Stealing a Roast Duck

Stealing a Roast Duck
Directed byLiang Shaobo
Starring
Production
companies
Asia Film and Theater Company
Release date
  • 1909 (1909)
CountryHong Kong
LanguageNo Spoken Language

Stealing a Roast Duck (Chinese: 偷燒鴨; pinyin: Tōu shāo yā; Jyutping: Tau1 siu1ap3) is a silent short directed by Liang Shao-Bo in 1909; it is considered the first film from Hong Kong. The film stars Lai Pak-hoi in a lead role, while Shao-Bo stars as the eponymous duck thief.[1] Due to the Japanese destroying film to make bombs with nitrate, no copy of the film is extant; there has been doubt whether the film even actually existed.[2] There are also signs that the film was shown in 1917 in Los Angeles, which would make it the earliest Chinese film with a foreign release.[3][4][5]

  1. ^ "Liang Shaopo and《Stealing a Roast Duck》(1909)". The Chinese Mirror. December 2008. Retrieved 12 September 2017.
  2. ^ Scott, Matthew (5 March 2009). "Quest for the long-lost roast duck". The Guardian. Guardian News and Media Limited. Retrieved 12 September 2017.
  3. ^ Yu, Poshek; Desser, David (25 March 2012). The Cinema of Hong Kong: History, Arts, Identity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 45–46. ISBN 9780521776028.
  4. ^ Kar, Law; Bren, Frank; Ho, Sam (2004). Hong Kong Cinema: A Cross-cultural View. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press. p. 37. ISBN 9780810849860.
  5. ^ Aitiken, Ian (17 March 2014). Hong Kong Documentary Film. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. p. 22. ISBN 9780748664726.