One of the most confusing aspects of the Kung Fu Panda (KFP) movie is the timeline. All those instant scene-changes suggest the whole movie takes place within a few days, but parts of the movie simply must take longer. Like the scene where Shifu trains Po. How long did that take?

We see Tigress leap from the Jade Palace roof at night, and the next day (?) Shifu brings Po to the Pool of Sacred Tears. Po is a klutz at this point in time. Then "training happens" and Po is now brilliant. Next scene: the furious five finally reach the Mountain Pass. So, it is suggested to us that Po's transition from "klutz" to "kung fu master de luxe" takes the same amount of time as it takes the furious five to race from the Jade Palace to the Mountain Pass. There's also a visual clue in the trees having red leaves after Po has been trained. But maybe we just didn't see those exact trees before.

So, how about a month? Did Shifu train Po for a month?

Answering my own question, no, I think Shifu trained Po for a total of 6-7 days. You might object, saying that a week is a ridiculously short amount of time to gain that many "levels" in kung fu. And of course you'd be right. But a month is also way too short. Not even a year would be enough, "realistically".

Tai Lung looks like he was about 20 when he snapped, and by that time he had already mastered the 1000 scrolls of kung fu. Po states that noone else had ever mastered them, which would include Shifu, and his statement is not contradicted. Tai Lung is simply way too powerful for Po because Tai Lung is way too powerful for Shifu. The amount of training time is irrelevant, because there must be some other explanation to Po beating Tai Lung. And since the training time is irrelevant, I think a total of 6-7 days fits better.

Here's what I think: The sequence where Po chases Shifu around in pursuit of the last dumpling takes place after 3 days of training. The furious five travelled to the Mountain Pass in 3 days. Tai Lung beats up the five, and then travels leisurely towards the Jade Palace for 4 days. Why did I throw in an extra day? Because Tai Lung has just raced from the prison and across the Thread of Hope (which is a thousand miles long), he's just fought the five, and when he reaches the Jade Palace he expects to fight Shifu, Oogway, and the Dragon Warrior. He needs to be well rested. Maybe not for fighting Shifu, but certainly for Oogway, and perhaps the Dragon Warrior.

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(?) We don't know this for sure, but I think it's very likely.