|
Seven Swords
''Seven Swords'' is a 2005 ''wuxia'' film produced and directed by Tsui Hark, starring Donnie Yen, Leon Lai, Charlie Yeung, Sun Honglei, Lu Yi and Kim So-yeon. An international co-production between Hong Kong, China, South Korea and the Netherlands, the story is loosely adapted from Liang Yusheng's novel '' Qijian Xia Tianshan'' and is completely unrelated to the novel except for some characters' names. ''Seven Swords'' was used as the opening film to the 2005 Venice Film Festival and as a homage to Akira Kurosawa's 1954 film ''Seven Samurai''. Plot In the mid-17th century, the Manchus conquer the territories of the former Ming Empire in China and establish the Qing Empire. When anti-Qing sentiments start brewing within the ''wulin'' (martial artists' community), the Qing government immediately imposes a law forbidding the common people from practising martial arts. The warlord Fire-Wind sees the new law as an opportunity to make a fortune so he offers to help the Qing governme ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tsui Hark
Tsui Hark (, , born 15 February 1950), born Tsui Man-kong (), is a Hong Kong filmmaker. A major director in the Golden Age of Cinema of Hong Kong, Hong Kong cinema, Tsui gained critical and commercial success with films such as ''Zu Warriors from the Magic Mountain'' (1983), the Once Upon a Time in China (film series), ''Once Upon a Time in China'' film series (1991–1997), Green Snake (1993 film), ''Green Snake'' (1993), ''The Lovers (1994 film), The Lovers'' (1994), and ''The Blade (film), The Blade'' (1995). His credits as a writer and producer include ''A Better Tomorrow'' (1986), ''A Chinese Ghost Story'' (1987), ''The Killer (1989 film), The Killer'' (1989), ''Swordsman II'' (1992), ''New Dragon Gate Inn'' (1992), ''The Wicked City (1992 film), The Wicked City'' (1992), ''Iron Monkey (1993 film), Iron Monkey'' (1993), and ''Black Mask (film), Black Mask'' (1996). Amid the Handover of Hong Kong, Hong Kong handover, Tsui briefly pursued a career in the United States, directi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Venice Film Festival
The Venice Film Festival or Venice International Film Festival (, "International Exhibition of Cinematographic Art of the Venice Biennale") is an annual film festival held in Venice, Italy. It is the world's oldest film festival and one of the "Big Five" International film festivals worldwide, which include the Film festival#Notable festivals, Big Three European Film Festivals (Venice, Cannes, Berlin), alongside the Toronto International Film Festival in Canada and the Sundance Film Festival in the United States. In 1951, FIAPF formally accredited the festival. Founded by Giuseppe Volpi, member of the National Fascist Party and grandfather of producer Marina Cicogna, in Venice in August 1932, the festival is part of the Venice Biennale, one of the world's oldest exhibitions of art, created by the Venice City Council on 19 April 1893. The range of work at the Venice Biennale now covers Italian and international art, architecture, dance, music, theatre, and cinema. These works ar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Xinjiang
Xinjiang,; , SASM/GNC romanization, SASM/GNC: Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Sinkiang, officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the China, People's Republic of China (PRC), located in the Northwest China, northwest of the country at the crossroads of Central Asia and East Asia. Being the List of Chinese administrative divisions by area, largest province-level division of China by area and the List of the largest country subdivisions by area, 8th-largest country subdivision in the world, Xinjiang spans over and has about 25 million inhabitants. Xinjiang Borders of China, borders the countries of Afghanistan, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Pakistan, Russia, and Tajikistan. The rugged Karakoram, Kunlun Mountains, Kunlun and Tian Shan mountain ranges occupy much of Xinjiang's borders, as well as its western and southern regions. The Aksai Chin and Trans-Karakoram Tract regions ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chi Kuan-chun
Chi Kuan-Chun (born June 14, 1949), also known as Chik Goon-Gwan, is a Hong Kong–based Chinese actor, martial artist, and Hung Ga practitioner. He is best known for playing Shaolin rebel Hu Huei Chien (Hu Hui Gan) in several martial arts films in the 1970s. He also co-starred with Alexander Fu in many films at that time. Life and career Born as Wu Dong-Wai in Guangdong, China, Chi went to Hong Kong with his family at early age. He graduated from Sam Yuk Middle School and took acting course at the Cathay Studio in 1968. After winning first place at the "Manhood Competition" held by the Chiang Jiang Film Company, Chi signed with Chang’s Film Company, a division of the Shaw Brothers. His acting debut was Chang Cheh's ''Men From The Monastery'', and had since appeared in many of Chang's later films, including ''Shaolin Martial Arts'', ''Disciples Of Shaolin'', '' The Shaolin Avengers'' and '' Magnificent Wanderers''. After completing his contract with Chang Cheh in 1976, Chi fou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Michael Wong (actor)
Michael Fitzgerald Wong Wong Man-tak (; born 16 April 1965) is a Chinese-American actor based in Hong Kong. He is fluent in English language, English, but not in Chinese language, Chinese, which is reflected in many of the characters he has portrayed. His most notable film is the 1998 film ''Beast Cops (film), Beast Cops'' which won a Hong Kong Film Award with Wong in the lead role. As of 2004, he has appeared in over fifty films in twenty-one years, often in very minor roles. Early life Michael Wong was born and raised in Troy, New York, the son of restaurateur, William Wong, and an American artist of Dutch and French descent, Connie Van Yserloo (d. 2024). His brothers, Russell Wong and Declan Wong, would also become actors in the Hong Kong film industry. After finishing high school, he left to go to Hong Kong to try his luck in acting. There were a number of significant factors against Wong's eventual success in the Hong Kong film industry including an inability to speak ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zhang Jingchu
Zhang Jingchu (, born 2 February 1980) is a Chinese actress. She first gained recognition for the film ''Peacock'' (2005), which won the Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize at the Berlin International Film Festival. Zhang is also known for her roles in the films ''Protégé'' (2007), '' Red River'' (2009), and ''Aftershock'' (2010). Early life Zhang was born on 2 February 1980 in Fujian, China. Zhang was brought up in a middle-class family in the countryside. Education Zhang studied English in Beijing New Oriental Institute, a private language educational school in Beijing, China. Zhang graduated in Directing from Central Academy of Drama in Beijing, China. In March 2023, she was admitted to the Master of Fine Arts programme at the American Film Institute. Career Zhang's acting career began in both film and television in 2000. In 2005, she transitioned into an international films. Zhang came into international prominence through director Gu Changwei's debut film ''Peacock'', ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Duncan Chow
Duncan Chow (; born Duncan Lai (黎登勤), September 19, 1978) is a Hong Kong-born actor who is popular in Taiwan. Chow was originally a professional windsurfer and a fashion show model, but chose acting as a career in 2001. He rose to fame by starring in 2004's Taiwanese Hit Movie " Formula 17", a comedy film about homosexuality. Early life Chow was born in Cheung Chau, Hong Kong. His father, Lai Gun, who is one of the first windies in Hong Kong, taught him windsurfing and also established Cheung Chau Windsurfing Center, a famous destination for many lovers of windsurfing. Duncan is the cousin of former Hong Kong olympian Lee Lai Shan. He was former Hong Kong Windsurfing Team member, won the 1998 Asian Windsurfing Championships. He began his acting career at the age of 14 as the adolescent version of Bruce Lee in a tribute film called '' Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story'' in 1993. His scene appeared at the very beginning of the movie. At the age of 15, Chow went to New Zealand to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lau Kar-leung
Lau Kar-leung (; born 28 July 1934 – 25 June 2013) was a Hongkongers, Hong Kong Martial art, martial artist, filmmaker, Stage combat, fight choreographer and actor. He is best known for the films he made in the 1970s and 1980s for the Shaw Brothers Studio, notably those starring Gordon Liu. He is considered one of the most influential figures in the history of Martial arts film, martial arts cinema. In many of his best-known films, Lau was credited as Liu Chia-liang, the Mandarin Chinese, Mandarin spelling of his name. He was part of a lineage of Hung Ga practitioners originating from Wong Fei-hung. Early life Lau was born in Guangzhou, Guangdong, Guangdong Province in 1934. He had a younger brother, Lau Kar-wing, Kar-wing, also a prominent martial arts actor and filmmaker. Lau began learning kung fu when he was nine years old, under strict tutelage from his father, Lau Cham. The elder Lau was a well-known practitioner of the Wong Fei-hung lineage of Hung Ga, as a discipl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tian Shan
The Tian Shan, also known as the Tengri Tagh or Tengir-Too, meaning the "Mountains of God/Heaven", is a large system of mountain ranges in Central Asia. The highest peak is Jengish Chokusu at high and located in Kyrgyzstan. Its lowest point is at the Turpan Depression, which is below sea level. The Tian Shan is sacred in Tengrism. Its second-highest peak is known as Khan Tengri, which can be translated as "Lord of the Spirits". At the 2013 Conference on World Heritage, the eastern portion of Tian Shan in western China's Xinjiang Region was listed as a World Heritage Site. The western portion in Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan was then listed in 2016. Geography Tian Shan with the ancient Silk Road The Tian Shan range is located north and west of the Taklamakan Desert and directly north of the Tarim Basin. It straddles the border regions of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Xinjiang in Northwest China. To the south, it connects with the Pamir Mountains ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Warlord
Warlords are individuals who exercise military, Economy, economic, and Politics, political control over a region, often one State collapse, without a strong central or national government, typically through informal control over Militia, local armed forces. Warlords have existed throughout much of history, albeit in a variety of different capacities within the political, economic, and social structure of State (polity), states or Anarchy, ungoverned territories. The term is often applied in the context of China around the end of the Qing dynasty, especially during the Warlord Era. The term may also be used for a General officer, supreme military leader. Historical origins and etymology The first appearance of the word "warlord" dates to 1856, when used by American philosopher and poet Ralph Waldo Emerson in a highly critical essay on the aristocracy in England, "Piracy and war gave place to trade, politics and letters; the war-lords'' to the law-lord; the privilege was kept, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Qing Dynasty
The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the Ming dynasty and succeeded by the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic of China. At its height of power, the empire stretched from the Sea of Japan in the east to the Pamir Mountains in the west, and from the Mongolian Plateau in the north to the South China Sea in the south. Originally emerging from the Later Jin (1616–1636), Later Jin dynasty founded in 1616 and proclaimed in Shenyang in 1636, the dynasty seized control of the Ming capital Beijing and North China in 1644, traditionally considered the start of the dynasty's rule. The dynasty lasted until the Xinhai Revolution of October 1911 led to the abdication of the last emperor in February 1912. The multi-ethnic Qing dynasty Legacy of the Qing dynasty, assembled the territoria ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ming Dynasty
The Ming dynasty, officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming was the last imperial dynasty of China ruled by the Han people, the majority ethnic group in China. Although the primary capital of Beijing fell in 1644 to a rebellion led by Li Zicheng (who established the short-lived Shun dynasty), numerous rump state, rump regimes ruled by remnants of the House of Zhu, Ming imperial family, collectively called the Southern Ming, survived until 1662. The Ming dynasty's founder, the Hongwu Emperor (1368–1398), attempted to create a society of self-sufficient rural communities ordered in a rigid, immobile system that would guarantee and support a permanent class of soldiers for his dynasty: the empire's standing army exceeded one million troops and the naval history of China, navy's dockyards in Nanjing were the largest in the world. H ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
