her drug addiction.
A young Wei with his mother and sister.
He attended PS 121 High School, and graduated in 2002 with honors. He then enrolled at San Francisco State University in September 2002, majoring in politics. He voluntarily departed SF State in 2004 to pursue other career options.
Joining the Police Force
He applied to SFPD on June 1, 2006 and graduated at the top of the 2007 police academy class. While in San Francisco he had no criminal record or known criminal associates. Wei also tested negative on all drug tests. Despite a clean record he was reprimanded six times for violent behavior and fighting, but, due to his intelligence, physical skill, and a natural aptitude for police work, he was still thought of highly by his superiors. Shen demonstrated a familiarity with the Asian gang structure and culture in San Francisco, and a deep understanding of the way in which these criminal organizations operate. Due to the department’s lack of qualified Asian-American candidates and the demand for Cantonese-speaking officers, he was highly recommended to be assigned immediately to the plainclothes anti-Tong task force.
Eventually, Shen's sister died from a drug overdose and later their mother committed suicide as a result. During his undercover assignment for the SFPD, Shen participated in gunning down Charles 'Two Hat' Chin, and later tortured and executed drug dealer Ming Ming Trin on June 2010 for supplying Mimi with a fatal dose of heroin. Although a confidential informant tipped off SFPD Internal Affairs about the murder, it was not thoroughly investigated due to lack of substantial evidence. Furthermore, Shen's case officer, Lieutenant Franklin Jakes, provided Shen with an alibi. The case remained open; however, it was widely believed that Shen did commit the murder and infiltrated the gang as revenge for his sister.
Shen's vengeance against Trin caught the eye of Superintendent Thomas Pendrew, who had been searching for candidates in order to infiltrate the Sun On Yee. Against Raymond Mak's advice, Pendrew recruited Shen for the undercover operation in Hong Kong.
Events of Sleeping Dogs
Shen’s first mission to establish his cover in Hong Kong was to take part in a drug deal with Naz. After being arrested during a police bust, Shen was re-introduced to an old friend, Jackie Ma, who promised to introduce him to Winston Chu's gang, the Water Street Gang. This allowed Shen to infiltrate the Sun On Yee triad. Under orders from Superintendent Pendrew, Shen's assignment was to go undercover into the Sun On Yee Triad and bring down the leader, the Dragon Head, and the lieutenants, the Red Poles, while reporting directly to his handler, Raymond Mak.
Shen began by beating thugs of a rival Sun On Yee gang, the Jade Gang, led by Dogeyes Lin, effectively aiding Winston's extortion and protection rackets in the Night Market. Shen was soon arrested again and interrogated by Inspector Jane Teng; however, Pendrew intervened, revealing Shen’s status to Teng as an undercover cop in order to obtain his release.
Wei chasing Siu Wah
Shen continued working as muscle for Winston while also aiding Teng in several police cases, such as busting a notorious drug dealer, a murderous street racer, a serial murderer and solving a series of kidnappings. As the rivalry between Winston and Dogeyes came to a head, Shen and several other gang members raided and torched one of Dogeyes's warehouses and successfully kidnapped Siu Wah as leverage to gain favour with Uncle Po in the dispute with Dogeyes.
Having finally earned Winston’s trust and respect, Shen was accepted by Winston as a member of the family and was invited to his wedding with Peggy Li. However after Winston and Peggy were murdered at their own wedding, Shen rescued Uncle Po and took over Winston’s position as a Red Pole and began by seeking vengeance against Dogeyes and resisted Big Smile Lee’s hostile takeover of the Water Street Gang’s assets.
Realizing his growing charisma and capability within the triads, Shen was approached by Broken Nose Jiang who enlisted his aid for their mutual interests against their common enemy, Big Smile Lee. Soon after, Shen, Jackie and the Water Street Gang were officially initiated into the Sun On Yee, however Raymond would express increasing skepticism of Shen’s chances of success and his objectivity.
While recovering in hospital, Uncle Po appointed Two Chin Tsao as temporary chairman of the Sun On Yee until his recovery. Shen proceeded to work for Sonny Wo in order to gain more information of Big Smile Lee’s activities and to hinder his chances of becoming chairman. Uncle Po eventually passed away in intensive care and Jackie was caught and arrested during a heist.
After stealing Ricky Wong's portable data disk, Shen met with Pendrew revealing incriminating evidence on Sonny that would damage Big Smile Lee’s operations and business income. Shen negotiated with Pendrew the release of Jackie in exchange for the evidence, but was ordered by Pendrew to cease his undercover work and warned to stay away from the triads. Shen however realized that the future of the triads and HKPD would be in jeopardy if Big Smile Lee could become the next chairman.
Shen attended Uncle Po’s funeral with his fellow Red Poles and Jackie, during which Sonny was arrested by Pendrew. To make matters worse, Pendrew betrayed Shen by leaving him and the Red Poles to be slaughtered by 18K Triad. After surviving the ambush, Big Smile Lee demanded the leadership of the Sun On Yee, however Shen supported Jiang and Pockmark Cheuk's decision to hold an election to uphold the triad’s stability and traditions. After the funeral, Big Smile Lee immediately retaliated by sending his forces against the Water Street Gang to kill Shen in order to eliminate his competition and votes against him. Shen defended both his own territory, protected and secured Ricky’s support and rescued Jackie from the 18K.
However, much later on the eve of the election, Shen was lured out of hiding and found Jackie’s mutilated and tortured corpse. Shen was ambushed near Jackie’s body and taken to Mr. Tong, who learned Shen’s true status as an undercover cop and proceeded to brutally torture him and extract a confession against Jiang. Tong cuts up Wei's abdomen with a scalpel, breaks one of his toes with a hammer, and drills into his thigh. In spite of this, Shen managed to escape and kill Tong, but was finally driven to the edge by Jackie’s death and vowed revenge. After slaughtering dozens of Big Smile Lee’s men, Shen chased, beat and finally killed Big Smile Lee himself, finally bringing the long civil war to a violent conclusion.
Shen was placed in Raymond’s protective custody and learned that Pendrew had received a promotion for arresting Sonny. However despite his corruption, Pendrew was now untouchable with his new status. Days later, Shen received an envelope from Jiang, surprisingly addressing him as “Officer Shen”. The envelope contained a portable data disk showing video footage of Pendrew murdering Uncle Po in hospital, giving Shen proof of Pendrew’s corruption, conspiracy and murder.
Shen visited Pendrew in custody where Pendrew explained that he betrayed Shen because he didn’t trust him for getting personally too close to the triads hence was meant to die at Big Smile Lee’s hands for being an undercover cop. Shen revealed that all the triad prisoners were informed of Uncle Po’s murder; the two of them knew well enough that Pendrew would die in prison at the hands of the vengeful inmates, leaving Shen almost satisfied.
Shen finally met with Inspector Teng, thanking her for her help in closing the case. Despite being an undercover officer, Jiang ordered the Sun On Yee to leave Shen be since his actions were loyal and benefited her behalf. Shen was now free to resume his life as a cop in Hong Kong.
Mission Appearances
- Sleeping Dogs
As the main protagonist, he appears in every mission and side mission.
Personality
Being raised in both Hong Kong and America has given Shen an immense familiarity and understanding of both cultures, hence is able to interact with and infiltrate gangs with excellent natural ability. Because Shen moved to the United States as an adolescent and has never had a strong father figure or male role-model, his sense of identity and self is more capable to adapt and influence giving him with certain "chameleon-like" tendencies that serve him well when infiltrating a criminal organization.
However due to prolonged stress of undercover work and Shen's own personal tendencies, his superiors suspected that his allegiance to the police force was easily capable of changing. As a result, Shen was often a subject of intense psychological reviewing and internal affairs investigations. Furthermore it was believed that Shen was motivated into becoming an officer by vengeance against the triads for the death of his sister, hence he was also viewed as a risk factor and unsuitable for undercover work.
Shen is a highly intelligent, self-aware, and generally a balanced individual. While undercover Shen posses a strong emotional fortitude against prolonged and extreme periods of stress and exhaustion, however he does have a disposition for using excessive violence and can be greatly motivated by personal vendettas. Shen has a clear understanding of the risks involved in long-term undercover work and is driven by a strong moral system, and sense of loyalty, not only to the police force and duty, but to his friends, some of which are triads, and family.
Notable Kills
- Ming Ming Trin - Tortured and killed for supplying Mimi with a fatal dose of heroin.
- Liu Shen Tong - Impaled with his own machete and beaten to death by Wei for murdering Jackie and attempting to kill Wei as well.
- Ponytail - Gunned down for trying to kill Wei and protecting Big Smile Lee.
- Henry "Big Smile" Lee - Thrown into an ice-crushing machine for attempting to kill Wei.
Trivia
- The Bronze Shaolin Warrior in the Movie Masters Pack includes a inscription of his name in Chinese (偉信),but they are not correctly chosen Chinese characters.This looks like an oversight in the translation procedure,due to the differences among Mandarin ,Cantonese and English rules and pronounciations.The real name of Wei Shen in Chinese should be "沈威(Shen Wei)“
- According to his HKPD record his alias is "Serpent"; this has some redundancy to it considering serpents are often associated with evasion and deception and he is an undercover cop.
- The name "Wei Shen" is spelled roughly in Modern Chinese Pinyin rules and the proper order of the two parts should be the reversed:"Shen Wei",Shen(沈) being an ordinary surname with no other meaning in modern Chinese,and Wei(威),what's tattooed on his left arm,close to the elbow,the given name,meaning great power or presence.
- Alternatively, Shen's name is pronounced very similarly to the Chinese word 危險 (Wei2 Xian3) in Cantonese, meaning 'danger'.
- It seems that Wei Shen's character and personality is similar to the anti-hero TV drama character Laughing Gor, who also worked as an undercover cop and was also affiliated with the triads during his mission, and also befriended some triad members to avoid his cover being exposed. The character, though not a main protagonist in the original Hong Kong TVB production, gained so much fame that a movie about his past was made afterwards.
- While driving Peggy around on her errands on her wedding, he mentions that he has a preference for blondes (which coincides with Wei dating Amanda Cartwright who is a blonde).
- Wei Shen's appearance might have taken reference from two Hongkong actors: Aaron Kwok and Andy Lau ,the latter has played a triad member undercover in the HKPD in the movie Infernal Affairs.
- Wei has a small scar under his chest on his right side. It appears to be a scar from burning, although it is unknown how he acquired it. It can be seen easily if the player takes Wei's shirt off at the wardrobe.
Gallery
