Miao Ching

A wandering swordsman protects a family from the wrath of a clan chief.

Three men, crippled by an evil warlord, become friends and learn kung fu with the help of an old teacher and his idiot pupil. (imdb)

Lau Kar-leung spins this kung-fu yarn that features a Manchu as the hero, something of a rarity in which Manchus are usually branded villains. Wei Fung (David Chiang Da-wei) is ordered to spy on the wealthy Tien family, who is suspected to have connections with the recently overthrown Ming. He works his way into the house by posing as a teacher for the family's spoiled daughter, Chi-chi... (All Movie Guide)

Golden Swallow is living peacefully with her "friend" by a waterfall. She has seemingly given up her death-dealing ways but soon she is accused of going on a bloody rampage against an evil clan. As it turns out, the actual culprit is an old beau named Silver Roc who is impersonating her to draw her out into the open. A complicated love triangle develops as her affections are torn between the two men while all three must also deal with the evil kung-fu clan. (imdb)

The beautiful Betty Loh Ti plays Zhu Ying Tai, a 17 year old girl who longs to get an education. In order to do this, she has to disguise herself as a boy. (imdb)

An earlier screen classic by King Hu, The Story Of Sue San is adapted from a chapter of the Chinese literature Jing Shi Tong Yan. The story evolves around a pair of star-crossed lovers -- Wang Chin-lung (Chao Lei), the youngest son of the Minister of Administration; and Su San (Betty Loh Ti), the famed prostitute. When Wang had exhausted his fortunes on Su... (Hkflix)

A drugged and disgraced wife of a street seller is taken against her will by a son of a royal servent. She's then framed for her husband's murder by her rapist. The hardships never stop. Early filmed Peking opera.

Ti Lung is the Nameless Swordsman bent on defeating the faceless King of Swords to claim the title, and the glory, for himself. Hordes of fighters lunge from the shadows to cut down the mysterious challenger. Even a cunning seductress takes a stab at him in a revealing bath house assassination. It is said that a man s weapon reflects his utmost dreams, desires and fears. A warrior with no name and one motive has a soul as merciless as cold steel. (amazon.com)

Ying Ke-Feng, head of Peerless Manor, is an expert swordsman whose escort business transports 200,000 taels of silver to the capital each year. This year, however, he is afflicted with an infirmity that renders him unable to use his sword. Rather than give up this important commission and let the martial world know of his precarious health he means to entrust the consignment to two young knights in his manor, Hsiang Ting and Yun Piao-Piao. (imdb)

Hell is raised in the martial arts world as forces of good and evil engage in a life-or-death battle for the fabled "bloody parrot". According to legend, this bloody parrot, transformed by dark magic, grants three wishes to anyone who sees it.

When the oldest men of the Yang clan are killed in battle, the surviving female generals prepare to fortify their homeland while plotting vengeance against their enemies. A martial arts adventure starring Lilly Ho and Lisa Lu, The 14 Amazons is set during the Sing Dynasty. (allrovi.com)

The action sweeps non-stop through this martial arts film featuring Ti Lung as Teng Piao, a prisoner just released from jail and seeking revenge. Teng Piao was framed by a gangster known as the "Leopard" (he has a leopard tattoo on his chest, his only identifying feature). The trouble is, neither Teng Piao nor anyone else knows who the Leopard really is. (allrovi.com)

Versatile director Lo Chen and majestic star Ti Lung teamed to make the male variation in this remarkable fantasy/horror epic. Attracted by the sensual rain dance performed by three glorious tribeswomen, the Snake Prince and his brothers set into motion an extraordinary tale of romance, greed, insanity, envy, lust, murder, and tragedy. (hkcinemagic.com)

The leader of the Snake Sect has an affair with the sexy ringleader of the Scorpion Sect to revive the "Five Poison Web" (which is also this film's Chinese title). But there is also the Centipede Sect to contend with. Under the fluid direction of Chu Yuan and action choreographers Tang Chia and Yuen Cheung-yan (member of the martial art world's esteemed Yuan Family and brother of Matrix master Yuen Woo-ping), the result is a first class action film. (hkcinemagic.com)

Chen Wo-Fu plays construction worker Ku Ting, whose skill at "tai chi" (shadow boxing) is as great as his pacifism. But when his girlfriend is raped by vicious gangsters, he shows everyone the true power and beauty of tai chi. (hkcinemagic.com)

"The Twelve Gold Medallions" features an exhaustive "who's who" of martial arts swordplay films lead by veteran actor Yueh Hua, who later went on to star in Jackie Chan's "Rumble In The Bronx". Yueh plays a righteous knight trying to prevent the Chin invaders from destroying his country by preventing twelve gold medallions from reaching General Yueh. (hkcinemagic.com)

Director Chu Yuan's titanic teaming with respected, inspired author Chin Yung created this unforgettable saga. Set during the Yuan Dynasty, it tells the fascinating story of the "Sacred Fire" sect, the Wu Tang swordsmanship clan, the disciples of the O Mei group, The Book of Chu Yang (which can make the reader immortal), and the destruction of Shaolin -- complete with a killer cliffhanger. And that's just the start of the fascinating intrigues and ingratiating characters found here. (hkcinemagic.com)

Cheng Chang-ho was just two years away from making the very first internationally successful kung-fu film King Boxer, when he helmed this popular tale of a decapitating swordswoman who will let nothing stand in her way when she falls in love with a bandit's son. Chiao Chiao, made famous in One-Armed Swordsman, is the girl who won't let such trifles as craniums keep her from freeing her man from jail. (hkcinemagic.com)

There are many dangers on their journey to the Mansion on Golden Dragon Hill, where an evil warlord has stashed the princess he abducted from our heroes' realm. But the attack on the Golden Dragon Hill stronghold is just the beginning for the quintet... (hkcinemagic.com)

The incomparable Lily Li was considered an actress with an attitude, which was perfect for her becoming a bad-girl fighter. In "The Bastard", she plays a beggar girl that becomes a target for evil men plotting to make "The Bastard" a scapegoat for murder because he happens to like the son of a jailed dignitary's son accused of murder. (hkcinemagic.com)

Starring the stunning, teenage heartthrob Pat Ting Hung, The Butterfly Chalice marks the important directing debut of the kung-fu film genre's most principle figure Chang Cheh, as he burst the martial arts and swordplay movie doors wide open, announcing the beginning of the end for the Cantonese musicals. The Story revolves around Tian Yu Quan (Chin Feng) who rushes to the aid of an elderly fisherman who is bullied by an arrogant relative of the Qiu Shan ministry. (listal.com)

Lone swordsman Jiang Dan-Feng (Wong Chung-Shun) is ambushed by a pair of bandits and quickly despatches them. One of them, as he is dying, asks Jiang to take his personal effects to his sister. (filmjournal.net)

Director Li Han-hsiang teams up again with the irreverent comedic talents of Michael Hui Kwun-man in this tongue-in-cheek drama. Corruption is strife in Wan Ping County in Hopei Province. Two good-for-nothing loafers Chen Ming (Michael Hui Kwun-man) and Chia Liang (Wang Sheng) arrive and turn the officials on their head. After a bout of blackmailing, they end up in positions of power themselves. It's all done with the best intentions, or so they believe. (hkcinemagic.com)

This is an extremely rare example of science fiction, Hong Kong style, but, fittingly, it's unlike any sci-fi flick you've ever seen. Alien abductions, suicide pacts, superstardom, and the reality of science fiction itself is spotlighted in this bright, crazy, truly out of this world epic -- one of the more unusual movies in the Hong Kong cinema of the early 1980s. And if you know 80's Hong Kong cinema at all, you know that's really saying something! (hkcinemagic.com)

An evil general falls in love with an opera performer during the Chinese Revolution of 1949.

A woman in an arranged marriage falls in love with her husband's brother. (themoviedb.org)

In the sixties, love stories portrayed women as sentimentalists or sacrificial lambs. Later on, directors like Chu Yuan replaced these themes of sacrifice with abandonment. The Forbidden Past is a heart tugging, rare Chinese Christmas story about a bar girl (Ching Li) serving drinks to a man that looks like her husband from five years ago. She convinces him to fulfill her son's wishes of having the father he's never seen, show up for Christmas. A merry Christmas follows? (hkcinemagic.com)

Celebrated director Chu Yuan helms "Descendant Of The Sun", a Superman meets Hercules a la old style martial art film. Derek Yee is a magic solar baby sent Earthbound by a benevolent god, raised by an old carpenter, has martial art superpowers and "green kryptonite" loses them during solar eclipses. That's when the evil baby counterpart shows up. Demon-paced martial arts action by Jackie Chan's kung-fu classmates Yuan Pin and Yuen Hua compliments Toho Studio style special optical effects. (IVL)

Return Of The Phoenix is yet another masterpiece from prolific director Li Han-hsiang. An imperial minister Cheng Pu (Ching Miao) is faced with a quandary. He's getting old and his daughters are still not married. Elder daughter Shueh-yeh (Elizabeth Chuang) is so ugly no one wants her. Younger daughter Shueh-wu (Li Hsiang-chun) is beautiful but Mrs Cheng refuses to let her marry before her elder sister. The drama unfolds when Cheng decides to marry Shueh-wu off. (Letterboxd)

Not a love triangle but a love rectangle, Rose, Be My Love is a romantic drama that represents the high standards achieved by Shaw Brothers in both star power and technical polish. Set on the eve of Pearl Harbor and Hong Kong's invasion by the Japanese, the tragic romance takes on added poignancy in light of the future fate of leading lady Li Ting, the "Rose" of Rose, Be My Love who committed suicide a mere three months after the movie's release.

Some 40 years ago when warlords rode rough-shod over the Chinese people, circus acrobat Pao Te-cheng took to the hills and began robbing the rich to help the poor. His daring feats earned him the nickname of "The Masked Robber".

Fang Zheng awaits the arrival of his cousin Lin by train. Fang's father takes an immediate dislike to Lin since she is the daughter of his enemy. Zheng's brother, Feng spends tons of money on gambling and hookers, but the elder Fang favors him because a fortuneteller said that Feng would become established in the future. Zheng and Lin start to fall in love, but he's forced to leave home when his father becomes convinced he is out for his money.

Jenny Wu is a singer who charms the well-to-do Peter Chen, but his parents object to a union between their only son and a lowly cabaret singer. He ignores their advice and marries her anyway, and for a time, they find some manner of wedded bliss. But the years are not entirely kind. He works hard to make ends meet, but his health pays the price.

Li’s The Mad Monk consists of four stories that see the roaming monk save a mother and daughter from the brink of death and a young man from the hands of unscrupulous debtors. Ji Gong also deals mischievous justice on robbers and corrupt officials.

Emperor Chien Lung uses disguises to experience life among his subjects.

An older couple, struggling to have children of their own, adopts a young girl.

It’s a powerful melodrama about a thwarted romance in 1930s Tientsin, China, during the Japanese occupation, and it stars Linda Lin Dai, one of the era’s most popular stars. It was part of Golden Horse’s 100 Greatest Chinese-Language Films.

Part two of the wartime love story.

"The Kid" is a monk whose education in the aptly named "Crazy Lo Han Fist" finds him battling a cruel bandit's son and befriending an abused prostitute.

The Shaw Brothers version of The Parent Trap, only they found real twins for the roles of the kids!

Comedy of Mismatches begins with widow Sun who single-handedly raises her son Yu Lang (Chin Feng) and daughter Zhu Yi (Li Hsiang Chun). One day, Mother Sun sends her children to the temple, where Yu Lang encounters Hui Niang (Pat Ting). Artist Xu Ya is also at the temple, praying that his daughter Wen Gu (Carrie Ku) will find a good husband. Soon after, Wen Gu encounters the nobleman’s son Pei Zheng (Wai Mao), and the two fall in love at first sight.

Ling Bo is Lin, a young man engaged to the daughter of a rich man, who now despises Lin because of his family's declining status. Lin visits his beloved fiancee before he heads towards the imperial city to participate in the civil service examination, only to find her maid lying dead in blood. Lin is then accused of murder. How can Judge Bao prove his innocence?

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Li Hsiang-Chun stars as a poor beauty who is drugged, ravished, lied to, locked in a burning store room, left to drown, and chased by sword-wielding ruffians.

Forced by family circumstances, Shuxian is forced to marry Yusheng, a deformed man from a wealthy family. They remain a couple in name only. Later, Shuxian falls in love with Yusheng's cousin. Yusheng loves her enough to get out of the way. Shuxian must now choose between her own happiness and family duty.