1.
Chinese name
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Chinese personal names are names used by those from mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, and the Chinese diaspora overseas. Prior to the 20th century, educated Chinese also utilized a courtesy name or style name called zi by which they were known among those outside of their family and closest friends. From at least the time of the Shang dynasty, the Han Chinese observed a number of naming taboos regulating who may or may not use a given name. In general, using the given name connoted the speakers authority, peers and younger relatives were barred from speaking it. Owing to this, many historical Chinese figures – particularly emperors – used a half-dozen or more different names in different contexts and those possessing names identical to the emperors were frequently forced to change them. Although some terms in the ancient Chinese naming system, such as xìng and míng, are used today, they were used in different. Commoners possessed only a name, and the modern concept of a surname or family name did not yet exist at any level of society.3 billion citizens. In fact, just the top three – Wang, Li, and Zhang – cover more than 20% of the population. This homogeneity results from the majority of Han family names having only one character. Chinese surnames arose from two separate traditions, the xìng and the shì. The original xìng were clans of royalty at the Shang court, the shì did not originate from families, but denoted fiefs, states, and titles granted or recognized by the Shang court. Apart from the Jiang and Yao families, the original xìng have nearly disappeared, xìng is now used to describe the shì surnames which replaced them, while shì is used to refer to maiden names. The enormous modern clans sometimes share ancestral halls with one another, nonetheless, however tenuous these bonds sometimes are, it remains a minor taboo to marry someone with the same family name. In modern mainland China, it is the norm that a woman keeps her name unchanged. A child usually inherits his/her fathers surname, though the law explicitly states that a child may use either parents or the grandparents. It is also possible, though far less common, for a child to both parents surnames. In the older generations, it was common for a married woman to prepend her husbands surname to her own. This practice is now almost extinct in mainland China, though there are a few such as the name change of Gu Kailai, but survives in some Hong Kong, Macau
2.
Chinese surname
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Chinese surnames are used by Han Chinese and Sinicized ethnic groups in Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, Malaysia, Taiwan, Korea, Singapore, Vietnam and among overseas Chinese communities. In ancient times two types of surnames existed, namely xing or lineage names, and shi or clan names, Chinese family names are patrilineal, passed from father to children. Women do not normally change their surnames upon marriage, except in places with more Western influences such as Hong Kong, traditionally Chinese surnames have been exogamous. The colloquial expressions laobaixing and bǎixìng are used in Chinese to mean ordinary folks, prior to the Warring States period, only the ruling families and the aristocratic elite had surnames. Historically there was also a difference between clan names or xing and lineages names or shi, Xing were surnames held by the noble clans. They generally are composed of a nü radical which has taken by some as evidence they originated from matriarchal societies based on maternal lineages. Another hypothesis has been proposed by sinologist Léon Vandermeersch upon observation of the evolution of characters in oracular scripture from the Shang dynasty through the Zhou, the female radical seems to appear at the Zhou period next to Shang sinograms indicating an ethnic group or a tribe. This combination seems to designate specifically a female and could mean lady of such or such clan, prior to the Qin Dynasty China was largely a fengjian society. In this way, a nobleman would hold a shi and a xing, after the states of China were unified by Qin Shi Huang in 221 BC, surnames gradually spread to the lower classes and the difference between xing and shi blurred. Many shi surnames survive to the present day, according to Kiang Kang-Hu, there are 18 sources from which Chinese surnames may be derived, while others suggested at least 24. The following are some of the sources, Xing, These were usually reserved for the central lineage of the royal family. Of these xings, only Jiang and Yao have survived in their form to modern days as frequently occurring surnames. Royal decree by the Emperor, such as Kuang, state name, Many nobles and commoners took the name of their state, either to show their continuing allegiance or as a matter of national and ethnic identity. These are some of the most common Chinese surnames, name of a fief or place of origin, Fiefdoms were often granted to collateral branches of the aristocracy and it was natural as part of the process of sub-surnaming for their names to be used. An example is Di, Marquis of Ouyangting, whose descendants took the surname Ouyang, there are some two hundred examples of this identified, often of two-character surnames, but few have survived to the present. Names of an ancestor, Like the previous example, this was also a common origin with close to 500 or 600 examples,200 of which are two-character surnames, often an ancestors courtesy name would be used. For example, Yuan Taotu took the character of his grandfathers courtesy name Boyuan as his surname. Sometimes titles granted to ancestors could also be taken as surnames, seniority within the family, In ancient usage, the characters of meng, zhong, shu and ji were used to denote the first, second, third and fourth eldest sons in a family
3.
2005 Toronto International Film Festival
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The 30th Toronto International Film Festival ran from September 8–17 and screened 335 films from 52 countries -109 of these films were world premieres, and 78 were North American premieres. At the Festivals closing event, the prizes were awarded, The Peoples Choice Award. The Discovery Award, presented to Sarah Watts Look Both Ways, the Fipresci Prize, presented to South Korean director Kang Yi-kwan for Sa-kwa. A tie for the Citytv Award for Best Canadian First Feature, presented to Louise Archambaults Familia and Michael Mabbotts The Life, the Toronto – City Award for Best Canadian Feature Film, presented to C. R. A. Z. Y. The Bravo. FACT Short Cuts Canada Award, presented to Renuka Jeyapalans Big Girl, because the vote for the Peoples Choice Award was so close, at the awards ceremony Piers Handling announced four runners-up. However, in the subsequent reporting there was confusion about the order of the runners-up
4.
Traditional Chinese characters
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Traditional Chinese characters are Chinese characters in any character set that does not contain newly created characters or character substitutions performed after 1946. They are most commonly the characters in the character sets of Taiwan, of Hong Kong. Currently, a number of overseas Chinese online newspapers allow users to switch between both sets. In contrast, simplified Chinese characters are used in mainland China, Singapore, the debate on traditional and simplified Chinese characters has been a long-running issue among Chinese communities. Although simplified characters are taught and endorsed by the government of Mainland China, Traditional characters are used informally in regions in China primarily in handwriting and also used for inscriptions and religious text. They are often retained in logos or graphics to evoke yesteryear, nonetheless, the vast majority of media and communications in China is dominated by simplified characters. Taiwan has never adopted Simplified Chinese characters since it is ruled by the Republic of China, the use of simplified characters in official documents is even prohibited by the government in Taiwan. Simplified characters are not well understood in general, although some stroke simplifications that have incorporated into Simplified Chinese are in common use in handwriting. For example, while the name of Taiwan is written as 臺灣, similarly, in Hong Kong and Macau, Traditional Chinese has been the legal written form since colonial times. In recent years, because of the influx of mainland Chinese tourists, today, even government websites use simplified Chinese, as they answer to the Beijing government. This has led to concerns by residents to protect their local heritage. In Southeast Asia, the Chinese Filipino community continues to be one of the most conservative regarding simplification, while major public universities are teaching simplified characters, many well-established Chinese schools still use traditional characters. Publications like the Chinese Commercial News, World News, and United Daily News still use traditional characters, on the other hand, the Philippine Chinese Daily uses simplified. Aside from local newspapers, magazines from Hong Kong, such as the Yazhou Zhoukan, are found in some bookstores. In case of film or television subtitles on DVD, the Chinese dub that is used in Philippines is the same as the one used in Taiwan and this is because the DVDs belongs to DVD Region Code 3. Hence, most of the subtitles are in Traditional Characters, overseas Chinese in the United States have long used traditional characters. A major influx of Chinese immigrants to the United States occurred during the half of the 19th century. Therefore, the majority of Chinese language signage in the United States, including street signs, Traditional Chinese characters are called several different names within the Chinese-speaking world
5.
Simplified Chinese characters
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Simplified Chinese characters are standardized Chinese characters prescribed in the Table of General Standard Chinese Characters for use in mainland China. Along with traditional Chinese characters, it is one of the two character sets of the contemporary Chinese written language. The government of the Peoples Republic of China in mainland China has promoted them for use in printing since the 1950s and 1960s in an attempt to increase literacy and they are officially used in the Peoples Republic of China and Singapore. Traditional Chinese characters are used in Hong Kong, Macau. Overseas Chinese communities generally tend to use traditional characters, Simplified Chinese characters may be referred to by their official name above or colloquially. Strictly, the latter refers to simplifications of character structure or body, character forms that have existed for thousands of years alongside regular, Simplified character forms were created by decreasing the number of strokes and simplifying the forms of a sizable proportion of traditional Chinese characters. Some simplifications were based on popular cursive forms embodying graphic or phonetic simplifications of the traditional forms, some characters were simplified by applying regular rules, for example, by replacing all occurrences of a certain component with a simplified version of the component. Variant characters with the pronunciation and identical meaning were reduced to a single standardized character. Finally, many characters were left untouched by simplification, and are identical between the traditional and simplified Chinese orthographies. Some simplified characters are very dissimilar to and unpredictably different from traditional characters and this often leads opponents not well-versed in the method of simplification to conclude that the overall process of character simplification is also arbitrary. In reality, the methods and rules of simplification are few, on the other hand, proponents of simplification often flaunt a few choice simplified characters as ingenious inventions, when in fact these have existed for hundreds of years as ancient variants. However, the Chinese government never officially dropped its goal of further simplification in the future, in August 2009, the PRC began collecting public comments for a modified list of simplified characters. The new Table of General Standard Chinese Characters consisting of 8,105 characters was promulgated by the State Council of the Peoples Republic of China on June 5,2013, cursive written text almost always includes character simplification. Simplified forms used in print have always existed, they date back to as early as the Qin dynasty, One of the earliest proponents of character simplification was Lubi Kui, who proposed in 1909 that simplified characters should be used in education. In the years following the May Fourth Movement in 1919, many anti-imperialist Chinese intellectuals sought ways to modernise China, Traditional culture and values such as Confucianism were challenged. Soon, people in the Movement started to cite the traditional Chinese writing system as an obstacle in modernising China and it was suggested that the Chinese writing system should be either simplified or completely abolished. Fu Sinian, a leader of the May Fourth Movement, called Chinese characters the writing of ox-demons, lu Xun, a renowned Chinese author in the 20th century, stated that, If Chinese characters are not destroyed, then China will die. Recent commentators have claimed that Chinese characters were blamed for the problems in China during that time
6.
Pinyin
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Pinyin, or Hànyǔ Pīnyīn, is the official romanization system for Standard Chinese in mainland China, Malaysia, Singapore, and Taiwan. It is often used to teach Standard Chinese, which is written using Chinese characters. The system includes four diacritics denoting tones, Pinyin without tone marks is used to spell Chinese names and words in languages written with the Latin alphabet, and also in certain computer input methods to enter Chinese characters. The pinyin system was developed in the 1950s by many linguists, including Zhou Youguang and it was published by the Chinese government in 1958 and revised several times. The International Organization for Standardization adopted pinyin as a standard in 1982. The system was adopted as the standard in Taiwan in 2009. The word Hànyǔ means the language of the Han people. In 1605, the Jesuit missionary Matteo Ricci published Xizi Qiji in Beijing and this was the first book to use the Roman alphabet to write the Chinese language. Twenty years later, another Jesuit in China, Nicolas Trigault, neither book had much immediate impact on the way in which Chinese thought about their writing system, and the romanizations they described were intended more for Westerners than for the Chinese. One of the earliest Chinese thinkers to relate Western alphabets to Chinese was late Ming to early Qing Dynasty scholar-official, the first late Qing reformer to propose that China adopt a system of spelling was Song Shu. A student of the great scholars Yu Yue and Zhang Taiyan, Song had been to Japan and observed the effect of the kana syllabaries. This galvanized him into activity on a number of fronts, one of the most important being reform of the script, while Song did not himself actually create a system for spelling Sinitic languages, his discussion proved fertile and led to a proliferation of schemes for phonetic scripts. The Wade–Giles system was produced by Thomas Wade in 1859, and it was popular and used in English-language publications outside China until 1979. This Sin Wenz or New Writing was much more sophisticated than earlier alphabets. In 1940, several members attended a Border Region Sin Wenz Society convention. Mao Zedong and Zhu De, head of the army, both contributed their calligraphy for the masthead of the Sin Wenz Societys new journal. Outside the CCP, other prominent supporters included Sun Yat-sens son, Sun Fo, Cai Yuanpei, the countrys most prestigious educator, Tao Xingzhi, an educational reformer. Over thirty journals soon appeared written in Sin Wenz, plus large numbers of translations, biographies, some contemporary Chinese literature, and a spectrum of textbooks
7.
Standard Chinese
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Its pronunciation is based on the Beijing dialect, its vocabulary on the Mandarin dialects, and its grammar is based on written vernacular Chinese. Like other varieties of Chinese, Standard Chinese is a language with topic-prominent organization. It has more initial consonants but fewer vowels, final consonants, Standard Chinese is an analytic language, though with many compound words. There exist two standardised forms of the language, namely Putonghua in Mainland China and Guoyu in Taiwan, aside from a number of differences in pronunciation and vocabulary, Putonghua is written using simplified Chinese characters, while Guoyu is written using traditional Chinese characters. There are many characters that are identical between the two systems, in English, the governments of China and Hong Kong use Putonghua, Putonghua Chinese, Mandarin Chinese, and Mandarin, while those of Taiwan, Singapore, and Malaysia, use Mandarin. The name Putonghua also has a long, albeit unofficial, history and it was used as early as 1906 in writings by Zhu Wenxiong to differentiate a modern, standard Chinese from classical Chinese and other varieties of Chinese. For some linguists of the early 20th century, the Putonghua, or common tongue/speech, was different from the Guoyu. The former was a prestige variety, while the latter was the legal standard. Based on common understandings of the time, the two were, in fact, different, Guoyu was understood as formal vernacular Chinese, which is close to classical Chinese. By contrast, Putonghua was called the speech of the modern man. The use of the term Putonghua by left-leaning intellectuals such as Qu Qiubai, prior to this, the government used both terms interchangeably. In Taiwan, Guoyu continues to be the term for Standard Chinese. The term Putonghua, on the contrary, implies nothing more than the notion of a lingua franca, Huayu, or language of the Chinese nation, originally simply meant Chinese language, and was used in overseas communities to contrast Chinese with foreign languages. Over time, the desire to standardise the variety of Chinese spoken in these communities led to the adoption of the name Huayu to refer to Mandarin and it also incorporates the notion that Mandarin is usually not the national or common language of the areas in which overseas Chinese live. The term Mandarin is a translation of Guānhuà, which referred to the lingua franca of the late Chinese empire, in English, Mandarin may refer to the standard language, the dialect group as a whole, or to historic forms such as the late Imperial lingua franca. The name Modern Standard Mandarin is sometimes used by linguists who wish to distinguish the current state of the language from other northern. Chinese has long had considerable variation, hence prestige dialects have always existed. Confucius, for example, used yǎyán rather than colloquial regional dialects, rime books, which were written since the Northern and Southern dynasties, may also have reflected one or more systems of standard pronunciation during those times
8.
Jyutping
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Jyutping is a romanisation system for Cantonese developed by the Linguistic Society of Hong Kong, an academic group, in 1993. Its formal name is The Linguistic Society of Hong Kong Cantonese Romanisation Scheme, the LSHK promotes the use of this romanisation system. The name Jyutping is a contraction consisting of the first Chinese characters of the terms Jyut6jyu5, only the finals m and ng can be used as standalone nasal syllables. ^ ^ ^ Referring to the pronunciation of these words. There are nine tones in six distinct tone contours in Cantonese, however, as three of the nine are entering tones, which only appear in syllables ending with p, t, and k, they do not have separate tone numbers in Jyutping. Jyutping and the Yale Romanisation of Cantonese represent Cantonese pronunciations with the letters in, The initials, b, p, m, f, d, t, n, l, g, k, ng, h, s, gw, kw. The vowel, aa, a, e, i, o, u, the coda, i, u, m, n, ng, p, t, k. But they differ in the following, The vowels eo and oe represent /ɵ/ and /œː/ respectively in Jyutping, the initial j represents /j/ in Jyutping whereas y is used instead in Yale. The initial z represents /ts/ in Jyutping whereas j is used instead in Yale, the initial c represents /tsʰ/ in Jyutping whereas ch is used instead in Yale. In Jyutping, if no consonant precedes the vowel yu, then the initial j is appended before the vowel, in Yale, the corresponding initial y is never appended before yu under any circumstances. Jyutping defines three finals not in Yale, eu /ɛːu/, em /ɛːm/, and ep /ɛːp/ and these three finals are used in colloquial Cantonese words, such as deu6, lem2, and gep6. To represent tones, only tone numbers are used in Jyutping whereas Yale traditionally uses tone marks together with the letter h. Jyutping and Cantonese Pinyin represent Cantonese pronunciations with the letters in, The initials, b, p, m, f, d, t, n, l, g, k, ng, h, s, gw, kw. The vowel, aa, a, e, i, o, u, the coda, i, u, m, n, ng, p, t, k. But they have differences, The vowel oe represents both /ɵ/ and /œː/ in Cantonese Pinyin whereas eo and oe represent /ɵ/ and /œː/ respectively in Jyutping. The vowel y represents /y/ in Cantonese Pinyin whereas both yu and i are used in Jyutping, the initial dz represents /ts/ in Cantonese Pinyin whereas z is used instead in Jyutping. The initial ts represents /tsʰ/ in Cantonese Pinyin whereas c is used instead in Jyutping. To represent tones, the numbers 1 to 9 are usually used in Cantonese Pinyin, however, only the numbers 1 to 6 are used in Jyutping
9.
Cantonese
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Cantonese, or Standard Cantonese, is a variety of Chinese spoken in the city of Guangzhou in southeastern China. It is the prestige variety of Yue, one of the major subdivisions of Chinese. In mainland China, it is the lingua franca of the province of Guangdong and some neighbouring areas such as Guangxi. In Hong Kong and Macau, Cantonese serves as one of their official languages and it is also spoken amongst overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia and throughout the Western World. When Cantonese and the closely related Yuehai dialects are classified together, Cantonese is viewed as vital part of the cultural identity for its native speakers across large swathes of southeastern China, Hong Kong and Macau. Although Cantonese shares some vocabulary with Mandarin, the two varieties are mutually unintelligible because of differences in pronunciation, grammar and lexicon, sentence structure, in particular the placement of verbs, sometimes differs between the two varieties. This results in the situation in which a Cantonese and a Mandarin text may look similar, in English, the term Cantonese is ambiguous. Cantonese proper is the variety native to the city of Canton and this narrow sense may be specified as Canton language or Guangzhou language in English. However, Cantonese may also refer to the branch of Cantonese that contains Cantonese proper as well as Taishanese and Gaoyang. In this article, Cantonese is used for Cantonese proper, historically, speakers called this variety Canton speech or Guangzhou speech, although this term is now seldom used outside mainland China. In Guangdong province, people call it provincial capital speech or plain speech. In Hong Kong and Macau, as well as among overseas Chinese communities, in mainland China, the term Guangdong speech is also increasingly being used among both native and non-native speakers. Due to its status as a prestige dialect among all the dialects of the Cantonese or Yue branch of Chinese varieties, the official languages of Hong Kong are Chinese and English, as defined in the Hong Kong Basic Law. The Chinese language has different varieties, of which Cantonese is one. Given the traditional predominance of Cantonese within Hong Kong, it is the de facto official spoken form of the Chinese language used in the Hong Kong Government and all courts and it is also used as the medium of instruction in schools, alongside English. A similar situation exists in neighboring Macau, where Chinese is an official language along with Portuguese. As in Hong Kong, Cantonese is the predominant spoken variety of Chinese used in life and is thus the official form of Chinese used in the government. The variant spoken in Hong Kong and Macau is known as Hong Kong Cantonese, Cantonese first developed around the port city of Guangzhou in the Pearl River Delta region of southeastern China
10.
British Hong Kong
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British Hong Kong was the period during which Hong Kong was under British Crown rule from 1841 to 1997. It was established as a Crown colony and later designated a British Dependent Territory in 1981, Hong Kong Island was ceded to Great Britain by the Qing dynasty of China after the First Anglo-Chinese War. The Kowloon Peninsula was added to the colony after the Second Anglo-Chinese War, finally, in 1898, the New Territories were added under a 99-year lease. The transfer has been credited as marking the end of the British Empire, in 1836, the Manchu Qing government undertook a major policy review of the opium trade. Lin Zexu volunteered to take on the task of suppressing opium, in March 1839, he became Special Imperial Commissioner in Canton, where he ordered the foreign traders to surrender their opium stock. He confined the British to the Canton Factories and cut off their supplies, Chief Superintendent of Trade, Charles Elliot, complied with Lins demands to secure a safe exit for the British, with the costs involved to be resolved between the two governments. When Elliot promised that the British government would pay for their stock, the merchants surrendered their 20,283 chests of opium. In September 1839, the British Cabinet decided that the Chinese should be made to pay for the destruction of British property, an expeditionary force was placed under Elliot and his cousin, Rear Admiral George Elliot, as joint plenipotentiaries in 1840. Foreign Secretary Lord Palmerston stressed to the Chinese Imperial Government that the British Government did not question Chinas right to prohibit opium, but it objected to the way this was handled. He viewed the sudden strict enforcement as laying a trap for the traders. In 1841, Elliot negotiated with Lins successor, Qishan, in the Convention of Chuenpi during the First Opium War, on 20 January, Elliot announced the conclusion of preliminary arrangements, which included the cession of Hong Kong Island and its harbour to the British Crown. On 26 January, the Union Jack was raised on Hong Kong and Commodore James Bremer, commander-in-chief of British forces in China, on 29 August 1842, the cession was formally ratified in the Treaty of Nanking, which ceded Hong Kong in perpetuity to Britain. The treaty failed to satisfy British expectations of an expansion of trade and profit. In October 1856, Chinese authorities in Canton detained the Arrow, the Consul in Canton, Harry Parkes, claimed the hauling down of the flag and arrest of the crew were an insult of very grave character. Parkes and Sir John Bowring, the 4th Governor of Hong Kong, in March 1857, Palmerston appointed Lord Elgin as Plenipotentiary with the aim of securing a new and satisfactory treaty. A French expeditionary force joined the British to avenge the execution of a French missionary in 1856, in 1860, the capture of the Taku Forts and occupation of Beijing led to the Treaty of Tientsin and Convention of Peking. In the Treaty of Tientsin, the Chinese accepted British demands to open ports, navigate the Yangtze River. During the conflict, the British occupied the Kowloon Peninsula, where the land was valuable training and resting ground
11.
Ningbo
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Ningbo, formerly written Ningpo, is a sub-provincial city in northeast Zhejiang province in China. It comprises the districts of Ningbo proper, three satellite cities, and a number of rural counties including islands in Hangzhou Bay and the East China Sea. Its port, spread across locations, is among the busiest in the world. As of the 2010 census, the entire administrated area had a population of 7.6 million, with 3.5 million in the six urban districts of Ningbo proper. To the north, Hangzhou Bay separates Ningbo from Shanghai, to the east lies Zhoushan in the East China Sea, on the west and south, Ningbo borders Shaoxing, the first character in the citys name ning means serene, while its second character bo translates to waves. The city is abbreviated Yǒng, after the Yong Hill, a prominent coastal hill near the city, the character ming was composed by two parts, representing two lakes inside the city wall, Sun Lake and Moon Lake. As a city with giant port, culture of Ningbo influences many countries near it, Ningbo is one of Chinas oldest cities, with a history dating to the Hemudu culture in 4800 BC. Since the Tang dynasty Ningbo was an important commercial port, arab traders lived in Ningbo during the Song dynasty when it was known as Mingzhou, as the ocean-going trade passages took precedence over land trade during this time. Another name for Mingzhou/Ningbo was Siming and it was a well known center of ocean-going commerce with the foreign world. These merchants did not intermingle with native Chinese, practicing their own customs and religion and they did not try to proselytize Islam to Chinese. Jews also lived in Ningbo, as evidenced by the fact that, after a flood destroyed Torah scrolls in Kaifeng. The city of Ningbo was known in Europe for a time under the name of Liampó. This is the spelling used e. g. in the standard Portuguese history, João de Barross Décadas da Ásia. The spelling Liampó is also attested in the Peregrination by Fernão Mendes Pinto, for the mid-16th-century Portuguese, the nearby promontory, which they called the cape of Liampó, after the nearby illustrious city was the easternmost known point of the mainland Asia. The Portuguese began trading in Ningbo around 1522, by 1542, the Portuguese had a sizable community in Ningbo. Portuguese activities from their Ningbo base included pillaging and attacking multiple Chinese port cities around Ningbo for plunder and they also enslaved people during their raids. The Portuguese were ousted from the Ningbo area in 1548, Ningbo was one of the five Chinese treaty ports opened by the Treaty of Nanjing at the end of the First Opium War between Britain and China. During the war, British forces took possession of the city of Ningbo briefly after storming the fortified town of Zhenhai at the mouth of the Yong River on October 10,1841
12.
Carry On Pickpocket
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Carry On Pickpocket is a 1982 Hong Kong action comedy film directed by Sammo Hung, whom also stars in it alongside Frankie Chan, Deanie Ip and Richard Ng. Hung, along with his stunt team, the Sammo Hung Stuntmens Association, Yuen Biao, Lam Ching-ying, Hung received the Best Actor award at the 2nd Hong Kong Film Awards and shared it with Karl Maka for Aces Go Places. Hung Tai-kong aka Rice Pot and Chan Yin-tung aka Chimney are two brothers who work with their master Kam Ming and his daughter Ann as a team of pickpockets. Rice Pot, Chimney and Ann later meet Inspector Ling Ah-nam and she tells Rice Pot that she has to leave for 2 to 3 months. He finds out that she lied to him, and later she explains to him, Ling asks the three of them to help her snatch a box of diamonds from Chow Ming-shing. Later, troubled cop Ng Heung-kan runs into Rice Pot and Chimney, finding out that they are pickpockets, Ng becomes desperate to arrest them. After successfully getting the diamonds, Ling has them pretend to give Chow the diamonds in order to arrest Chow, however, the diamond that Ling gives them are fake and the three of them become suspicious of Ling. Later, a big fight takes place on Chows ship and a fight with Rice Pot against one of Shings henchmen. Ling attempts to flee from Hong Kong with the diamonds and the three of them find her in the airport, Rice Pot manages to snatch the diamonds from her, only to run into Ng, who is patrolling there and causes him to drop them. In the end, there is a written in text for each character. Rice Pot, Chimney and Ann are charged with theft and murder and they are sentenced to 7,5 and 3 years to prison respectively. Kam is charged with theft and receiving goods and sentenced to 2 years. Ling is charged with impersonating a cop and cheating, and is sentenced to 10 years, sergeant Ng is promoted to police inspector for discovering an international criminal group. Carry On Pickpocket at the Hong Kong Movie DataBase Carry On Pickpocket at Hong Kong Cinemagic Tai fong siu sau at the Internet Movie Database
13.
The Prodigal Son (1981 film)
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The Prodigal Son is a 1981 Hong Kong martial arts film starring Yuen Biao, and also written and directed by Sammo Hung, who also co-stars in the film. The film was released on 22 December 1981 and grossed HK$9,150,729, the Prodigal Son was nominated for two Hong Kong Film Awards and won the award for Best Action Choreography. The film tells the story of Leung Chang, the son of man who is half-heartedly studying kung fu. Leung Changs lack of expertise forces his father to pay people to lose to him in fights. After Leung Chang discovers that his father has been deceiving him, he inspired to study martial arts more seriously. Leung Chang is a man in a wealthy family living in Foshan in the mid-19th century. He is a martial artist trained by two instructors in his fathers employ and this has caused Chang to believe that he is a world-class fighter, but in truth he hasnt even mastered the basics of kung fu and any real fighter could easily defeat him. Everyone knows this but him, giving him the nickname The Prodigal Son behind his back, one night, three of Changs friends attend a performance by the Lok Fung Lin Chinese Opera troupe. One of Changs friends is attracted to the actress and asks her out on a date after the performance. She refuses, but he insists and even harasses her and she reveals herself to be a man, Leung Yee-tai, a master of Wing Chun. He beats up and humiliates Changs friends, Chang challenges Yee-tai to a fight to avenge the insults to his friends. As usual, Yee Tung-choi tries to bribe Yee-tai to lose, but Yee-tai refuses, easily defeats Chang, Chang, desiring to learn real kung fu, asks Yee-tai to teach him Wing Chun. The Lok Fung Lin troupe travels to Canton, there, Yee-tais Wing Chun skills are witnessed by Lord Ngai Fei, the son of a Manchu duke, who is also a martial arts master and is hunting for a worthy opponent. Ngai forces Yee-tai to fight him, Ngai and Yee-tai are evenly matched until Yee-tai has an asthma attack. Ngai stops the fight and postpones it until Yee-tai is healthy and it is revealed that Ngai is also a prodigal son, unbeknownst to him, his father has ordered his bodyguards to protect him from anyone who might beat him in a fight. However, their methods are more ruthless and brutal than the bribery employed by Changs parents, during the night, Ngais bodyguards and a team of assassins infiltrate the Lok Fung Lin theater, massacre the troupe, and burn down the theater. Yee-tai is having trouble sleeping because of his asthma, and he sees light reflected off a blade through his eyelids. The assassins think they died in the fire, as everyone else
14.
Ip Man (film)
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Ip Man is a 2008 Hong Kong biographical martial arts film based on the life of Yip Man, a grandmaster of the martial art Wing Chun and teacher of Bruce Lee. The film focuses on events in Ips life that took place in the city of Foshan during the Sino-Japanese War. The film was directed by Wilson Yip, and stars Donnie Yen as Ip Man, the supporting cast includes Simon Yam, Lynn Hung, Lam Ka-tung, Xing Yu and Hiroyuki Ikeuchi. The idea of an Ip Man biopic originated in 1998 when Jeffrey Lau, however, the studio producing that proposed film closed, and the project was abandoned. Producer Raymond Wong decided to develop his own Ip Man film with full consent from Ips sons, Ip Chun, Ip Mans eldest son, along with martial arts master Leo Au-yeung and several other Wing Chun practitioners served as technical consultants for the film. Principal photography for Ip Man began in March 2008 and ended in August, filming took place in Shanghai, during filming, conflicts arose between the producers of Ip Man and filmmaker Wong Kar-wai over the films working title. The producers of Ip Man agreed to change the film title, Kar-wais film, titled The Grandmaster, was released on 10 January 2013. Ip Man is the first film in the Ip Man film series and it premiered in Beijing on 10 December 2008, and was released theatrically in Hong Kong on 19 December 2008, receiving widespread acclaim from critics and audiences. Ip Man grossed over US$21 million worldwide, despite not being released in North America, following its success, the film was nominated for 12 Hong Kong Film Awards, winning awards for Best Film and Best Action Choreography. In the 1930s, Foshan is a hub of Southern Chinese martial arts, although the Wing Chun master Ip Man is the most skilled martial artist in Foshan, he is unassuming and keeps a low profile. As an independent wealthy man, he no need to accept any disciples and instead spends his days training, meeting with friends. However, his wife is often resentful of the time he spends training and discussing martial arts with friends, though not a professional martial artist, Ip is respected in Foshan due to the abilities he displays in friendly, closed-door competitions with local masters. The Japanese invasion in 1937 adversely affects the life of everyone in Foshan, Ips house is claimed by the Japanese and used as their Foshan headquarters. Ip and his family lose their wealth and are forced to move into a decrepit apartment, desperate to support his family, Ip finds work at a coal mine. The Japanese General Miura, who is a Karate master, establishes an arena where Chinese martial artists compete with his military trainees, Li Zhao, a former police officer and Ips acquaintance, is now working as a translator for the Japanese. He offers the martial artists working at the mine the chance to earn a bag of rice for every match they win. Ip at first declines to participate in the matches, however, when his friend Lin takes part in a match and does not return, Ip agrees to fight so he can find his friend. Ip watches fellow Foshan martial arts master Liu defeat one karateka, when Liu attempts to collect the winning bag of rice from the first match, Lieutenant Sato kills him
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Ip Man 2
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Ip Man 2 is a 2010 Hong Kong biographical martial arts film loosely based on the life of Ip Man, a grandmaster of the martial art Wing Chun. A sequel to the 2008 film Ip Man, Ip Man 2 was directed by Wilson Yip and stars Donnie Yen, continuing after the events of the earlier film, the sequel centers on Ips movements in Hong Kong, which is under British colonial rule. He attempts to propagate his discipline of Wing Chun, but faces rivalry from other practitioners, producer Raymond Wong first announced a sequel before Ip Mans theatrical release in December 2008. For Ip Man 2, the filmmakers intended to focus on the relationship between Ip and his most famed disciple, Bruce Lee, however, they were unable to finalize film rights with Lees descendants and decided to briefly portray Lee as a child. Principal photography for Ip Man 2 began in August 2009 and concluded in November, Ip Man 2 is the second film in the Ip Man film series. It premiered in Beijing on 21 April 2010, and was released in Hong Kong on 29 April 2010, the film met with positive reviews, with particular praise for the films storytelling and Sammo Hungs martial arts choreography. The film grossed over HK$13 million on its weekend, immediately surpassing Ip Mans opening weekend gross. During its theatrical run, Ip Man 2 brought in over HK$43 million domestically, in total, Ip Man 2 grossed an estimated US$49 million worldwide. This amount does not include successful DVD sales all over United States, Asia, Wing Chun master Ip Man and his family move to Hong Kong in the mid-1940s after their escape from Japanese-occupied Foshan. There, Ip desires to open a school to propagate his art, as well as make a living during the difficult times, one day, a young man named Wong Leung appears and promptly challenges Ip to a fight, but is easily defeated. Wong leaves humiliated, only to return with some friends to gang up on him, stunned and impressed by his skills, Wong and his friends become Ips first students, bringing more disciples to help the school thrive. Wong is later caught posting promotional posters for the school by some Hung Ga students, one of them challenges Wong to a fight and loses, but his friends take Wong hostage in revenge and demand a ransom from Ip. Ip goes to the wet market as directed, but the meeting ends in a confrontation with a growing mob of Hung Ga students. Ip and Wong fight their way outside to meet Jin Shanzhao, a martial artist and former bandit, the students master and head of the coalition of Hong Kong martial arts clubs, Hung Chun-nam, arrives to break up the fight. Ip introduces himself, and Hung informs him that before setting up a school, Ip, Wong and Jin are subsequently arrested by Officer Fatso for disturbing the peace but are later released on bail. Ip attends the ceremony and defeats his first challengers, before striking a draw with the last challenger, Ip is allowed to keep running his school on the condition that he pay his monthly protection fees, but he declines. Hung thus has his students loiter in front of the Wing Chun School and harass anyone interested, Ip is thus forced to close up and move the school nearer to home. Ip soon confronts Hung, who blames him since he wouldnt pay his protection fees, Ip leaves, and the next day, Hung invites him to a British boxing match he has helped to set up, quietly coming to terms with him
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Asian Film Awards
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The Asian Film Awards are presented annually by the Hong Kong International Film Festival Society to recognize the excellence of the film professionals in the film industries of Asian cinema. On January 29,2007, Wilfred Wong, the Chairman of Hong Kong International Film Festival Society, the 1st Asian Film Awards occurred on March 20,2007, on the opening night of the 31st Hong Kong International Film Festival in Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. It honoured the best film achievements of the Asian cinema in the year 2006 and it was attended by about 4000 guests from around the world. The AFA Presentation Ceremony takes place as part of the Entertainment Expo Hong Kong Opening Gala, throughout its history and since its inauguration in 2007, Chinese-language films from China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong, and South Korean films have dominated the top awards. Films from Japan, Iran and Thailand have also won on occasion and this lack of diversity has been criticized. At the same event the AFA trophy, designed by award-winning production designer, according to William Chang, his inspiration behind the artwork was his admiration to a combination of architectural drawings and his own collection of antique statues. Measuring 36 cm, the trophy symbolises the joy and the accomplishment of all the award winners, the current trophy is gold as a whole but had changed significantly before. The first trophies that were handed in 2007 has its trophy in black with a white base, in the 2nd AFA, the current gold colour was used as whole but in 2009 for its 3rd AFA instead of a gold base, it has a black base. Then in 2010, the gold trophy had returned and now used nowadays. To be eligible, films must be feature length, be in 35mm or 70mm film format or digital format suitable for exhibition in cinemas and this encompasses all the cinemas of Asia, East Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia and West Asia. Additionally, the films must have English subtitles, each Official Submission Organisation can submit up to three films to represent their territory. The Asian Film Awards Jury is composed of professionals from around the world. Each Jury Member can recommend up to two nominations in each Category. The Society chooses the special awards to be given for a certain year and their first and original names are used in this list. Hong Kong International Film Festival Official website Asian Film Awards at IMDB 6th Asian Film Awards Rules and Regulations
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Hong Kong
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Hong Kong, officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the Peoples Republic of China, is an autonomous territory on the Pearl River Delta of East Asia. Macau lies across the delta to the west, and the Chinese province of Guangdong borders the territory to the north. With a total area of 1,106 square kilometres. Hong Kong was later occupied by Japan during World War II until British control resumed in 1945, under the principle of one country, two systems, Hong Kong maintains a separate political and economic system from China. Except in military defence and foreign affairs, Hong Kong maintains its independent executive, legislative, in addition, Hong Kong develops relations directly with foreign states and international organisations in a broad range of appropriate fields. Hong Kong is one of the worlds most significant financial centres, with the highest Financial Development Index score and consistently ranks as the worlds most competitive and freest economic entity. As the worlds 8th largest trading entity, its legal tender, Hong Kongs tertiary sector dominated economy is characterised by simple taxation with a competitive level of corporate tax and supported by its independent judiciary system. However, while Hong Kong has one of the highest per capita incomes in the world and it has a very high Human Development Index ranking and the worlds longest life expectancy. Over 90% of the population use of well-developed public transportation. Seasonal air pollution with origins from neighbouring areas of Mainland China. Hong Kong was officially recorded in the 1842 Treaty of Nanking to encompass the entirety of the island, before 1842, the name referred to a small inlet—now Aberdeen Harbour, literally means Little Hong Kong)—between Aberdeen Island and the southern coast of Hong Kong Island. Aberdeen was a point of contact between British sailors and local fishermen. Detailed and accurate romanisation systems for Cantonese were available and in use at the time, fragrance may refer to the sweet taste of the harbours fresh water estuarine influx of the Pearl River or to the incense from factories lining the coast of northern Kowloon. The incense was stored near Aberdeen Harbour for export before Hong Kong developed Victoria Harbour, the name had often been written as the single word Hongkong until the government adopted the current form in 1926. Nevertheless, a number of century-old institutions still retain the form, such as the Hongkong Post, Hongkong Electric. As of 1997, its name is the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the Peoples Republic of China. This is the title as mentioned in the Hong Kong Basic Law. Hong Kong has carried many nicknames, the most famous among those is the Pearl of the Orient, which reflected the impressive nightscape of the citys light decorations on the skyscrapers along both sides of the Victoria Harbour
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Actor
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An actor is a person who portrays a character in a performance. Simplistically speaking, the person denominated actor or actress is someone beautiful who plays important characters, the actor performs in the flesh in the traditional medium of the theatre, or in modern mediums such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is ὑποκριτής, literally one who answers, the actors interpretation of their role pertains to the role played, whether based on a real person or fictional character. Interpretation occurs even when the actor is playing themselves, as in forms of experimental performance art, or, more commonly, to act, is to create. Formerly, in societies, only men could become actors. When used for the stage, women played the roles of prepubescent boys. The etymology is a derivation from actor with ess added. However, when referring to more than one performer, of both sexes, actor is preferred as a term for male performers. Actor is also used before the name of a performer as a gender-specific term. Within the profession, the re-adoption of the term dates to the 1950–1960s. As Whoopi Goldberg put it in an interview with the paper, Im an actor – I can play anything. The U. K. performers union Equity has no policy on the use of actor or actress, an Equity spokesperson said that the union does not believe that there is a consensus on the matter and stated that the. subject divides the profession. In 2009, the Los Angeles Times stated that Actress remains the term used in major acting awards given to female recipients. However, player remains in use in the theatre, often incorporated into the name of a group or company, such as the American Players. Also, actors in improvisational theatre may be referred to as players, prior to Thespis act, Grecian stories were only expressed in song, dance, and in third person narrative. In honor of Thespis, actors are commonly called Thespians, the exclusively male actors in the theatre of ancient Greece performed in three types of drama, tragedy, comedy, and the satyr play. Western theatre developed and expanded considerably under the Romans, as the Western Roman Empire fell into decay through the 4th and 5th centuries, the seat of Roman power shifted to Constantinople and the Byzantine Empire. Records show that mime, pantomime, scenes or recitations from tragedies and comedies, dances, from the 5th century, Western Europe was plunged into a period of general disorder
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Martial arts
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Although the term martial art has become associated with the fighting arts of eastern Asia, it originally referred to the combat systems of Europe as early as the 1550s. The term is derived from Latin, and means arts of Mars, Martial arts may be categorized along a variety of criteria, including, Traditional or historical arts vs. contemporary styles of folk wrestling and modern hybrid martial arts. Such traditions include eskrima, silat, kalaripayat, kobudo, and historical European martial arts, Many Chinese martial arts also feature weapons as part of their curriculum. Similarly, modern Western martial arts and sports include fencing, stick-fighting systems like canne de combat or singlestick. Combat-oriented Health-oriented Many martial arts, especially those from Asia, also teach side disciplines which pertain to medicinal practices and this is particularly prevalent in traditional Asian martial arts which may teach bone-setting, herbalism, and other aspects of traditional medicine. Spirituality-oriented Martial arts can also be linked with religion and spirituality, numerous systems are reputed to have been founded, disseminated, or practiced by monks or nuns. Throughout Asia, meditation may be incorporated as part of training, in those countries influenced by Hindu-Buddhist philosophy, the art itself may be used as an aid to attaining enlightenment. Japanese styles, when concerning non-physical qualities of the combat, are strongly influenced by Mahayana Buddhist philosophy. Concepts like empty mind and beginners mind are recurrent, aikido, for instance, can have a strong philosophical belief of the flow of energy and peace fostering, as idealised by its founder Morihei Ueshiba. Traditional Korean martial arts place emphasis on the development of the spiritual and philosophical development. A common theme in most Korean styles, such as taekkyeon and taekwondo, is the value of peace in a practitioner. The Koreans believe that the use of force is only justified through defense. Many such martial arts incorporate music, especially strong percussive rhythms, the oldest works of art depicting scenes of battle are cave paintings from Spain dated between 10,000 and 6,000 BCE that show organized groups fighting with bows and arrows. Chinese martial arts originated during the Xia Dynasty more than 4000 years ago and it is said the Yellow Emperor Huangdi introduced the earliest fighting systems to China. The Yellow Emperor is described as a general who, before becoming Chinas leader, wrote lengthy treatises on medicine, astrology. One of his opponents was Chi You who was credited as the creator of jiao di. The foundation of modern Asian martial arts is likely a blend of early Chinese, during the Warring States period of Chinese history extensive development in martial philosophy and strategy emerged, as described by Sun Tzu in The Art of War. Legendary accounts link the origin of Shaolinquan to the spread of Buddhism from India during the early 5th century AD, with the figure of Bodhidharma, to China
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Film director
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A film director is a person who directs the making of a film. Generally, a film director controls a films artistic and dramatic aspects, the director has a key role in choosing the cast members, production design, and the creative aspects of filmmaking. Under European Union law, the director is viewed as the author of the film, the film director gives direction to the cast and crew and creates an overall vision through which a film eventually becomes realized, or noticed. Directors need to be able to mediate differences in creative visions, there are many pathways to becoming a film director. Some film directors started as screenwriters, cinematographers, film editors or actors, other film directors have attended a film school. Some outline a general plotline and let the actors dialogue, while others control every aspect. Some directors also write their own screenplays or collaborate on screenplays with long-standing writing partners, some directors edit or appear in their films, or compose the music score for their films. Film directors create a vision through which a film eventually becomes realized/noticed. Realizing this vision includes overseeing the artistic and technical elements of production, as well as directing the shooting timetable. This entails organizing the crew in such a way as to achieve their vision of the film. This requires skills of leadership, as well as the ability to maintain a singular focus even in the stressful. Moreover, it is necessary to have an eye to frame shots and to give precise feedback to cast and crew, thus. Thus the director ensures that all involved in the film production are working towards an identical vision for the completed film. The set of varying challenges he or she has to tackle has been described as a jigsaw puzzle with egos. It adds to the pressure that the success of a film can influence when, omnipresent are the boundaries of the films budget. Additionally, the director may also have to ensure an intended age rating, thus, the position of film director is widely considered to be a highly stressful and demanding one. It has been said that 20-hour days are not unusual, under European Union law, the film director is considered the author or one of the authors of a film, largely as a result of the influence of auteur theory. Auteur theory is a film criticism concept that holds that a directors film reflects the directors personal creative vision
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Martial arts film
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Martial arts film is a film genre. A subgenre of the film, martial arts films contain numerous martial arts fights between characters. They are usually the primary appeal and entertainment value, and often are a method of storytelling and character expression. Martial arts are frequently featured in training scenes and other sequences in addition to fights, martial arts films commonly include other types of action, such as hand-to-hand combats, stuntwork, chases, and gunfights. Films of the type are generally considered to be artistically superior films. One of the earliest Hollywood movies to employ the use of arts was the 1955 film Bad Day at Black Rock. Martial arts films contain many characters who are artists. Trampolines and springboards can also be used to increase the height of jumps and these techniques are sometimes used by real martial artists as well, depending on the style of action in the film. These films were widely broadcast on North American television on weekend timeslots that were often known as Kung Fu Theater, Black Belt Theater. Inclusive in this list of films are classics like The Big Boss, Drunken Master. Other notable figures in the genre include Jackie Chan, Jet Li, Sammo Hung, Yuen Biao, sonny Chiba has appeared with karate and jidaigeki from Japan of the 1970s. Hollywood has also participated in the genre with actors such as Chuck Norris, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Steven Seagal, Brandon Lee, Wesley Snipes, Gary Daniels, Mark Dacascos, and Jason Statham. In the 2000s, Thailands film industry became a force in the genre with the films of Tony Jaa. In more recent years, the Indonesian film industry has offered Merantau and The Raid, women have also played key roles in the genre, including such actresses as Michelle Yeoh, Angela Mao, and Cynthia Rothrock. Kung fu films are a significant movie genre in themselves, like westerns for Americans, they have become an identity of Chinese cinema. As the most prestigious movie type in Chinese film history, kung fu movies were among the first Chinese films produced, the wuxia period films came into vogue due to the thousands of years popularity of wuxia novels. For example, the novels of Jin Yong and Gu Long directly led to the prevalence of wuxia period films. In the Chinese-speaking world, martial arts films are divided into two subcategories, the wuxia period films, and the more modern Kung fu films
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Hong Kong action cinema
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Hong Kong action cinema is the principal source of the Hong Kong film industrys global fame. In recent years, the flow has reversed somewhat, with American and European action films being heavily influenced by Hong Kong genre conventions, the 1970s saw a resurgence in kung fu films during the rise and sudden death of international superstar Bruce Lee. The innovative work of directors and producers like Tsui Hark and John Woo introduced further variety, an exodus by many leading figures to Hollywood in the 1990s coincided with a downturn in the industry. The signature contribution to action cinema from the Chinese-speaking world is the martial arts film, the genre emerged first in Chinese popular literature. The early 20th century saw an explosion of what were called wuxia novels and these were tales of heroic, sword-wielding warriors, often featuring mystical or fantasy elements. This genre was quickly seized on by early Chinese films, particularly in the capital of the time. Starting in the 1920s, wuxia titles, often adapted from novels were hugely popular, the boom came to an end in the 1930s, caused by official opposition from cultural and political elites, especially the Kuomintang government, who saw it as promoting superstition and violent anarchy. Wuxia filmmaking was picked up in Hong Kong, at the time a British colony with a liberal economy and culture. The first martial arts film in Cantonese, the dominant Chinese spoken language of Hong Kong, was The Adorned Pavilion, the industry continued the wuxia tradition in Cantonese B movies and serials, although the more prestigious Mandarin-language cinema generally ignored the genre. A countertradition to the wuxia films emerged in the kung fu movies that were produced at this time. These movies emphasized more authentic, down-to-earth and unarmed combat over the swordplay and mysticism of wuxia. In the second half of the 1960s, the eras biggest studio, Shaw Brothers, inaugurated a new generation of films, starting with Xu Zenghongs Temple of the Red Lotus. These Mandarin productions were more lavish and in colour, their style was less fantastical and more intense, with stronger and more acrobatic violence. They were influenced by imported samurai movies from Japan and by the wave of New School wuxia novels by authors like Jin Yong and Liang Yusheng that started in the 1950s. The signature directors of the period were Chang Cheh with One-Armed Swordsman and Golden Swallow, Hu soon left Shaw Brothers to pursue his own vision of wuxia with independent productions in Taiwan, such as the enormously successful Dragon Inn. Chang stayed on and remained the Shaws prolific star director into the early 1980s, the early 1970s saw wuxia giving way to a new, grittier and more graphic iteration of the kung fu movie, which came to dominate through the decade and into the early 1980s. Seriously trained martial artists such as Ti Lung and Gordon Liu became some of the top stars as increasing proportions of running times were devoted to combat setpieces, Chinese Boxer, starring and directed by Jimmy Wang Yu, is widely credited with launching the kung fu boom. But remaining at the vanguard, at least initially, were Shaw Brothers, changs Vengeance was another of the first trendsetters and his dozens of contributions included The Boxer from Shantung, Five Deadly Venoms and Crippled Avengers
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Jackie Chan
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Chan Kong-sang, SBS, MBE, PMW, known professionally as Jackie Chan, is a Hong Kong martial artist, actor, film director, producer, stuntman, and singer. In his movies, he is known for his fighting style, comic timing, use of improvised weapons, and innovative stunts. He has trained in Kung Fu and Hapkido and he has been acting since the 1960s and has appeared in over 150 films. Chan has received stars on the Hong Kong Avenue of Stars, and he has been referenced in various pop songs, cartoons, and video games. He is a trained vocalist and is also a Cantopop and Mandopop star, having released a number of albums. He is also a notable philanthropist, in 2015, Forbes magazine estimated his net worth to be $350 million. Chan was born on 7 April 1954, in British Hong Kong, as Chan Kong-sang, to Charles and Lee-Lee Chan and his mother or parents nicknamed him Pao-pao Chinese, 炮炮 because the energetic child was always rolling around. His parents worked for the French ambassador in Hong Kong, Chan attended the Nah-Hwa Primary School on Hong Kong Island, where he failed his first year, after which his parents withdrew him from the school. In 1960, his father emigrated to Canberra, Australia, to work as the cook for the American embassy, and Chan was sent to the China Drama Academy. Chan trained rigorously for the decade, excelling in martial arts. He eventually became part of the Seven Little Fortunes, a group made up of the schools best students. Chan became close friends with group members Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao. After entering the industry, Chan along with Sammo Hung got the opportunity to train in hapkido under the grand master Jin Pal Kim. Jackie Chan also trained in other styles of arts such as Karate, Judo, Taekwondo. He began his career by appearing in roles at the age of five as a child actor. At age eight, he appeared with some of his fellow Little Fortunes in the film Big, Chan appeared with Li again the following year, in The Love Eterne and had a small role in King Hus 1966 film Come Drink with Me. In 1971, after an appearance as an extra in another kung fu film, A Touch of Zen, at seventeen, he worked as a stuntman in the Bruce Lee films Fist of Fury and Enter the Dragon under the stage name Chan Yuen Lung. He received his first starring role later that year in Little Tiger of Canton that had a release in Hong Kong in 1973
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Hong Kong New Wave
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The Hong Kong New Wave was a movement in Chinese-language cinema that emerged in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The Hong Kong New Wave started in 1979, during the 1980s, the film industry began to flourish, many Chinese households did not have a TV at the time. Film served as the source of entertainment. Many of the New Wave directors had a Western-style education and thus, were influenced by western filmmaking, the films of the New Wave, stylistically, lacked coherence, rather the term was used to make the distinction between new filmmakers and studio filmmaking. These films utilized new technology, like synchronous sound, new editing techniques, in 1984, the New Wave began to gain attention from international audiences, thus prompting what became known as the Second Wave. These directors include Stanley Kwan, Wong Kar-wai, Mabel Cheung, Alex Law, Fruit Chan, Peter Chan, Alex Cheung Tsui Hark Ann Hui Yim Ho Patrick Tam Allen Fong Dennis Yu Kirk Wong John Woo Wong Kar-wai Siu-wan Ng
25.
Jiangshi fiction
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The genre first appeared in the literature of the Qing Dynasty and the jiangshi film is a staple of the modern Hong Kong film industry. Hong Kong jiangshi films like Mr. Vampire and Encounters of the Spooky Kind follow a formula of mixing horror with comedy, derived from Chinese folklore, jiangshi fiction first appeared in the literature of the Qing Dynasty. The jiangshi is a corpse reanimated by a Taoist priest, the priest commands the jiangshi and directs it to a location for a proper burial. Jiangshi hop as they move and are able to absorb qi, the ties between jiangshi and vampires, and the English translation of jiangshi as hopping vampire, may have been a marketing ploy manufactured by Hong Kong studios eager to enter Western markets. Unlike vampires, jiangshi do not drink blood or desire immortality, fictional accounts of jiangshi were included in Qing collections of ghost stories and other supernatural tales. In Spraying Water, the animated corpse spews a liquid that kills the wife of a government official, a traveler is chased by a jiangshi in A Corpses Transmutation, which killed three of his companions. There are thirty stories of jiangshi in Zi Bu Yu, written by Yuan Mei, Qing writer Ji Xiaolan provides a detailed description of jiangshi folklore in his book Yuewei Caotang Biji. A number of films were produced before the jiangshi boom of the 1980s. The earliest concerning vampires is Midnight Vampire directed in 1936 by Yeung Kung-Leung, Vampire films were also made in the 1970s, which merged the vampires of Western horror with the martial arts of Hong Kong kung fu films. The jiangshi films of the 1980s were a departure from the Dracula-like vampires of its predecessors, cinematic portrayals of jiangshi show the corpses wearing traditional changshan garments with a talisman placed on its head that allows the Taoist priest to control the cadaver. The tropes expropriated from Western horror were fewer, but still visibly present, the cloak, a motif from Hollywoods adaptations of Dracula, appears in the jiangshi films Vampire vs Vampire and A Bite of Love. Encounters of the Spooky Kind, directed by Sammo Hung in 1980, was the first film based on the jiangshi of Chinese legends, the film is an early example of kung fu horror comedy in Hong Kong and the jiangshi of the film are played by martial artists. A sequel, Encounters of the Spooky Kind II, was directed by Ricky Lau in 1990, Mr. Vampire, directed by Ricky Lau, was the breakthrough success of the genre. The film established many of the genres recognizable tropes, the protagonist is a Taoist priest, skilled in casting magical spells and performing kung fu, who uses supernatural powers to control the undead. He is assisted by incompetent sidekicks, whose antics are a source of comic relief, in later jiangshi films, jiangshi interact and exist alongside Western vampires. In the 1989 film Vampire vs. Vampire, a Taoist priest, the jiangshi saves the priest when his spells for taming the jiangshi are fruitless against the vampire. The trope of jiangshi children, an allusion to a character in Mr. Vampire II. Jiangshi films declined in popularity around the mid-1990s, there was a brief resurgence in jiangshi and vampire films during the early 2000s
26.
Project A
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Project A is a 1983 Hong Kong martial arts action comedy film written and directed by Jackie Chan, who also starred in the film. The film co-stars Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao, the film was released in Hong Kong on December 22,1983. A sequel Project A Part II was released in 1987, set in the 19th century in old Hong Kong, Project A blends comedy moments and spectacular stunts, including set-pieces reminiscent of Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd. One stunt in particular involved Chan hanging and falling from the hand of a clock tower some 60 feet high and it was inspired by Lloyds famous clock-tower stunt from the 1923 film Safety Last. Sergeant Dragon Ma is part of the Hong Kong Marine Polices effort to suppress the pirates, members of the Hong Kong Police Force and the MP, who have a strong interservice rivalries, get into a fight in a bar. Shortly after this, Captain Chi releases all of the sailors to their commanding officer, gangsters Chiang and Mr. Chou meet at a VIP Club, and discuss fleeing to Vietnam. As soon as Chiang leaves, he one of the pirates. In the course of the conversation, the tells him that his boss, San-po. As they do not have enough ships, Dragon Ma and his squad are forced to become police officers. They have to undergo training with the police, under Captain Chis nephew. After the police learn that Chiang is at the VIP Club, and that the guests there are not to be disturbed, Dragon and Tin-tsu go to arrest Chiang, but a big fight breaks out. After tiring of the blatant corruption in the force, Dragon drags Chiang out. That is his last official act as an officer with the Hong Kong police, Fei finds Dragon in the street. They have a conversation, in which Fei reveals that someone from within the force is selling rifles. Fei tells Dragon that all he wants are the guns, at night, Dragon and Fei interrupt a gun deal between the Army and the police Captain. After pushing everyone into the water and making off with the guns, Fei hides the rifles inside a log and he later tries to sell the guns to the gangsters and pirates, but Dragon has intervened by removing the red flag and putting flags on other logs. After thwarting Feis plan to sell the rifles to the pirates, Dragon has a conversation with the Admirals daughter and he learns that the Captain wasnt smuggling rifles for San-po, he was buying the riffles from the army to arm his men. On overhearing this, Fei gets into an argument with Dragon, the gangsters come after Fei, so he tells them that Dragon is to blame for the missing rifles
27.
Stunt performer
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A stunt performer, often referred to as a stuntman, stuntwoman, or daredevil, is someone who performs dangerous stunts, often as a career. A stuntman typically performs stunts intended for use in a picture or dramatized television. Stunts seen in films and television include car crashes, falls from height, drags. There is an inherent risk in the performance of all stunt work, the most risk exists when performing stunts in front of a live audience. In filmed performances, visible safety mechanisms can be removed by editing, in live performances the audience can see more clearly if the performer is genuinely doing what they claim or appear to do. To reduce the risk of injury or death, most often stunts are choreographed or mechanically-rigged so that, while they look dangerous, despite their well-choreographed appearance, stunts are still very dangerous and physically testing exercises. From its inception as a skill in the early 1900s to the 1960s. This allows them to break down and plan an action sequence, physically prepare themselves. However, even when executed perfectly, there is still strain, daredevils are distinct from stunt performers and stunt doubles, their performance is of the stunt itself, without the context of a film or television show. Daredevils often perform for an audience, live stunt performers include escape artists, sword swallowers, glass walkers, fire eaters, trapeze artists, and many other sideshow and circus arts. They also include motorcycle display teams and the once popular Wall of Death, the Jackass films and television series are well-known and prominent recorded examples of the act in modern cinematography. Some people, such as Buster Keaton, Harry Houdini, Jackie Chan, Akshay Kumar, Pawan Kalyan, Tony Jaa, the earliest stunt performers were travelling entertainers and circus performers, particularly trained gymnasts and acrobats. This acrobatic discipline required long training in the ring and perfect body control to present a performance to the public. The word stunt was more formally adopted during the 19th century travelling vaudeville performances of the early Wild West Shows, in North America, the first and prototypical wild west show was Buffalo Bills, formed in 1883 and lasting until 1913. The shows which involved simulated battles with the firing of both guns and arrows, were a romanticized version of the American Old West. Egerton Castle and Captain Alfred Hutton were part of a wider Victorian era group based in London, by the early 1900s, the motion picture industry was starting to fire-up on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, but had no need for professional stunt performers. Firstly, motion pictures were so new that even if the producer had a budget for performers, there were more than enough applicants willing to do the scene for free. For instance, if you needed a shot of someone on a steel beam 1,000 feet up on a New York skyscraper, then there was always willing to do the scene for real
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Sanmao (comics)
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Sanmao is a manhua character created by Zhang Leping in 1935. He is one of the worlds longest running characters and remains a landmark as one of the most famous. The name Sanmao means three hairs in Chinese, while the character has undergone a number of transitions over time, he has always been drawn with the trademark three strands of hair, which implies malnutrition as a result of poverty. Most Chinese comic books prior to Sanmao featured adults and the Sanmao stories were unusual in that they lacked dialogue. When Zhang Leping created the comic series, his main goal was to dramatize the confusion brought about to society by the Second Sino-Japanese War. He wanted to express his concern for the victims of the war. Most of the changes in the characters would come after World War II during the liberation in 1949, sanmaos image has also been evolving throughout time, and in some modern continuation of the comics, he is depicted as a healthy, normal student. The character has also portrayed as living through some of the most important periods in Chinese history. The comic takes place mainly during the 1930s and early 1940s and is set in Old Shanghai in its golden era, Sanmao lived mostly in misery and stark poverty against a backdrop of war, colonization, and inflation. The character made his first appearance in manhua and was adapted into different formats. Sanmao, Classic Cartoons and Chinese Popular Culture In Asian Popular Culture edited by John A. Lent, Sanmao Saturday, Introducing Zhang Leping and His Sanmao the Orphan Comics, blog 30 Aug 2014. Sanmao Learns from Lei Feng, blog 5 March 2013, the renowned Taiwanese writer Chen Ping chose San Mao as her pen name out of her deep sympathy for the lonely, homeless boy. The Hong Kong movie star Sammo Hung Kam-Bo was given the name Sammo because of his resemblance to Sanmao. The Adventures of Sanmao the Waif, A live-action movie adaptation, Sanmao, Chinas favorite son turns 70 - China Daily Sanmao website Official Sanmao website Sammao comic strips, photos, movie clips and history AsiaObscura. com
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Cathay Organisation
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Cathay Organisation Holdings Limited is one of Singapores leisure and entertainment groups. It has the first THX cinema hall and digital cinema in Singapore, the group has operations in Singapore and Malaysia. Cathay Organisation was established on 18 July 1935 by Dato Loke Wan Tho and his mother, in 1936, the company opened its first cinema in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, the Pavilion, with 1200 seats. The year 1939 saw the landmark Cathay Building open in Singapore with the Cathay Cinema premiering Sir Alexander Kordas Four Feathers, Cathay was the countrys first air-conditioned cinema i. e. Cathay Cinema and the first skyscraper, the tallest in Southeast Asia during that time. It was the first time patrons could watch movies air-conditioned and sitting in a comfortable armchair and it was also used as a landmark by pilots as a final approach before landing. Three years later, it showed its last show and was converted into a Red Cross casualty station, after the end of war in 1945, Cathay reopened and it was Singapores first cinema to show American and British pictures as its first screening after closure. It signed a joint venture with another company to distribute films to villages and estates in Malaysia. The group installed a new air-conditioning plant in 1948 and they started to acquire many cinemas in Singapore, in 1953, Cathay-Keris Films was formed. The studio, situated in out in East Coast Road, produced its own films in the Malay and these were former barracks occupied by the Japanese and were converted into processing labs, sound studios, offices and even a canteen. That year, Cathay-Keris produced Singapores first colour film, Buloh Perindu, more than 100 films were made at Cathay Keriss studios between 1953 and 1973 including five Pontianak movies, Pontianak, Dendam Pontianak, Sumpah Pontianak, Pontianak Kembali & Pontianak Gua Musang. Sadly the first two classic Pontianak films are long lost, Dato Loke Wan Tho acquired Yung Hwa Studio in Hong Kong in 1955. In 1956, Motion Picture & General Investment Co Ltd was formed and it took over the running of Yung Hwa Studios in Hong Kong. MP & GI was later renamed Cathay Organisation, some of MP & GIs most popular stars were Ge Lan also known as Grace Chang, You Min, Lin Dai, Peter Chen Ho, Chang Yang, Betty Loh Ti, Lin Tsui and many more. In the 50s and 60s, under Dato Loke Wan Tho, Cathay Organisation produced many award-winning, today, the Cathay Classic Film Library has more than 300 Mandarin, Cantonese and Malay titles. Associated Theatres Ltd. was renamed Cathay Organisation Pte Ltd in 1959, in 1964, Dato Loke Wan Tho died in a plane crash in Taiwan. His brother-in-law Choo Kok Leong took over the chairmanship of the company, in 1965, Cathay Organisation established Singapores first public bowling centre, Jackies Bowl. Cathay Organisation, then a shareholder of Jackies Bowl, diversified into the bowling arena by acquiring the remaining shares in Jackies Bowl. The company was subsequently renamed Cathay Bowl Pte Ltd in 1995, Cathays Jurong Drive-In cinema opened on 14 July 1971 and was, at that time, the first of its kind in Singapore and Malaysia, and the largest in Asia
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Big and Little Wong Tin Bar
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Big and Little Wong Tin Bar also known as Seven Little Valiant Fighters /Two of a Kind is a 1962 Hong Kong film. The film is notable, for being Jackie Chans and Sammo Hungs film debut, until 2016, the film was considered lost. The only footage that survived before that period were a 9-minute opening clip, the film was rediscovered when a complete copy was released onto YouTube on February 3,2016. A child learns martial arts in order to become a Kung Fu warrior, yuen Lau - Played a singing kid and fights a man. Yuen Lung - Played an unknown kid and he fights someone older and then sings. Some footage of film is shown in Jackie Chan, My Story. Big and Little Wong Tin Bar was filmed Hong Kong in the Cantonese language using Black-and-white 35 mm film with the Mono audio track. List of Hong Kong films Jackie Chan filmography List of lost films Big and Little Wong Tin Bar at the Internet Movie Database Big and Little Wong Tin Bar at Hong Kong Film Archive
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Yue Fei
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Yue Fei, courtesy name Pengju, was a Han Chinese military general who lived during the Southern Song dynasty. His ancestral home was in Xiaoti, Yonghe Village, Tangyin, Xiangzhou and he was granted the posthumous name Wumu by Emperor Xiaozong in 1169, and later granted the posthumous title King of È by Emperor Ningzong in 1211. Widely seen as a patriot and national hero in China. A biography of Yue Fei, the Eguo Jintuo Zubian, was written 60 years after his death by his grandson, Yue Feis biography is found in the 365th chapter of the book and is numbered biography 124. Some later historians including Deng Guangming now doubt the veracity of many of Yue Kes claims about his grandfather. According to the History of Song, Yue Fei was named Fei, meaning to fly, because at the time he was born, a large bird like a swan landed on the roof of his house. Yue Feis second biography, is a novel titled Shuo Yue Quan Zhuan, was written by Qian Cai. A dating symbol in its preface points either to the year 1684 or to 1744 and it was banned during the reign of the Qianlong Emperor. There are two versions of this novel in existence. The original one had 80 chapters, there was an illustrated edition of this version published in 1912. The other version also had 80 chapters and was published during the reign of the Tongzhi Emperor and it is currently sold under the title General Yue Fei. Some people mistakenly take this novel to be historical fact when it is purely fiction, indeed some of the events described there are nothing more than Qian Cais own imagination. The Song Yue E Wang Nianpu was written by Qian Ruwen in 1924, several sources state that Yue was born into a poor tenant farmers family in Tangyin County, Anyang prefecture, Henan province. A few days later, a young child squeezed Yue Feis hand too hard, soon, it began to rain and the Yellow River flooded, wiping out the village. Yue Feis father held onto the clay jar as it was swept down the river, although the much older Biography of Yue Fei also mentions the flood, it states Yue Huo survived. It reads, After, would offer sacrifices at his tomb, Yue Feis father used his familys plot of land for humanitarian efforts, but after it was destroyed in the flood, the young Yue Fei was forced to help his father toil in the fields to survive. Yue received most of his education from his father. In 1122 Yue joined the army, but had to return later that year after the death of his father
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