A CHINESE GHOST STORY

TONY CHING SIU-TUNG. TSUI HARK

A Critical Study

By Jeremy Mark Robinson

This is a study of the Chinese Ghost Story film series produced by Tsui Hark and helmed by Tony Ching Siu-tung.
The Chinese Ghost Story movies are:
A Chinese Ghost Story (1987)
A Chinese Ghost Story 2 (1990)
A Chinese Ghost Story 3 (1991)
A Chinese Ghost Story: The Tsui Hark Animation (1997)
A Chinese Ghost Story was remade in 2011 (and dedicated to Leslie Cheung).
A Chinese Ghost Story (1987, Mandarin: Qiannu Youhun = Sien: Female Ghost, a.k.a. Fair Maiden, Tender Spirit), was one of those movies where everything works, and the mix of elements is just gorgeous. This is a golden, 100% killer of a movie.
A Chinese Ghost Story has everything going for it: it is among the finest fantasy and action movies ever; it boasts a finale as grand as any in cinema; it tackles the most profound themes; it possesses a perfectly achieved tone and attitude; it features two incandescent stars (Leslie Cheung and Joey Wong); it is helmed and produced by two of the greatest action directors in history; and it is brilliant filmmaking.
Tony Ching Siu-tung (b. 1953) started out as an actor and stuntman, working in movies in the late 1960s and 1970s; he moved into television as martial arts co-ordinator in the late 1970s and thru the 1980s (on several historical TV series); he moved up to directing movies with 1983's Duel To the Death.
Tony Ching Siu-tung's two signature works are probably A Chinese Ghost Story and The Swordsman 2. Critically, those two films (and their movie series, the Chinese Ghost Story series and the Swordsman series), have garnered the highest criticial accolades (and they were big hits financially), and The Swordsman 2 has been the subject of numerous analyses of gender-bending issues in cinema. The sight of Brigitte Lin in drag and later fooling around with Jet Li as a 'woman' seems to drive film critics goo-goo.
Tony Ching Siu-tung has won top awards for the action choreography for The Witch From Nepal, Shaolin Soccer, New Dragon Gate Inn, Hero and The Swordsman.
Fully illustrated, with images from the Chinese Ghost Story films and the films of Tony Ching.
With filmography, bibliography and notes. 176 pages.
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