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Chang Cheh

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Chang Cheh
Born
張易揚
(Chang Yi-yang)

(1924-01-17)17 January 1924
Died22 June 2002(2002-06-22) (aged 79)
Years active1947–1993
AwardsAsia Pacific Film Festival
1970 Best Director (Vengeance!)
Chang Yi-yang
Traditional Chinese
Simplified Chinese
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinZhāng Yìyáng
Yue: Cantonese
JyutpingZoeng1 Ji6joeng4
Chang Cheh
Traditional Chinese
Simplified Chinese
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinZhāng Chè
Yue: Cantonese
JyutpingZoeng1 Cit3

Chang Cheh (Chinese: 張徹; pinyin: Zhāng Chè; 17 January 1924 – 22 June 2002) was a Chinese filmmaker,[1] screenwriter, lyricist and producer active in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. Chang Cheh directed more than 90 films in Hong Kong and Taiwan, the majority of them with the Shaw Brothers Studio in Hong Kong. Most of his films are action films, especially wuxia and kung fu films filled with violence.

Early Life

[edit]

Born to a military family in Hangzhou and raised in Shanghai[2] Chang Cheh studied politics at the Faculty of Law of the Central University of Chongqing but dropped out to join a social education troupe.[3] After World War II ended, he attracted the notice of Chang Tao-fan a high-ranking KMT official who appointed him secretary of the Cultural Movement Committee (CMC), Shanghai. His first contact with the film industry came when he took up the cause of the "Twelve Filmmakers Collaboration Case" in which twelve Chinese filmmakers who worked for the Japanese-owned China United Film Company during the war were accused of collaborating with Japanese forces.[4] [5]

At this time, Chang ran a KMT-operated theater in Shanghai's Hongkou district and had difficulty securing films until he befriended the Liu Brothers (Liu Zhongliang and Liu Zhonghao) who ran the Jincheng Grand, now the Lyric, and Jindu Theaters. The Liu Brothers also produced films and as political tensions grew between Nationalists and socialists, Chang suggested that they movie equipment and personnel to Taiwan as a safeguard. To mask the move, they arranged to film a movie in Taiwan and Chang appointed himself its director.[6] Happenings in Ali Shan (1949) became Taiwan's first locally-produced Mandarin-language film, and the song Chang wrote for it, "Over the Green Hill", became a popular hit.[7]

After this experience, Chang caught the eye of Chiang Ching-kuo, the oldest son of President Chiang Kai-shek, and became a member of his newly-established "Chief Political Department" and through that he became an official in the only film studio in Taiwan at the time, the KMT-run Central Motion Picture Corporation. However, Chang got caught in the middle of a political struggle and when he received an invitation from the MP&GI star Helen Li Mei to come to Hong Kong and direct her film Wild Fire (1957) he leapt at the chance to escape. Li produced the film herself and wanted a younger director who collaborate with her, but because Chang was unknown in Hong Kong rumors spread that the two were having an affair, and MP&GI persuaded her to remove Chang and finish shooting the film with an assistant.[8]

After that, Chang became a movie critic writing reviews for New Life Evening Post and columns for Taiwan's United Daily News, which caught the eye of MP&GI's Stephen Soong, who recommended him for a contract as a screenwriter for the company. Chang was unhappy there and within a year he had been recommended by his bridge partner, Raymond Chow, to Shaw Brothers as a screenwriter and took a contract with Shaw Brothers that began the day his MP&GI contract ended.[9]

Early Years at Shaw Brothers

[edit]

Shaw Brothers' enormous Movietown film studio opened in 1961[10], around the same time Chang started working there, and he successfully convinced the company's head, Sir Run Run Shaw, not to soundproof the studios and instead shoot films without sound and dub them later. As a result, Chang became head of the dubbing department as well as a screenwriter.[11] In 1965 he received his first directing credit at Shaw alongside Yuan Qiu-feng for the huangmei opera movie, The Butterfly Chalice.

In 1965, Shaw Brothers' magazine, Southern Screen, published an article called "Shaw Launches Colour Wuxia Century" in which it announced seven new films that were either completed or in production, claiming, “Shaws will break with tradition...Creating a new vista for martial arts films. The fake, fantastical, and theatrical fighting and the so-called special effects of the past will be replaced by realistic action and fighting that immediately decides life or death.”[12] The films were Temple of the Red Lotus (1965) and The Twin Swords (1965), which were both supervised by Chang and starred Jimmy Wong Yu; Tiger Boy (1966), a black and white low budget film written and directed by Chang Cheh, also starring Jimmy Wong Yu; Come Drink With Me (1966) directed by King Hu and starring Cheng Pei-pei; Knight of Knights (1966) written by Chang Cheh; and One-Armed Swordsman (1967), written and directed by Chang Cheh, starring Jimmy Wong Yu, and featuring action choreography by Tong Kai and Lau Kar-leung. It became a massive hit, often heralded as the Hong Kong movie to earn one million dollars at the box office[13], although in reality that barrier had been broken by The Golden Eagle (1964) three years previously.[14] The success of One-Armed Swordsman heralded a new wave of martial arts movies at Shaw, shot in color, featuring more violent and realistic action choreography, and focusing on male, rather than female, leads who were Hong Kong's biggest box office draws at the time.[15] The other two movies in the "Colour Wuxia Century" met less auspicious fates. The Sword and the Lute was shelved for two years until 1967, and Red Maiden was never released.[16]

That same year, Chang also wrote and directed the Jimmy Wong Yu movie, The Assassin, another hit with action choreography by Lau Kar-leung and Tong Kai. Together, this team would go on to make Golden Swallow (1968) a sequel to King Hu's classic wuxia picture Come Drink With Me co-starring Cheng Pei-pei and Return of the One-Armed Swordsman (1969), both of which became box office hits.[17]

The Iron Triangle

[edit]

In late 1969/early 1970, Jimmy Wong Yu broke his contract with Shaw Brothers and the ensuing legal conflict saw him barred from making films in Hong Kong for three years.[18] Without his leading man and feeling like his movies were simply recycling previous films[19] Chang made a musical, The Singing Thief (1969), and hired its screenwriter, Chiu Kang-chien, to write Dead End (1969), a semi-experimental "youth gone wild" thriller which he believed would represent a new direction for his work. However, the movie ran afoul of local censors, and Chang felt he needed to return to wu xia films.[20]

Chang took two young actors he had been working with and successfully paired them together as action leads in Have Sword Will Travel (1969). David Chiang came from a film family and he had been working as a stuntman at Shaw. Noting his good Mandarin, Chang began giving him lines, leading to bigger roles.[21] Ti Lung had entered Shaw's Actor Training Program and after impressing Chang in a minor role in Return of the One-Armed Swordsman (1969), Chang had offered him the lead in Dead End. In 1970, Chang paired them in his movie Vengeance! which represented a new direction for him as a filmmaker. He abandoned the Qing Dynasty setting of most wu xia movies for a movie set in the early Republican era, and he abandoned wu xia swordplay for kung fu.[22] The movie was an enormous hit, and won Chang "Best Director" and David Chiang (billed as John Chiang) "Best Actor" at the 16th Asian Film Festival, the first time a Hong Kong film had won these two categories.[23]

One year later, Chang delivered another David Chiang/Ti Lung action picture set in the early Republican era, The Duel (1971), which became the second martial arts movie to be dubbed into English and receive a general release in the United States.[24] Now linked firmly in the public's mind, Chang, Ti Lung, and David Chiang became known as the "Iron Triangle"[25] and would go on to make 19 movies together[26], not counting Vengeance! and the five films they made before it.

Chang's Film Company & the Shaolin Cycle

[edit]

Around 1974, Shaw Brothers encouraged Chang to start his own production company, which he called Chang's Film Co. (in Chinese 長弓電影公司, or Longbow Film Co.). Shaw had funds in Taiwan that could not be transferred out of the country due to financial controls and they wanted Chang to use these funds to make Taiwan-based productions.[27] Shaw received all the profit from these movies, but because Chang was in charge of production he had more freedom.[28]

While checking into a hotel in Taipei, Chang ran into popular Hong Kong comedian, Michael Hui. During their conversation, Hui told Chang that Taiwanese and Hong Kong films should focus on the folklore and traditions of Southern China, including their martial arts.[29] When Chang returned to Hong Kong he met with Lau Kar-leung and Tong Kai to discuss how to make authentic Southern Chinese style martial arts movies and Lau Kar-leung suggested focusing on the legends of Shaolin Temple.

Their first Shaolin movie, Heroes Two (1974), started with the burning of Shaolin Temple and focused on the Southern Chinese folk hero, Fong Sai-yuk, played here by Alexander Fu Sheng, a charismatic 20 year old graduate of Shaw's Southern Drama School. The movie emphasized the realism of Southern Chinese martial arts styles and in theaters it was preceded by a 9-minute short film called "Three Styles of Hung School's Kung Fu" in which stars Alexander Fu Sheng, Chen Kuan-tai, and fellow Shaw's actor, Chi Kuan-chun demonstrate authentic Southern style kung fu. It was the first movie for Chang's Film Company and became a box office success. Chang had enormous confidence in Alexander Fu Sheng's potential and cast him in the youth drama Friends (1974) that same year for which he won "Best Newcomer" at the 20th Asian-Pacific Film Festival. Fu Sheng would go on to play one of the leads in all of Chang's follow-up Shaolin movies, including Men From the Monastery (1974), Shaolin Martial Arts (1974), and the epic Five Shaolin Masters, which Chang claimed drained the last of Shaw's money captured in Taiwan. It was also the first of these movies to be fully filmed in Taiwan, and because Tong Kai did not want to travel, Lau Kar-leung choreographed it with his brother, Lau Kar-wing.[30] Fu Sheng also starred in Disciples of Shaolin (1975) but during the filming of this movie Chang and Lau Kar-leung fell out over artistic differences and it would be the last movie they completed together.[31] Reportedly, Lau would work for a few days on Chang's historical epic, Marco Polo (1975), before walking off the set,[32] vowing to quit the film industry and movie to America to open his own martial arts schools. Mona Fong, Run Run Shaw's mistress and then head of production at Shaw Brothers, persuaded him to come back to Hong Kong instead and make his directorial debut, Spiritual Boxer (1975).[33]

With his films now attracting Taiwanese investors as well as Shaw's, Chang decided to shoot a World War II film, 7-Man Army (1976), set in 1933, followed by Boxer Rebellion (1976) set in 1900. With a Taiwanese distributor, Lin Chong-feng, paying $1 million Hong Kong dollars for the Taiwanese rights, at a time when the average Shaw Brothers movie was budgeted at $200,000 Hong Kong dollars, Chang rented costumes from Europe, cast Richard Harrison for a role, and convinced actress Li Li-hua to come out of retirement to play the Empress Dowager in the film.[34] For 7-Man Army, the Taiwanese military contributed troops, tanks, artillery, and aircraft for certain scenes.[35] However, Chang's association with Chiang Ching-kuo caught up with him. Chiang's close associate, General Wang Sheng, considered himself the natural successor to the presidency and didn't appreciate the return of Chang Cheh, viewed as a one-time favorite of President Chang's. He pressed for Chang to return to Hong Kong, and claimed that films like Boxer's Rebellion showing Allied forces invading China should be banned. While the film was not banned, it was cut substantially and did not perform well at the box office.[36] When the movie was released in Hong Kong, British censors forced Shaw to change its title to Spiritual Fists, and cut it further. It failed there, too.[37]

Despite the failure of the film, Chang's Taiwanese investor and distributor, Lin Chong-feng, stuck with him and offered him more money. Upon hearing of this, Run Run Shaw flew to Taiwan and offered Chang a $1 million, five-year contract to come back to Hong Kong and Shaw Studios.[38] Worried that the Taiwanese film market was going into decline, Chang accepted.

Chang often co-wrote scripts with fellow screenwriter Ni Kuang, and occasionally co-directed films with directors such as Baau Hok-li, Wu Ma and Gwai Chi-hung. He even occasionally wrote and co-wrote music for his films. In addition to his film related work, he also wrote novels, poetry and non-film related articles under numerous pseudonyms.

Chang was heavily influenced by directors Akira Kurosawa, Hideo Gosha, Sergio Leone, and Sam Peckinpah,[39][40] Cheh brought elements from these movies into his own work, revolutionizing Hong Kong filmmaking. His swordplay films of the 1960s (including One Armed Swordsman), filled with bloody scenes of the hero cutting his way through a roomful of opponents, were considered at the time by Westerners to be violent trash but are now looked back on as masterpieces of the genre.

In the early 1970s Chang began making kung fu films (including Five Shaolin Masters and Five Venoms) sometimes filming four or five movies in a single year. His earlier kung fu movies were often done in collaboration with choreographer (and future director) Lau Kar Leung, who Chang had worked with, along with choreographer Tong Gaai, on earlier films. After falling out with Lau on the set of Disciples of Shaolin, Chang started featuring a troupe of actors made up of Sun Chien, Chiang Sheng, Philip Kwok, Lo Meng, Lu Feng, Wei Pai (and Yu Tai Ping), who would come to be known as "The Venoms", as actors and choreographers in his films. His films from this period, including Five Deadly Venoms, Kid with the Golden Arm, and Crippled Avengers, feature a heavy influence from the wuxia movie genre, and are considered his most popular films in the west – not counting 1982's Five Element Ninjas, aka Chinese Superninjas.

Chang was a pioneer of what is known by some as "heroic bloodshed"; films that emphasize brotherhood, loyalty and honor, and several of his films, including Vengeance, Boxer From Shantung and Chinatown Kid, can be seen as clear influences on the later work of directors such as John Woo and Ringo Lam. His influence on future filmmakers such as Quentin Tarantino (who listed Chang as a dedicatee in the end credits of Kill Bill: Volume 2), Robert Rodriguez and Zhang Yimou is unquestionable. John Woo, who lists Cheh as his chief filmmaking inspiration, worked as assistant director on many of the master's films, including Boxer From Shantung, The Water Margin and The Blood Brothers.

As lyricist

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Chang Cheh wrote the lyrics of more than 70 Chinese songs that have appeared in his films. The theme song of his directorial debut Happenings in Ali Shan [zh] (Chinese: 阿里山的姑娘; pinyin: Ālǐ shān de gūniáng; lit. 'Alishan Range's Girls'), also known as "Gao Shan Qing" (高山青; "The High Green Mountain"), is a particularly famous song in the Sinophone world.[41]

Filmography

[edit]

Films

[edit]
Year English title Original title Director Writer Notes
1947Girl's Mask假面女郎Fang PeilinYes
1950Happenings in Ali Shan [zh]阿里山風雲YesYesco-directed with Cheung Ying; first Mandarin film entirely produced in Taiwan[41]
1951Never Separated永不分離Chu Hsin FuYes
1957Wild Fire野火YesYesco-directed with Helen Li Mei
1960Tragic Melody桃花淚Lo WeiYes
The Tender Trap of Espionage脂粉間諜網Lo WeiYes
Black Butterfly黑蝴蝶Lo WeiYes
1961Song Without Words無語問蒼天Lo WeiYes
The Girl with the Golden Arm賊美人Tang HuangYes
You Were Meant for Me遊戲人間Wong Tin-lamYes
1962It's Always Spring桃李爭春Evan YangYes
Come Rain, Come Shine野花戀Tang HuangYes
Her Pearly Tears珍珠淚Wong Tin-lamYes
1964The Amorous Lotus Pan潘金蓮Chow Sze-lokeYes
The Female Prince雙鳳奇緣Chow Sze-lokeYes
The Warlord and the Actress血濺牡丹紅Ho Meng HuaYes
1965The Mermaid魚美人Kao LiYes
The Butterfly Chalice蝴蝶盃YesYesco-directed with Yuen Chow-fung
Crocodile River鱷魚河Lo WeiYes
Inside the Forbidden City宋宮秘史Kao LiYes
Call of the Sea怒海情仇Lo WeiYes
1966Tiger Boy虎俠殲仇YesYes
The Knight of Knights文素臣Hsih ChunYes
The Magnificent Trio邊城三俠YesYes
The Perfumed Arrow女秀才Kao LiYes
1967The Trail of the Broken Blade斷腸劍YesYes
1967One-Armed Swordsman獨臂刀YesYes[42][43]
1967The Assassin大刺客YesYes[44]
1968Golden Swallow金燕子YesYes
1969The Singing Thief大盜歌王Yes
Return of the One-Armed Swordsman獨臂刀王YesYes
The Flying Dagger飛刀手Yes
The Invincible Fist鐵手無情Yes
Dead End死角Yes
Have Sword, Will Travel保鏢Yes
1970The Wandering Swordsman遊俠兒Yes
Vengeance報仇YesYes
The Heroic Ones十三太保YesYes
The Singing Killer小煞星Yes
1971King Eagle鷹王Yes
The New One-Armed Swordsman新獨臂刀Yes
The Duel大決鬥Yes
The Anonymous Heroes無名英雄Yes
Duel of Fists拳擊Yes
The Deadly Duo雙俠Yes
1972The Boxer From Shantung馬永貞YesYesco-directed with Pao Hsueh Li
Angry Guest惡客Yes
The Water Margin水滸傳YesYes
Trilogy of Swordsmanship群英會YesYesco-directed with Cheng Kang
Young People年輕人YesYes
Delightful Forest快活林YesYesco-directed with Pao Hsueh Li
Man of Iron仇連環YesYesco-directed with Pao Hsueh Li
Four Riders四騎士YesYes
1973The Delinquent憤怒青年YesYesco-directed with Kuei Chih-Hung
The Blood Brothers刺馬YesYes
The Generation Gap叛逆YesYes
Police Force警察YesYesco-directed with Tsai Yang-ming
The Pirate大海盜YesYesco-director
Iron Bodyguard大刀王五Yesco-directed with Pao Hsueh Li
1974Heroes Two方世玉與洪熙官YesYes
The Savage Five五虎將YesYes
Men from the Monastery少林子弟YesYes
Friends朋友YesYes
The Legend of the 7 Golden VampiresYesEnglish-language film, co-director
Shaolin Martial Arts洪拳與詠春YesYes
Na Cha the Great哪吒YesYes
Five Shaolin Masters少林五祖Yes
1975All Men Are Brothers蕩寇誌YesYesco-directed with Wu Ma
Disciples of Shaolin洪拳小子YesYes
The Fantastic Magic Baby紅孩兒YesYes
The Bloody Escape逃亡YesNoco-directed with Sun Chung
Marco Polo馬哥波羅YesYes
1976Boxer Rebellion八國聯軍YesYes
7-Man Army八道楼子YesYesco-director
The Shaolin Avengers方世玉與胡惠乾YesYesco-directed with Wu Ma
The New Shaolin Boxers蔡李佛小子YesYesco-directed with Wu Ma
Shaolin Temple少林寺YesYesco-directed with Wu Ma
1977The Naval Commandos海軍突擊隊Yesco-director
Magnificent Wanderers江湖漢子YesYesco-directed with Wu Ma
The Brave Archer射鵰英雄傳Yes
Chinatown Kid唐人街小子YesYes
1978The Brave Archer 2射鵰英雄傳續集Yes
Five Venoms五毒YesYes
Invincible Shaolin南少林與北少林YesYes
Crippled Avengers殘缺YesYes
1979Life Gamble生死鬥YesYes
Shaolin Rescuers街市英雄YesYes
Shaolin Daredevils雜技亡命隊YesYes
Magnificent Ruffians賣命小子YesYes
Kid with the Golden Arm金臂童YesYes
Ten Tigers from Kwangtung廣東十虎與後五虎YesYes
1980Heaven and Hell第三類打鬥YesYes
2 Champions of Shaolin少林與武當YesYes
Flag of Iron鐵旗門YesYes
The Rebel Intruders大殺四方YesYes
Legend of the Fox飛狐外傳YesYes
1981Sword Stained With Royal Blood碧血劍YesYes
Masked Avengers叉手YesYes
The Brave Archer 3射鵰英雄傳第三集YesYes
1982House of Traps冲霄樓YesYes
The Brave Archer and His Mate神鵰俠侶YesYes
Five Element Ninjas五遁忍術YesYes
Ode to Gallantry俠客行YesYes
1983The Weird Man神通術與小霸王YesYes
Attack of the Joyful Goddess撞鬼Yes
1984Death Ring擂台Yes
The Demons九子天魔Yes
Shanghai 13上海灘十三太保YesYes
1985The Dancing Warrior霹靂情Yes
1986Great Shanghai 1937大上海1937YesYes
1987Slaughter in Xian西安殺戮YesYes
Cross the River過江YesYes
1990Hidden Hero江湖奇兵YesYes
1991Go West to Subdue Demons西行平妖YesYes
1993Ninja In Ancient China神通YesYes

TV series

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In 1992, Chang produced Taiwan Television's Ma's Assassination (刺馬), which tells the same story as his 1973 film The Blood Brothers. The series is directed by Lu Feng and stars, among other actors, David Chiang.

References

[edit]
  1. Jason Buchanan (2015). "Chang Cheh". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2015-07-02.
  2. "Hong Kong Filmmakers Search" (PDF). Hong Kong Film Archive. Leisure and Cultural Services Department. Retrieved 30 August 2026.
  3. Cheh, Chang (2004). Chang Cheh, A Memoir. Hong Kong: Hong Kong Film Archive. p. 40. ISBN 962-8050-26-5.
  4. Fu, Poshek (2008). "Japanese Occupation, Shanghai Exiles, and Postwar Hong Kong Cinema". The China Quarterly. 1 (194): 380–394. doi:10.1017/S030574100800043X. JSTOR 20192203. Retrieved 30 August 2026.
  5. Cheh, Chang (2004). Chang Cheh, A Memoir. Hong Kong: Hong Kong Film Archive. p. 42. ISBN 962-8050-26-5.
  6. Huang, Ren (1982). "Chang Cheh's Directing Path". Modern Screen (138).
  7. "Hong Kong Filmmakers Search" (PDF). Hong Kong Film Archive. Leisure and Cultural Services Department. Retrieved 30 August 2026.
  8. Cheh, Chang (2004). Chang Cheh, A Memoir. Hong Kong: Hong Kong Film Archive. p. 47. ISBN 962-8050-26-5.
  9. Cheh, Chang (2004). Chang Cheh, A Memoir. Hong Kong: Hong Kong Film Archive. p. 50. ISBN 962-8050-26-5.
  10. "About Shaw". Shaw Theaters. Shaw Organization. Retrieved 31 August 2026.
  11. Cheh, Chang (2004). Chang Cheh, A Memoir. Hong Kong: Hong Kong Film Archive. p. 54. ISBN 962-8050-26-5.
  12. "Shaws Launches Colour Wuxia Century". Southern Screen (92). 1965.
  13. Kouf, Will. "One-Armed Swordsman Review". Shaw Brothers Universe. Retrieved 31 August 2026.
  14. Ho, Sam (2003). The Shaw Screen: A Preliminary Study. Hong Kong Film Archive. p. 124. ISBN 962-8050-21-4.
  15. Hendrix, Grady (2025). These Fists Break Bricks. Running Press. p. 23. ISBN 978-0762489480. Retrieved 31 August 2026.
  16. Law, Kar (2003). The Shaw Screen: A Preliminary Study. Hong Kong Film Archive. pp. 129–143. ISBN 962-8050-21-4. Retrieved 31 August 2026.
  17. "Hong Kong Film Archive Entry "Golden Swallow"". LCSD Museums Search Portal. Leisure and Cultural Services Division, Hong Kong. Retrieved 31 August 2026.
  18. Hendrix, Grady. "Jimmy Wong Yu Interview". Kaiju Shakedown. Film Comment. Retrieved 1 September 2026.
  19. Cheh, Chang (2004). Chang Cheh, A Memoir. Hong Kong: Hong Kong Film Archive. p. 87. ISBN 962-8050-26-5.
  20. Cheh, Chang (2004). Chang Cheh, A Memoir. Hong Kong: Hong Kong Film Archive. p. 87. ISBN 962-8050-26-5.
  21. Bettinson, Gary. "Act of Vengeance: An Interview with David Chiang". Academia.edu. Retrieved 1 September 2026.
  22. The Making of Martial Arts Films - As Told By Filmmakers and Stars. Hong Kong Film Archive. 1999. pp. 22–23. ISBN 962-8050-06-0. Retrieved 1 September 2026.
  23. Cheh, Chang (2004). Chang Cheh, A Memoir. Hong Kong: Hong Kong Film Archive. p. 88. ISBN 962-8050-26-5.
  24. Hendrix, Grady (2025). These Fists Break Bricks. Running Press. p. 48-51. ISBN 978-0762489480. Retrieved 31 August 2026.
  25. Bankston, Brian. "The Cinema of Excess: Chang Cheh and His Films Part 6". Coolass Cinema. Retrieved 1 September 2026.
  26. "Chang Cheh Filmography". Hong Kong Movie Database. Retrieved 1 September 2026.
  27. Assayas, Olivier (1984). "Interview with Lau Kar-leung:The Last Shaolin". Les Cahiers du Cinema (362–363).
  28. Cheh, Chang (2004). Chang Cheh, A Memoir. Hong Kong: Hong Kong Film Archive. p. 68. ISBN 962-8050-26-5.
  29. Havis, Richard James. "How Chang Cheh got the inspiration for a twist on the kung fu genre". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 1 September 2026.
  30. Assayas, Olivier (1984). "Interview with Lau Kar-leung:The Last Shaolin". Les Cahiers du Cinema (362–363).
  31. Li, Cheuk-to (2006). A Tribute to Action Choreographers. Hong Kong International Film Festival Society. p. 61. ISBN 988-97966-7-8.
  32. "Marco Polo review". Silver Emulsion Film Reviews. Retrieved 2 September 2026.
  33. Assayas, Olivier (1984). "Interview with Lau Kar-leung:The Last Shaolin". Les Cahiers du Cinema (362–363).
  34. Cheh, Chang (2004). Chang Cheh, A Memoir. Hong Kong: Hong Kong Film Archive. p. 71. ISBN 962-8050-26-5.
  35. Cheh, Chang (2004). Chang Cheh, A Memoir. Hong Kong: Hong Kong Film Archive. p. 209. ISBN 962-8050-26-5.
  36. Cheh, Chang (2004). Chang Cheh, A Memoir. Hong Kong: Hong Kong Film Archive. p. 73. ISBN 962-8050-26-5.
  37. "Boxer Rebellion review". Silver Emulsion Film Reviews. Retrieved 2 September 2026. {{cite web}}: Check |url= value (help)
  38. Bankston, Brian. "Duel of the Independent Film Companies: Part 4". Coolass Cinema. Retrieved 2 September 2026.
  39. "香港電影資料館 - 張徹──回憶錄‧影評集 - 張徹電影的陽剛武力革命──代序二". www.lcsd.gov.hk. Archived from the original on 2016-09-16. Retrieved 2016-07-04.
  40. "Honouring Master Cheh - Film - www.theage.com.au". www.theage.com.au. 20 July 2004. Retrieved 2016-07-04.
  41. 1 2 Han Cheung (9 February 2025). "Taiwan in Time: The accidental birth of Mando-cinema in Taiwan". Taipei Times. Retrieved 9 February 2025.
  42. "Hong Kong Director and Martial Arts Master Lau Kar-leung Dies at 76". hollywoodreporter.com. June 25, 2013. Retrieved October 14, 2020.
  43. Cremin, Stephen (January 27, 2011). "Horse announces greatest Chinese films". filmbiz.asia. Archived from the original on 14 March 2011. Retrieved June 7, 2021.
  44. "The Assassin (1967)". asiasociety.org. 1967. Retrieved June 7, 2021.

Further reading

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