Origins of Hong Kong Genre... - 3 -
When the Peking Opera was established in 1790 under the Qing dynasty, wuxia tales were dramatically acted out on stage
complete with music, elaborate costumes, set designs and makeup (Hutchings 67).
After the communist victory over the head of China?s Nationalist government, Chiang Kai-shek in 1949 and the establishment of
the People?s Republic of China, under Mao Tse-tung, the literature and theatre of the past was rebuked as being part of the elitist
bourgeois class. Under Chairman Mao?s rule, anything which espoused ideals or lessons from the past era of China was
destroyed or locked away from the people for their protection. Even quoting lessons from the philosopher, Mencuis, also known
as Meng-Tzu, would bring harsh punishment from the government (Yae 44). According to Dr. Jiang, Professor at San Jose
State University, within the new government of the People?s Republic of China, individual acts of heroism to save people were
not viewed as being heroic, yet acts such as attempting to put out a fire in a burning building in order to save the property of the
government were viewed as heroic (Jiang). Once Chairman Mao took leadership of the Chinese government, inanimate objects,
such as land, buildings and equipment were raised in value over human life and the notion of heroic virtue was no longer
considered honorable, but became a relic of a past Imperial government.
Under Communist China?s rule, art and literature became a tool used for propaganda. Although a former movie star, Mao?s third
wife, Jiang Qing, began purging the arts of what was considered to be obsessions with past empires (Hutchings 237). The old
style of wuxia tales were replaced with contemporary stories which dealt with revolutionary themes. It was at this point when
the philosophical and religious concepts held within the wuxia form of stories were seen as harmful for the masses. In following
the Marxist ideology, anything harkening to religious thoughts was viewed as counter revolutionary. This new dogma resulted in
the humiliation, persecution, torture, and later death of thousands of writers, actors, directors, artists, and other intellectuals
(238).
With the new communist ideology a new form of bureaucracy was created with the single intent of approving or banning various
forms of artistic endeavors whether it be art, songs, literature or drama. The communist party created the Film Bureau Division
to monitor all audio visual productions and censor accordingly (Browne 102). While some writers and directors chose to remain
in mainland China, using covert images within their films to convey their messages of discontent, others chose to relocate to
Hong Kong, where they would be allowed greater artistic freedom with their movies.
The colonization of Hong Kong is quite conceivably the most shameful incident to occupy British history. It was during the
1830?s when British importers began what is known in history as the Opium Wars. Despite being outlawed in their own country
British traders, with the full knowledge of their government officials, began exporting opium from India into China in exchange
for goods such as tea and fine silks (Gernet 349). What resulted was the Chinese government taking a stand against the British
attempt to turn its subjects into opium addicts and in November of 1839, a small flotilla of Chinese junkets attempted to turn a
British ship away. Using this as an excuse, the British government sent an armada of warships and personnel against the Chinese
?old style weapons and artillery,? (Hooker).
The eventual downfall of China resulted in the Treaty of Nanking, which effectively made it possible for British subjects to
occupy the port cities of Canton, Shanghai, Foochow, Ningpo, and Amoy for the purpose of free and legal drug trade of opium
in exchange for Chinese goods. In addition to the occupation of these cities, the port city of Hong Kong was ceded to England.
The proliferation of opium continued unabated throughout China until the revolution which established the People?s Republic of
China. Under Mao?s regime, in addition to the censorship of artist and writers, the new government held zero tolerance toward
drug suppliers and users. Unable to reclaim control over the city lost to the British, Hong Kong continued to be an occupied
colony controlled by the British government.
The writers and directors who fled from Mao?s regime to Hong Kong, were faced with the imperialism of British rule. The
language and cultural attributes of their heritage were in direct conflict with the British government and social way of life. As a
way of enforcing total assimilation and control over the indigenous people, England passed laws which made it illegal for the
Chinese language to be spoken in Hong Kong (Yau 31). Additionally, institutional racism existed by means of laws which placed
the descendant of Chinese and newly immigrated Chinese at an economical disadvantage with the British born subjects (32).
This, combined with the changing dynamics within the families began to raise concerns among the writers and directors who
immigrated from mainland China.
There are differing views as to who is to be credited with the creation of the Hong Kong wuxia film genre. While many point to
a company called The Shaw Brothers, others still point to various names of directors and writers who produced their own films.
However, according to Stephen Teo, in his book Hong Kong Cinema, that the two directors who are responsible for the 1960?s
revivalist movement of the wuxia genre are King Hu and Zhang Che (Teo 98). Regardless of who began the genre, what remains
evident is that a collective action on the part of many mainland immigrants began a transformative movement in the story lines of
Hong Kong movies in the mid 60?s.
The colonial imperialism and occupation of Hong Kong not only brought about a social destabilization of the Chinese immigrants,
but it had an impact on the future generation?s collective consciousness of their ethnic heritage. With the commercialization
from western culture the second generation of Chinese descendants turned away from the teachings of their parents in favor of
western views. They began to embrace the television, movies, dress and music of both England and the United States. With the
loss of their language and traditional values, the cultural assimilation by substitution was a very real threat to the first generation
of Hong Kong film directors and writers. As previously stated, as an attempt to preserve their cultural heritage, writers and
directors began a collaborative effort to revive the philosophical and religious values of the ancient wuxia mythology (Teo 98).
These tales, when transformed to the modern media of film began to be called wuxia pian. The literal translation of wuxia is
martial chivalry, which was the original name ascribed to a canon of tales and the literal translation of pian means film (Stokes
89).
Despite the fact that there were Hong Kong Kung Fu movies that existed before the introduction of wuxia pian, these early
movies were filmed to showcase the quick actions of Kung Fu style boxing rather than follow the tenets of wuxia mythology.
After the revivalist movement began, storylines within the movies began to mimic the tales that were once performed by the
Peking Opera (Bordwell 194). The tales told of ancient dynasties and valiant heroes who were using superhuman abilities in
order to protect the weak. Near the end of the decade, the hero was depicted as superior not only in hand to hand combat, but
also with swords. Like the ancient mythology, the movies showcased heroes of both genders. For King Hu, his films were
always set during the Ming Dynasty where the protagonist was always a swordswoman with super human qualities (Teo 99).
Just as the ancient wuxia tales metamorphosed with the changing political environments, so too did wuxia pian. Some of the
stories took on a comic flair by which the audience could find humor within the story. The comedy was in a form that could be
viewed as either slapstick or camp. The 1978 film, Drunken Master, directed by Woo-ping Yuen and starring Jackie Chan was
the first movie to introduce overt comedy aspects. In Drunken Master, Jackie Chan portrays an already established Cantonese
movie character, Wong Fei-hung. By playing a young trickster character, the protagonist is able to defeat a mercenary who was
hired to kill the hero?s father.
When the Peking Opera was established in 1790 under the Qing dynasty, wuxia tales were dramatically acted out on stage
complete with music, elaborate costumes, set designs and makeup (Hutchings 67).
After the communist victory over the head of China?s Nationalist government, Chiang Kai-shek in 1949 and the establishment of
the People?s Republic of China, under Mao Tse-tung, the literature and theatre of the past was rebuked as being part of the elitist
bourgeois class. Under Chairman Mao?s rule, anything which espoused ideals or lessons from the past era of China was
destroyed or locked away from the people for their protection. Even quoting lessons from the philosopher, Mencuis, also known
as Meng-Tzu, would bring harsh punishment from the government (Yae 44). According to Dr. Jiang, Professor at San Jose
State University, within the new government of the People?s Republic of China, individual acts of heroism to save people were
not viewed as being heroic, yet acts such as attempting to put out a fire in a burning building in order to save the property of the
government were viewed as heroic (Jiang). Once Chairman Mao took leadership of the Chinese government, inanimate objects,
such as land, buildings and equipment were raised in value over human life and the notion of heroic virtue was no longer
considered honorable, but became a relic of a past Imperial government.
Under Communist China?s rule, art and literature became a tool used for propaganda. Although a former movie star, Mao?s third
wife, Jiang Qing, began purging the arts of what was considered to be obsessions with past empires (Hutchings 237). The old
style of wuxia tales were replaced with contemporary stories which dealt with revolutionary themes. It was at this point when
the philosophical and religious concepts held within the wuxia form of stories were seen as harmful for the masses. In following
the Marxist ideology, anything harkening to religious thoughts was viewed as counter revolutionary. This new dogma resulted in
the humiliation, persecution, torture, and later death of thousands of writers, actors, directors, artists, and other intellectuals
(238).
With the new communist ideology a new form of bureaucracy was created with the single intent of approving or banning various
forms of artistic endeavors whether it be art, songs, literature or drama. The communist party created the Film Bureau Division
to monitor all audio visual productions and censor accordingly (Browne 102). While some writers and directors chose to remain
in mainland China, using covert images within their films to convey their messages of discontent, others chose to relocate to
Hong Kong, where they would be allowed greater artistic freedom with their movies.
The colonization of Hong Kong is quite conceivably the most shameful incident to occupy British history. It was during the
1830?s when British importers began what is known in history as the Opium Wars. Despite being outlawed in their own country
British traders, with the full knowledge of their government officials, began exporting opium from India into China in exchange
for goods such as tea and fine silks (Gernet 349). What resulted was the Chinese government taking a stand against the British
attempt to turn its subjects into opium addicts and in November of 1839, a small flotilla of Chinese junkets attempted to turn a
British ship away. Using this as an excuse, the British government sent an armada of warships and personnel against the Chinese
?old style weapons and artillery,? (Hooker).
The eventual downfall of China resulted in the Treaty of Nanking, which effectively made it possible for British subjects to
occupy the port cities of Canton, Shanghai, Foochow, Ningpo, and Amoy for the purpose of free and legal drug trade of opium
in exchange for Chinese goods. In addition to the occupation of these cities, the port city of Hong Kong was ceded to England.
The proliferation of opium continued unabated throughout China until the revolution which established the People?s Republic of
China. Under Mao?s regime, in addition to the censorship of artist and writers, the new government held zero tolerance toward
drug suppliers and users. Unable to reclaim control over the city lost to the British, Hong Kong continued to be an occupied
colony controlled by the British government.
The writers and directors who fled from Mao?s regime to Hong Kong, were faced with the imperialism of British rule. The
language and cultural attributes of their heritage were in direct conflict with the British government and social way of life. As a
way of enforcing total assimilation and control over the indigenous people, England passed laws which made it illegal for the
Chinese language to be spoken in Hong Kong (Yau 31). Additionally, institutional racism existed by means of laws which placed
the descendant of Chinese and newly immigrated Chinese at an economical disadvantage with the British born subjects (32).
This, combined with the changing dynamics within the families began to raise concerns among the writers and directors who
immigrated from mainland China.
There are differing views as to who is to be credited with the creation of the Hong Kong wuxia film genre. While many point to
a company called The Shaw Brothers, others still point to various names of directors and writers who produced their own films.
However, according to Stephen Teo, in his book Hong Kong Cinema, that the two directors who are responsible for the 1960?s
revivalist movement of the wuxia genre are King Hu and Zhang Che (Teo 98). Regardless of who began the genre, what remains
evident is that a collective action on the part of many mainland immigrants began a transformative movement in the story lines of
Hong Kong movies in the mid 60?s.
The colonial imperialism and occupation of Hong Kong not only brought about a social destabilization of the Chinese immigrants,
but it had an impact on the future generation?s collective consciousness of their ethnic heritage. With the commercialization
from western culture the second generation of Chinese descendants turned away from the teachings of their parents in favor of
western views. They began to embrace the television, movies, dress and music of both England and the United States. With the
loss of their language and traditional values, the cultural assimilation by substitution was a very real threat to the first generation
of Hong Kong film directors and writers. As previously stated, as an attempt to preserve their cultural heritage, writers and
directors began a collaborative effort to revive the philosophical and religious values of the ancient wuxia mythology (Teo 98).
These tales, when transformed to the modern media of film began to be called wuxia pian. The literal translation of wuxia is
martial chivalry, which was the original name ascribed to a canon of tales and the literal translation of pian means film (Stokes
89).
Despite the fact that there were Hong Kong Kung Fu movies that existed before the introduction of wuxia pian, these early
movies were filmed to showcase the quick actions of Kung Fu style boxing rather than follow the tenets of wuxia mythology.
After the revivalist movement began, storylines within the movies began to mimic the tales that were once performed by the
Peking Opera (Bordwell 194). The tales told of ancient dynasties and valiant heroes who were using superhuman abilities in
order to protect the weak. Near the end of the decade, the hero was depicted as superior not only in hand to hand combat, but
also with swords. Like the ancient mythology, the movies showcased heroes of both genders. For King Hu, his films were
always set during the Ming Dynasty where the protagonist was always a swordswoman with super human qualities (Teo 99).
Just as the ancient wuxia tales metamorphosed with the changing political environments, so too did wuxia pian. Some of the
stories took on a comic flair by which the audience could find humor within the story. The comedy was in a form that could be
viewed as either slapstick or camp. The 1978 film, Drunken Master, directed by Woo-ping Yuen and starring Jackie Chan was
the first movie to introduce overt comedy aspects. In Drunken Master, Jackie Chan portrays an already established Cantonese
movie character, Wong Fei-hung. By playing a young trickster character, the protagonist is able to defeat a mercenary who was
hired to kill the hero?s father.
