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Chinese Ghost Story
''A Chinese Ghost Story'' ( zh, t=倩女幽魂, w=Ch'ien-nü Yu-hun, l=The Ethereal Spirit of a Beauty) is a 1987 Hong Kong romantic comedy horror film starring Leslie Cheung, Joey Wong and Wu Ma, directed by Ching Siu-tung and produced by Tsui Hark. The plot is loosely based on a short story about Nie Xiaoqian from Qing dynasty writer Pu Songling's ''Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio'' and is also inspired by the 1960 Shaw Brothers Studio film '' The Enchanting Shadow''. The film was popular in Hong Kong and several Asian countries, including South Korea and Japan. Although the film could not gain access to movie theaters in mainland China when it was first released, it became a cult film among young people in the mainland. At that time the film generated a phenomenal cult following among audiences, especially the generation born in the 1980s. In 2011, the Hong Kong producers screened a restored version officially in mainland China. Most notably it boosted the stardom of J ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ching Siu-tung
Ching Siu-tung (Chinese: 程小東, born October 31st, 1953), also known as Tony Ching, is a Hong Kong action choreographer, actor, film director and producer, who has directed over 20 films, including the critically acclaimed supernatural fantasy ''A Chinese Ghost Story'' (1987). He produced the expensive music video for "L'Âme-Stram-Gram" by the French singer Mylène Farmer in the style of ''A Chinese Ghost Story'' at a cost of €1 million. He studied in the Eastern Drama Academy and trained in Northern Style Kung Fu for 7 years. Career Ching began as an actor and martial arts instructor working in Hong Kong action cinema in the 1960s and 1970s (his father, Ching Gong, was a Shaw Brothers Studio director, and Ching Siu-tung had been trained in Peking opera as a child), but he made his directorial debut in 1982 with the ground-breaking wuxia classic ''Duel to the Death''. Ching worked with producer Tsui Hark on 1987's ''A Chinese Ghost Story'', which became an international s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cult Film
A cult film or cult movie, also commonly referred to as a cult classic, is a film that has acquired a cult following. Cult films are known for their dedicated, passionate fanbase which forms an elaborate subculture, members of which engage in repeated viewings, dialogue-quoting, and audience participation. Inclusive definitions allow for major studio productions, especially box-office bombs, while exclusive definitions focus more on obscure, transgressive films shunned by the mainstream. The difficulty in defining the term and subjectivity of what qualifies as a cult film mirror classificatory disputes about art. The term ''cult film'' itself was first used in the 1970s to describe the culture that surrounded underground films and midnight movies, though ''cult'' was in common use in film analysis for decades prior to that. Cult films trace their origin back to controversial and suppressed films kept alive by dedicated fans. In some cases, reclaimed or rediscovered films ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shaw Brothers
Shaw Brothers (HK) Ltd. () was the largest film production company in Hong Kong, and operated from 1925 to 2011. In 1925, three Shaw brothers— Runje, Runme, and Runde—founded Tianyi Film Company (also called "Unique") in Shanghai, and established a film distribution base in Singapore, where Runme and their youngest brother, Run Run Shaw, managed the precursor to the parent company, Shaw Organisation. Runme and Run Run took over the film production business of its Hong Kong-based sister company, Shaw & Sons Ltd, and in 1958 a new company, "Shaw Brothers," was set up. In the 1960s, Shaw Brothers established what was once the largest privately owned studio in the world, Movietown. The company's most famous works include ''The Love Eterne'', ''The One-Armed Swordsman'', ''Come Drink with Me'', ''King Boxer'', ''Executioners from Shaolin'', '' Five Deadly Venoms'', and ''The 36th Chamber of Shaolin''. Over the years the film company produced around 1,000 films, some ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tony Rayns
Antony Rayns (born 1948) is a British writer, commentator, film festival programmer and screenwriter. He wrote for the underground publication ''Cinema Rising'' (its name inspired by Kenneth Anger's '' Scorpio Rising'') before contributing to the ''Monthly Film Bulletin'' from the December 1970 issue until its demise in 1991. He has written for the British Film Institute's magazine ''Sight & Sound'' since the 1970s, and also contributed extensively to '' Time Out'' and to ''Melody Maker'' in the late 1970s. He provides commentary tracks for DVD releases of Asian films. He coordinated the Dragons and Tigers competition for Asian films at the Vancouver International Film Festival from 1988 to 2006. In the 1980s, he presented a series called ''New Chinese Cinema'' on British television, showing (sometimes rare) films and biographies of eminent Chinese directors. He has also worked as a translator for English subtitles on films from Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Taiwan and Thailand. Fo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
A Better Tomorrow II
''A Better Tomorrow 2'' is a 1987 Hong Kong action film written and directed by John Woo. A follow-up to its popular predecessor, ''A Better Tomorrow'', the film stars returning cast members Chow Yun-fat, Ti Lung and Leslie Cheung alongside new cast member Dean Shek. The film was released in Hong Kong on 17 December 1987. Due to the popularity of Chow's break-out performance in the previous instalment, he was cast in a new character as the twin brother of "Mark", who was killed in the previous film. ''A Better Tomorrow 2'' is known for its over the top violence, exaggerated blood and gore, and body counts nearing the hundreds. Film director John Woo and producer Tsui Hark had disagreements over the focus of this film. Tsui felt that the film should focus more on Dean Shek's character. This led to the film being edited by both Tsui and Woo. Their disagreements would lead to a split after this film, with Hark directing ''A Better Tomorrow 3'' and Woo moving on to create '' The K ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Peking Opera Blues
''Peking Opera Blues'' () is a 1986 Hong Kong film directed by Tsui Hark. The movie combines comedy, Hong Kong action, and serious drama with scenes involving Peking Opera. Director Tsui Hark described the film as a satire on the "Chinese ignorance of democracy." The film was nominated for six awards at the Hong Kong Film Awards including Best Actress. Synopsis The film is set in 1913 Beijing, during Yuan Shikai's presidency of the country. It depicts the adventures of a team of unlikely heroines: Tsao Wan ( Brigitte Lin), a patriotic rebel who dresses as a man; Sheung Hung (Cherie Chung), a woman in search of a missing box of jewels; and Bai Niu (Sally Yeh), the daughter of a Peking Opera impresario. Title The Chinese title translates as ''Knife Horse Actresses'', a term used in Peking Opera to refer to male actors playing female warriors (See Dan article for details). It is sometimes erroneously translated as ''Knife Horse Dawn'', because both words are represented by the sa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
David Wu (Hong Kong Actor)
David Wu Tai Wai (Chinese 胡大為; born Hong Kong, 1952) is a Hong Kong-Canadian editor, director, and actor of film and television, known for his collaborations with directors John Woo and Ronnie Yu. He is also the editor of several international ''cult classics'' such as ''A Chinese Ghost Story'' , '' Hard Boiled'', ''Bride of Chucky'' and ''Brotherhood of the Wolf''. He has been nominated 12 times for the Hong Kong Film Award for Best Editing, winning twice for '' Hard Boiled'' (1992) and '' The Crossing'' (2014).Video Watchdog - Numéros 43 - 48 - Page 54 1998 "The white, optional English subtitles appear on the picture and filmographies are included for Lin, Cheung, Christy Chung Lai-tai, and director David Wu Tai-wai (not to be confused with the Taiwanese actor of the same name). He has also been nominated for several Directors Guild of Canada and Leo Awards. Filmography Actor * Bitter Taste Of Blood 亡命天涯 1987 * A Chinese Ghost Story 倩女幽魂 1987 * Fatal ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wong Jing
Wong Jing ( born 3 May 1955) is a Hong Kong film director, producer, actor, presenter, and screenwriter. A prolific filmmaker with strong instincts for crowd-pleasing and publicity, Wong Jing played a prominent role in Hong Kong cinema during the 1990s. Biography Wong was born in Hong Kong, the son of noted film director Wong Tin-Lam. He graduated from the Chinese University of Hong Kong with a degree in Chinese literature which he describes as "useless" (Yang, 2003). Like many Hong Kong film figures of his time, Wong began his career in television – in his case, scriptwriting for local juggernaut TVB beginning in 1975 (Teo, 1997). He moved on to writing for the Shaw Brothers studio. There, he made his directing debut with ''Challenge of the Gamesters'' (千王鬥千霸) in 1981. This start foreshadowed his later successes with movies about gambling, such as ''God of Gamblers'', starring Chow Yun-fat and Andy Lau, which broke Hong Kong's all-time box office record upon i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nip Siu-sin
Nie Xiaoqian or Nieh Hsiao-chien is the lead female character in "The Magic Sword", a fantasy story in Pu Songling's short story collection ''Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio''. Pu describes her appearance as "gorgeous; girl in paintings" (). The story has been adapted into numerous films and television dramas. The name is commonly rendered as Nip Siu Sin in Hong Kong adaptations in accordance with its Cantonese pronunciation. Plot Nie Xiaoqian is introduced as a beautiful female ghost. She died at the age of 18 and was interred in an old temple in Jinhua, Zhejiang Zhejiang ( or , ; , Chinese postal romanization, also romanized as Chekiang) is an East China, eastern, coastal Provinces of China, province of the People's Republic of China. Its capital and largest city is Hangzhou, and other notable citie .... Nie is coerced to participate in ritual murders in the service of a demon. A pale-faced scholar, Ning Caichen, is going to Beijing to take a civil service exam ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joss Stick
Incense is aromatic biotic material that releases fragrant smoke when burnt. The term is used for either the material or the aroma. Incense is used for aesthetic reasons, religious worship, aromatherapy, meditation, and ceremony. It may also be used as a simple deodorant or insect repellent. Incense is composed of aromatic plant materials, often combined with essential oils. The forms taken by incense differ with the underlying culture, and have changed with advances in technology and increasing number of uses. Incense can generally be separated into two main types: "indirect-burning" and "direct-burning". Indirect-burning incense (or "non-combustible incense") is not capable of burning on its own, and requires a separate heat source. Direct-burning incense (or "combustible incense") is lit directly by a flame and then fanned or blown out, leaving a glowing ember that smoulders and releases a smoky fragrance. Direct-burning incense is either a paste formed around a bamboo stic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Diyu
Diyu () is the realm of the dead or " hell" in Chinese mythology. It is loosely based on a combination of the Buddhist concept of Naraka, traditional Chinese beliefs about the afterlife, and a variety of popular expansions and reinterpretations of these two traditions. Diyu is typically depicted as a subterranean maze with various levels and chambers, to which souls are taken after death to atone for the sins they committed when they were alive. The exact number of levels in Diyu and their associated deities differ between Buddhist and Taoist interpretations. Some speak of three to four "courts"; others mention "Ten Courts of Hell", each of which is ruled by a judge (collectively known as the Ten Yama Kings); other Chinese legends speak of the "Eighteen Levels of Hell". Each court deals with a different aspect of atonement and different punishments; most legends claim that sinners are subjected to gruesome tortures until their "deaths", after which they are restored to their ori ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Taoist Priest
A daoshi (道士 "master of the Tao"), translated as Taoist priest, Taoist monk, Taoist master or Professional Taoist, is a priest in Taoism. Along with Han Chinese priests, there are also many practicing ethnic minority priests in China. Some orders are monastic (Quanzhen orders), while the majority are not (Zhengyi orders). Some of the monastic orders are hermitic, and their members practice seclusion and ascetic lifestyles in the mountains, with the aim of becoming ''xian'', or immortal beings. Non-monastic priests live among the populace and manage and serve their own temples or popular temples. The activities of the Taoists tend to be informed by materials which may be found in the ''Daozang'', or Daoist Canon; however, Taoists generally choose, or inherit, specific texts which have been passed down for generations from teacher to student, rather than consulting published versions of these works. Orders Taoist orders are conventionally categorised into two main branches: Q ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
