| A Touch of Zen | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Film poster | |||||||
| Chinese name | |||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 俠女 | ||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 侠女 | ||||||
| Literal meaning | Chivalrous woman | ||||||
| |||||||
| Directed by | King Hu | ||||||
| Written by | King Hu | ||||||
| Produced by | Hsia Wu Ling-fung | ||||||
| Starring | Hsu Feng Shih Chun Pai Ying Roy Chiao | ||||||
| Cinematography | Hua Hui-ying | ||||||
| Edited by | King Hu Wing Chin-chen | ||||||
| Music by | Wu Ta-chiang Lo Ming-tao | ||||||
Production companies | Union Film International Film Production | ||||||
| Distributed by | Union Film | ||||||
Release date |
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Running time | 180 minutes | ||||||
| Countries | Taiwan[1] Hong Kong[2] | ||||||
| Language | Mandarin | ||||||
| Box office | HK$678,321 (Hong Kong) | ||||||
A Touch of Zen (Chinese: 俠女; pinyin: Xiá Nǚ; lit. 'Chivalrous woman') is a 1971 wuxia film written, co-edited and directed by King Hu. Its screenplay is based on a classic Chinese story "Xianü" in the book Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio by Pu Songling. The film is set in the Ming dynasty under the dominance of eunuchs and explores a variety of themes including the transcendence of dichotomies, Zen Buddhism, feminism, conservative female roles, and the ghost story.
The film was produced in Taiwan and funded by the Union Film Company. Because the director Hu was a filmmaker in the Shaw Brothers Studio before moving to Taiwan, the emergence of the film established the international visibility of the Hong Kong New Wave. At the 1975 Cannes Film Festival, the film was nominated for the Palme d'Or and won the Technical Grand Prize award, the second-ever Chinese-language film to win an award at the festival.
Although filming began in 1968, A Touch of Zen was not completed until 1971. The original Taiwanese release was in two parts in 1970 and 1971 (filming was still ongoing when the first part was released) with the bamboo forest sequence that concludes Part 1 reprised at the beginning of Part 2; this version has a combined runtime of 200 minutes. In November 1971, both parts of the film were combined into one for the Hong Kong market with a runtime of 187 minutes.[3]
- ^ "A Touch of Zen (1969)". BFI. Retrieved 23 November 2023.
- ^ "King Hu's A Touch of Zen: one of the greatest films ever made". South China Morning Post. 9 February 2020. Retrieved 23 November 2023.
- ^ Teo, Stephen (2007). King Hu's A Touch of Zen. Hong Kong University Press. p. 8. ISBN 978-962-209-815-2.