The Emperor and the Assassin

The Emperor and the Assassin
DVD release cover
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese荊軻刺秦王
Simplified Chinese荆轲刺秦王
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinJīng Kē Cì Qín Wáng
Directed byChen Kaige
Written by
  • Chen Kaige
  • Wang Peigong
Produced by
  • Han Sanping
  • Chen Kaige
  • Kadokawa Tsuguhiko
  • Furukawa Hiromitsu
Starring
Cinematography
Edited byZhou Xinxia
Music byZhao Jiping
Production
companies
Distributed by
Release date
  • 8 October 1998 (1998-10-08)
Running time
162 minutes
CountryChina
LanguageMandarin

The Emperor and the Assassin (Chinese: 荊軻刺秦王; pinyin: Jīngkē cì qínwáng; lit. 'Jing Ke Assassinates the King of Qin'), also known as The First Emperor, is a 1998–1999 Chinese historical romance film based primarily on Jing Ke's assassination attempt on the King of Qin, as described in Sima Qian's Records of the Grand Historian. The film was directed by Chen Kaige and stars Gong Li, Zhang Fengyi, Li Xuejian, and Zhou Xun. The film was well received critically and won the Technical Prize at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival.[1] It was the most expensive Chinese film made up to that time, costing US$20 million.[2]

  1. ^ "China's Festival Winners". Variety. 17 May 2005. Retrieved 12 November 2008.
  2. ^ Yang, Jeff Once Upon a Time in China (Atria, 2003) p.204