Traditions in World Cinema General Editors: Linda Badley and R. Barton Palmer Founding Editor: Steven Jay Schneider T his new series introduces diverse and fascinating movements in world cinema. Each volume STEPHEN concentrates on a set of films from a different national, regional or, in some cases, cross-cultural cinema which constitute a particular tradition. Volumes cover topics such as Japanese horror cinema, new punk cinema, African cinema, Italian neorealism, Czech and Slovak cinema and the Italian sword-and-sandal film. TEO CHINESE MARTIAL ARTS CINEMA The Wuxia Tradition STEPHEN TEO This is the first comprehensive, fully-researched account of the historical and contemporary CHINESE MARTIAL development of the traditional martial arts genre in the Chinese cinema known as wuxia (literal CHINESE MARTIAL ARTS CINEMA translation: martial chivalry) – a genre which audiences around the world became familiar with The Wuxia Tradition through the phenomenal ‘crossover’ hit Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000).The book unveils rich layers of the wuxia tradition as it developed in the early Shanghai cinema in the late 1920s, and from the 1950s onwards, in the Hong Kong and Taiwan film industries. STEPHEN TEO Key attractions of the book are analyses of: The • The history of the tradition as it began in the Shanghai cinema, its rise and popularity as a W serialised form in the silent cinema of the late 1920s, and its eventual prohibition by the uxia government in 1931. T • The fantastic characteristics of the genre, their relationship with folklore, myth and religion, and radition their similarities and differences with the kung fu sub-genre of martial arts cinema. AR • The protagonists and heroes of the genre, in particular the figure of the female knight-errant. TS CINEMA • The chief personalities and masterpieces of the genre - directors such as King Hu, Chu Yuan, Zhang Che,Ang Lee, Zhang Yimou,and films such as Come Drink With Me (1966), The One-Armed Swordsman (1967), A Touch of Zen (1970-71), Hero (2002), House of Flying Daggers (2004), and Curse of the Golden Flower (2006). Stephen Teo is currently associate professor at the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, and a senior research associate of the RMIT University, Melbourne,Australia. Cover design: River Design, Edinburgh Cover image: Hero/Ying Xiong, 2002. Directed by Zhang Yimou. © Beijing New Picture/Elite Group/The Kobal Collection Edinburgh University Press barcode Edinb 22 George Square, Edinburgh EH8 9LF www.euppublishing.com ur ISBN 0 7486 3286 2 gh EB0016 - TEO PRELIMS.qxp:M1057 26/2/09 16:38 Page i CHINESE MARTIAL ARTS CINEMA EB0016 - TEO PRELIMS.qxp:M1057 26/2/09 16:38 Page ii TRADITIONS IN WORLD CINEMA General Editors Linda Badley (Middle Tennessee State University) R. Barton Palmer (Clemson University) Founding Editor Steven Jay Schneider (New York University) Titles in the series include: Forthcoming titles include: Traditions in World Cinema The International Film Musical by Linda Badley, R. Barton Palmer and By Corey K. Creekmur Steven Jay Schneider (eds) 978 0 7486 3476 7 (hardback) 978 0 7486 1862 0 (hardback) 978 0 7486 1863 7 (paperback) The Spanish Horror Film By Antonio Lázaro-Reboll Japanese Horror Cinema 978 0 7486 3638 9 (hardback) by Jay McRoy (ed.) 978 0 7486 1994 8 (hardback) American Independent-Commercial 978 0 7486 1995 5 (paperback) Cinema by Linda Badley and R. Barton Palmer New Punk Cinema 978 0 7486 2459 1 (hardback) by Nicholas Rombes (ed.) 978 0 7486 2034 0 (hardback) The Italian Sword-and-Sandal Film 978 0 7486 2035 7 (paperback) by Frank Burke 978 0 7486 1983 2 (hardback) African Filmmaking: North and South of the Sahara Italian Neorealist Cinema by Roy Armes Torunn Haaland 978 0 7486 2123 1 (hardback) 978 0 7486 3611 2 (hardback) 978 0 7486 2124 8 (paperback) New Nordic Cinema Palestinian Cinema: Landscape, Trauma Mette Hjort and Memory 978 0 7486 3631 0 (hardback) By Nurith Gertz 978 0 7486 3407 1 (hardback) Magic Realist Cinema in East Central 978 0 7486 3408 8 (paperback) Europe Aga Skrodzka-Bates Chinese Martial Arts Cinema: The Wuxia 978 0 7486 3916 8 (hardback) Tradition By Stephen Teo 978 0 7486 3285 5 (hardback) 978 0 7486 3286 2 (paperback) Czech and Slovak Cinema: Theme and Tradition by Peter Hames 978 0 7486 2081 4 (hardback) EB0016 - TEO PRELIMS.qxp:M1057 26/2/09 16:38 Page iii CHINESE MARTIAL ARTS CINEMA The Wuxia Tradition Stephen Teo EDINBURGH UNIVERSITY PRESS EB0016 - TEO PRELIMS.qxp:M1057 26/2/09 16:38 Page iv © Stephen Teo, 2009 Edinburgh University Press Ltd 22 George Square, Edinburgh Typeset in 10/12.5 Adobe Sabon by Servis Filmsetting Ltd, Stockport, Cheshire, and printed and bound in Great Britain by CPI Antony Rowe Ltd, Chippenham and Eastbourne A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN 978 0 7486 3285 5 (hardback) ISBN 978 0 7486 3286 2 (paperback) The right of Stephen Teo to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. EB0016 - TEO PRELIMS.qxp:M1057 26/2/09 16:38 Page v CONTENTS 1. Acknowledgements ix 1. Introduction 1 1. Wuxia from Literature to Cinema 17 2. Reactions against the Wuxia Genre 38 3. The Rise of Kung Fu, from Wong Fei-hung to Bruce Lee 58 4. The Rise of New School Wuxia 86 5. The Wuxia Films of King Hu 115 6. Wuxia after A Touch of Zen 143 7. Wuxia between Nationalism and Transnationalism 172 1. Epilogue 196 1. Glossary 198 1. Bibliography 200 1. Filmography 214 1. Index 220 v EB0016 - TEO PRELIMS.qxp:M1057 26/2/09 16:38 Page vi TRADITIONS IN WORLD CINEMA General editors: Linda Badley and R. Barton Palmer Founding editor: Steven Jay Schneider Traditions in World Cinema is a series of textbooks and monographs devoted to the analysis of currently popular and previously underexamined or under- valued film movements from around the globe. Also intended for general inter- est readers, the textbooks in this series offer undergraduate- and graduate-level film students accessible and comprehensive introductions to diverse traditions in world cinema. The monographs open up for advanced academic study more specialised groups of films, including those that require theoretically-oriented approaches. Both textbooks and monographs provide thorough examinations of the industrial, cultural, and socio-historical conditions of production and reception. The flagship textbook for the series includes chapters by noted scholars on traditions of acknowledged importance (the French New Wave, German Expressionism), recent and emergent traditions (New Iranian, post-Cinema Novo), and those whose rightful claim to recognition has yet to be established (the Israeli persecution film, global found footage cinema). Other volumes con- centrate on individual national, regional or global cinema traditions. As the introductory chapter to each volume makes clear, the films under discussion form a coherent group on the basis of substantive and relatively transparent, if not always obvious, commonalities. These commonalities may be formal, styl- istic or thematic, and the groupings may, although they need not, be popularly vi EB0016 - TEO PRELIMS.qxp:M1057 26/2/09 16:38 Page vii TRADITIONS IN WORLD CINEMA identified as genres, cycles or movements (Japanese horror, Chinese martial arts cinema, Italian Neorealism). Indeed, in cases in which a group of films is not already commonly identified as a tradition, one purpose of the volume is to establish its claim to importance and make it visible (East Central European Magical Realist cinema, Palestinian cinema). Textbooks and monographs include: • An introduction that clarifies the rationale for the grouping of films under examination • A concise history of the regional, national, or transnational cinema in question • A summary of previous published work on the tradition • Contextual analysis of industrial, cultural and socio-historical condi- tions of production and reception • Textual analysis of specific and notable films, with clear and judicious application of relevant film theoretical approaches • Bibliograph(ies)/filmograph(ies) Monographs may additionally include: • Discussion of the dynamics of cross-cultural exchange in light of current research and thinking about cultural imperialism and globalisation, as well as issues of regional/national cinema or political/aesthetic move- ments (such as new waves, postmodernism, or identity politics) • Interview(s) with key filmmakers working within the tradition vii EB0016 - TEO PRELIMS.qxp:M1057 26/2/09 16:38 Page viii EB0016 - TEO PRELIMS.qxp:M1057 26/2/09 16:38 Page ix ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Many friends and colleagues have contributed in their own ways to bring about this book. I wish, in particular, to thank Professor Chua Beng Huat of the Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore, for his support in extend- ing to me a research fellowship at ARI where I wrote this book. I also thank the following individuals for their help and support in whatever way provided during the course of my research and writing of this book: Linda Badley, Barton Palmer, David Bordwell, Zhang Zhen, Meaghan Morris, Stanley Rosen, Ying Zhu, David Chute, Kam Louie, Chris Berry, Zheng Peipei, Bai Ying, Wu Mingcai, Sha Yung-fong, Pierre Rissient, Leo Ou-fan Lee, Dominic Cheung, Joseph Lau, Mark Morrison, David Petersen, Jude Poyer, Cheng-sim Lim, Chris Hopkins, Poshek Fu, Elisabeth Cazer, Lin Wen-chi, Emilie Yeh, Darrell Davis, Hu Jubin, Wang Zhengxu, Seow Chye-seng, Lim Cheng-tju, Kathy Yen, Cheng Fat-ming, Law Kar, Cynthia Liu, Angela Tong, Winnie Fu, Chan Wing-chiu, Joe Beres, Hsueh Hui-ling, Zhou Yongming. Above all, I thank my wife, Lim Bea-fung, for her incalculable support and tolerance throughout the arduous periods of writing and researching this book.