Theatre & Film Studies   Tags: drama, film, tafs, theatre  

This is the first comprehensive, fully-researched account of the historical and contemporary development of the traditional martial arts genre in the Chinese cinema known as wuxia (literal translation: martial chivalry) - a genre which audiences around the world became familiar with 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. Analyses include:

- The history of the tradition as it began in the Shanghai cinema, leading to its eventual prohibition by the government in 1931.

- The fantastic characteristics of the genre, their relationship with folklore, myth and religion, and the kung fu sub-genre of martial arts cinema.

- The protagonists and heroes of the genre, in particular the figure of the female knight-errant.

- The chief personalities and masterpieces of the genre - directors such as King Hu, Chu Yuan, Zhang Che, Ang Lee, and Zhang Yimou.