The Origins of Kung Fu Cinema, Part 2: Butterfly and Oriole

THE BURNING OF RED LOTUS TEMPLE (1928) was the first blockbuster martial arts film, the earliest example of mass audiences thrilling to that effervescent combination of daredevil stunt fighting and the movie magic of special effects. The groundwork for an explosion of interest in kung fu lore was in place before the film’s release. Classic Chinese novels like “Outlaws of the Marshes” and “Journey to the West” introduced generations of readers to the world of the jianghu, where everyone knows kung fu, and to the overlapping realm of the shenguai or magic spirits. In the early years of the 20th century, newly written novels about martial arts clans and powerful heroes developed a fervent readership. These lengthy epics were serialized in newspapers before being published in book form.

Left: Hu Die (Butterfly Wu), right: Chin Tse-ang.

Zhang Shichuan, one of China’s earliest pioneers in filmmaking, had founded the Mingxing (Bright Star) studio in Shanghai in 1922 and built it into a powerhouse by 1928. A string of successful melodramas brought Mingxing both critical praise and ample profit. One day Zhang noticed his son was so engrossed in a novel that he neglected his schoolwork. The book was “Legend of the Strange Swordsman” by Xiang Kairen. Xiang was a martial artist from Hunan province who, beginning in 1920, wrote a linked series of stories about two warring clans, the Kunlun and Kongdong, set in his home territory. Zhang Shichuan was inspired to turn an episode from the book into a wuxia pian, a magic swordplay film, for Mingxing.

Although a number of smaller studios had been turning out films with martial arts elements throughout the 1920s, it was still considered a minor and rather disreputable genre. Chinese intellectuals who worked in the theater and film worlds felt they had both a moral and a patriotic duty to present uplifting dramas that would educate as well as entertain their audiences. Zhang’s commercial instincts hadn’t failed him, though. THE BURNING OF RED LOTUS TEMPLE was a money maker on a huge scale, and the Mingxing studio continued to turn out sequels for the next three years, releasing 18 episodes in all.

One element common to most wuxia novels and films of the time was the depiction of strong female characters. Nu xia (swordswomen) as both heroines and villains were not unusual in folk tales and opera. The opera, however, traditionally used male performers to play women. That tradition was starting to fade by the modern era, with mixed cast opera troupes turning up in Shanghai and elsewhere. But stage technique in opera remained highly stylized, with thick make-up and heavy costumes. The beautiful nu xia of the movies were undeniably real and female. Temperamentally they were the complete opposite of the passive and long-suffering heroines of melodrama. Actresses who starred in wuxia pian may have been spurned by the critics, but they were embraced as early idols by their fans.

The most famous Shanghai actress to play nu xia roles was the 1930s glamor queen Hu Die (Butterfly Wu, 1908-1989). Hu studied acting at the China Film Academy in 1924, and worked at the Tianyi studio (founded by the Shaw brothers in 1925) for a couple of years. Tianyi was famous for its fantasy costume dramas. Hu appeared in adaptations of folk stories about Lady White Snake and the Monkey King, as well as in contemporary drama. In 1928, she signed with Mingxing, just as THE BURNING OF RED LOTUS TEMPLE became the studio’s biggest hit. Hu was soon cast as a regular in the ongoing series, playing an elegant warrior who flew through the air, courtesy of an early form of wirework. She then starred in the first Chinese sound film, SINGING GIRL RED PEONY (1931). The crude soundtrack was recorded separately on a wax cylinder and played, unfortunately too often out of sync, during projection. Hu’s singing voice was dubbed by a Peking opera professional. Hu Die went on to become one of China’s biggest movie stars over the next decade, but she had moved away from martial arts films by then.

A wuxia actress who remained faithful to the genre is Chin Tsi-ang (Chen Zhigong), grandmother of Hong Kong action star Sammo Hung. Chin was born into a large well-to-do Shanghai family in 1909. A fortune teller predicted bad luck for the child unless she was raised as a boy, so she took up the study of martial arts. In 1925, when she was 16 years old, she was recruited to play the lead in a wuxia film called SWORDSWOMAN OF JIANGNAN. The film’s success led to more roles in both martial arts films and melodramas. She soon married a young director named Hung Chung-ho (Hong Zhonghao), who had a brother (Hung Sum) who was a screenwriter for Mingxing. The couple founded the Jinlong Film Company, which was very much a family affair. Chin took on the role of producer of her husband’s films while continuing to appear onscreen in wuxia pian like WHITE SWALLOW SWORDSWOMAN (1928) and THE FLYING SWALLOW (1930). Chin Tsi-ang just passed away on October 15, 2007, at the age of 99. Her career spans the entire history of Chinese film. Her further contributions to the development of Hong Kong action cinema will be covered in later entries in this series. She continued to work in the film industry up until the present era, most recently in Wong Kar-wai’s IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE (2000) and opposite Ekin Cheng and Charlene Choi in 2002’s MY WIFE IS 18. “I am like an oriole that flies here and there [her given name means oriole]…you can’t tie me down,” she told an interviewer in 1997.

A slightly different version of this post originally appeared on June 7, 2007.

Tags: Butterfly Wu, Chin Tsi-ang, Hung Chung-ho