''Lai Shi, China's Last Eunuch'', also known as ''Last Eunuch in China'' () is a 1988 Hong Kong

historical drama A historical drama (also period drama, period piece or just period) is a dramatic work set in the past, usually used in the context of film and television, which presents history, historical events and characters with varying degrees of fiction s ...

film directed by

Jacob Cheung Jacob Cheung Chi-leung is a Hong Kong film director, producer, screenwriter, and actor An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in th ...

in his directorial debut and starring

Max Mok Max Mok ( zh, t=莫少聰; born 2 December 1962 in Hong Kong; also credited as Benny Mok, Benny Mok Siu-chung and Max Mok Siu-chung) is a Hong Kong actor and singer. Mok was recruited by the Shaw Brothers Studio and has been a major film star si ...

in the title role of Liu Lai-shi. The film is based on

Ni Kuang Ni Cong (30 May 1935 – 3 July 2022), courtesy name Yiming, better known by his pen name Ni Kuang (also romanised Ngai Hong, I Kuang and Yi Kuang), was a Hong Kong American, Hong Kong-American novelist and screenwriter. He wrote over 300 C ...

's novel about eunuch

Sun Yaoting Sun Yaoting (, 29 September 1902 – 17 December 1996) was the last surviving imperial eunuch of Chinese history. Life Born into poverty, his family home was burned and fields stolen by a landlord in their village; his family hoped that ...

Plot

During the chaos of the late

Qing Dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the ...

, Liu Lai-shi (

) envies the glory of his fellow townsman and eunuch Siu-tak-cheung and asks his parents for purification. Soon, the Qing dynasty collapses, Liu failed to become an imperial eunuch and was sent to Beijing to study opera. Subsequently, he meets his childhood friend Chiu Tai (

Irene Wan Irene Wan Bik-ha (born Wen Bik-ha on 30 July 1966) is a Hong Kong actress, singer and producer. Her father was an officer of the Republic of China Army. In her early years, she was known as a "sexy beauty". After her marriage, Wan faded out of ...

). Liu intends to lead a normal family life, but unable to do so after his identity of a eunuch was exposed. The opera troupe leader (

Sammo Hung Samuel "Sammo" Hung Kam-bo ( zh, t=洪金寶, j=Hung4 Gam1-bou2; born 7 January 1952) is a Hong Kong actor, martial artist, film producer and Film director, director, known for his work in martial arts films, Hong Kong action cinema, and as a figh ...

) sympathizes Liu's life experiences and tried to arrange him to the palace to be China's last eunuch. In 1924,

Xuantong Emperor Puyi (7 February 190617 October 1967) was the final emperor of China, reigning as the eleventh monarch of the Qing dynasty from 1908 to 1912. When the Guangxu Emperor died without an heir, Empress Dowager Cixi picked his nephew Puyi, aged tw ...

was expelled from the

Forbidden City The Forbidden City () is the Chinese Empire, imperial Chinese palace, palace complex in the center of the Imperial City, Beijing, Imperial City in Beijing, China. It was the residence of 24 Ming dynasty, Ming and Qing dynasty, Qing dynasty L ...

and Liu also began his wandering career.

Cast

as Liu Lai-shi, the main protagonist, China's last

eunuch A eunuch ( , ) is a male who has been castration, castrated. Throughout history, castration often served a specific social function. The earliest records for intentional castration to produce eunuchs are from the Sumerian city of Lagash in the 2 ...

as Chiu Tai, Liu Lai-shi's childhood friend *

as Liu Lai-shi's teacher, the opera troupe leader *

Andy Lau Andy Lau Tak-wah ( zh, order=t,j, t=劉德華, j=Lau4 Dak1 Waa4; born Lau Fook-wing; 27 September 1961), is a Hong Kong actor, singer-songwriter and film producer. He was named the "Fourth Tiger" among the Five Tiger Generals of TVB in the 1 ...

as Han Ming, Chiu Tai's husband and a revolutionary *

Wu Ma Fung Wang-yuen (22 September 1942 – 4 February 2014), better known by his stage name Wu Ma, was a Hong Kong actor, director, producer and writer. Wu Ma made his screen debut in 1963, and with over 240 appearances to his name (plus 49 directoria ...

as Lord Ting, the head eunuch *

Lam Ching-ying Lam Ching-ying (; born Lam Gun-bo (); 27 December 1952 – 8 November 1997) was a Hong Kong stuntman, actor, martial artist and action director. As a practitioner of martial arts Lam starred in a number of notable films that found recognition o ...

as Liu Chang-fu, Liu Lai-shi's father *

Gua Ah-leh Grace Gua Ah-leh (born 2 June 1944) is a Taiwanese actress and singer. Gua has portrayed over 200 roles in film and television since 1965. She has won the Golden Horse Awards 4 times and the Golden Bell Awards twice. Life and career Also known ...

as Liu Lai-shi's mother *Pauline Wong as Sister Hung, a

prostitute Prostitution is a type of sex work that involves engaging in sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, non-pe ...

Manfred Wong Manfred Wong (; Wong Man-Chun; born 5 June 1957, in Hong Kong) is a Hong Kong radio personality, film producer, screenwriter, film director and actor. He is best known for his involvement as a writer for the ''Young and Dangerous'' film serie ...

as Eunuch Lee * Peter Mak *

Alfred Cheung Alfred Cheung () is a Hong Kong actor, Film director, director, Screenwriter, writer and Film producer, producer.Alfred's ancestral hometown is Kaiping city, Guangdong province. Career In 1990, Alfred Cheung produced and directed a political satir ...

as the district chief * Anthony Chan as a Japanese interpreter * James Tien as General Lei *Sit Hon as Lord Chao * Sihung Lung as Fu's landlord *Ng Min-kan, Yuen Miu, Chow Kam-kong and Pang Yun-cheung as opera troupe members *Lee Chi-kit as a Japanese soldier * Vincent Chiao as Adjutant

Theme song

*''Misconception'' (錯覺) **Composer:

Joseph Koo Joseph Koo Kar-Fai (; 25 February 1931 – 3 January 2023) was a Hong Kong composer. He used the pen name Moran (莫然) for Mandarin songs early in his career. According to the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, Koo was one of the most ...

**Lyricist: Cheng Kwok-kong **Singer:

Box office

The film grossed HK$15,624,171 at the Hong Kong box office during its theatrical run from 4 March to 31 March 1988 in

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

Accolades

External links

* *
Lai Shi, China's Last Eunuch
' at

Hong Kong Cinemagic Hong Kong Cinemagic, sometimes referred to as HKCinemagic, was a bilingual ( French and English) website providing a repository for information about Chinese language films from Hong Kong, China and Taiwan, and the people who created them. The we ...

* {{Sammo Hung 1988 films 1980s historical drama films Hong Kong historical drama films 1980s Cantonese-language films Films directed by Jacob Cheung Films set in 20th-century Qing dynasty Films set in Beijing Films set in the 1920s Golden Harvest films 1988 directorial debut films 1988 drama films 1980s Hong Kong films