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In 1960s, the new martial arts films represented by Hu Jinquan and Zhang Che led the Hong Kong film industry into a golden age. From 1960 to 1967, the output of Hong Kong films even surpassed that of Hollywood, and the number of local movie-goers alone reached 100 million, setting a historical record. Among them, action films including martial arts films, kung fu films and gun battles have made the most important contributions. For many audiences in that period, Hong Kong movies were almost equivalent to action movies. To this day, Hong Kong action movies still have a profound impact on the global film industry. Quentin Talentino, Wachowski and other directors have paid tribute to Hong Kong action movies in their films.
Against the backdrop of swords and bullets, Jet Li and Jackie Chan became international movie stars. At the same time, actresses have more or less participated in action movies, but few of them really became famous for action movies and can be called "beating women". Looking at the international film industry, "beating women" is also an alternative rose.
With the changes of the times and the development of science and technology, the status of beating women on the screen is getting higher and higher. In addition to better kung fu, their images and personalities are also fuller. They are no longer the foil of men in action movies, and feminist consciousness gradually stretches in one stroke and one style, becoming a symbol of women’s rising status.
Everyone in Hong Kong knows me.
Hunan Satellite TV once broadcast a reality show in which Pei-Pei Cheng traveled in Europe with several mainland stars. Singer Hua Chenyu was at a loss when he was surrounded by fans. Pei-Pei Cheng comforted him: "I was once very popular, and people all over Hong Kong knew me." What Pei-Pei Cheng said is true. She was once rated as the "martial arts queen" by the Hong Kong media and became popular all over Southeast Asia. Even if I went to the United States after taking a photo, there are still almost no people in Chinatown who don’t know.
Today’s TV viewers are often shocked by Pei-Pei Cheng’s beauty when they search for old photos on the Internet. Young Pei-Pei Cheng, with beautiful facial features, has a faint heroic spirit, which is somewhat similar to later Brigitte Lin. In 1963, 17-year-old Pei-Pei Cheng was admitted to the second phase of Southland Experimental Troupe of Shaw Film Company. After graduation, she became one of the "Twelve Golden Hairpins in Cinema" advocated by Shaw, and Pan Yingzi was in the same period with her. Two years later, she entered the ranks of "New Twelve Golden Hairpins".

At that time, Hong Kong films were popular, and Pei-Pei Cheng’s first screen image was disguised as a man in Lotus Lantern. In 1964, the artistic film "The Lover’s Stone" made Pei-Pei Cheng famous at one fell swoop. Her youthful and lively image in the film fascinated many audiences, and she won the "Golden Warrior Award" of the International independent filmmakers Association, which was the first time that an Asian won the award. But it will be two years before Pei-Pei Cheng really stands out in Shaw Beauty Camp.

Pei-Pei Cheng, who studied ballet as a child, is known as "long-legged sister". Hu Jinquan took a fancy to her dancing skills and invited her to star in come drink with me, the pioneering work of Hong Kong’s new martial arts film. Dance and martial arts, which sound similar, are totally different. Golden swallow, played by Pei-Pei Cheng, makes two short swords clean and beautiful in the film, but there are obvious traces of ballet. Wushu pays attention to the stability of the chassis, while ballet stretches upward. In a scene of fighting in a temple, Pei-Pei Cheng slightly raises his chin among a group of bandits, like a lonely cygnet. When I was in the Southern China Experimental Troupe, the company hired a martial arts teacher to teach them martial arts. Many girls cried because their noses were bleeding, which made the competitive Pei-Pei Cheng look down on them and felt that she had lost the face of the girls. "Being able to bear hardships" was another important reason why Hu Jinquan chose her.
Elliot Ngok, come drink with me, and Chen Honglie, Jade-faced Tiger, who partnered with Pei-Pei Cheng in come drink with me, are the third-stage students of the Southern China Experimental Troupe. When they entered the school, they were just in time for the second stage students to rehearse the graduation drama "Xiang Fei", and Pei-Pei Cheng played the heroine Xiang Fei. They stood beside Gan Long as a walk-on. Pan Yingzi played golden swallow’s unknown female soldier in come drink with me, and Cheng Xiaodong, who later became a famous action film director, was only 12 years old. She was dragged to play a nameless young monk on the set with her father, and was shot blind as soon as she appeared.
In 1966, come drink with me achieved unprecedented success after its release. The protagonist of this play should have been "come drink with me" Elliot Ngok, but it was "golden swallow" Pei-Pei Cheng who stole the limelight and established her position as the leading actress of Shaw. Shaw pursued the victory and Zhang Che filmed another martial arts drama "golden swallow". Pei-Pei Cheng had long heard about Zhang Che’s love of shooting male-dominated films, and refused to accept his play at first. Zhang Che spent a lot of time convincing her that she was the real heroine. However, when the film was made, the play was still on the hero "Yin Peng" Wang Yu. Pei-Pei Cheng’s martial arts action in this play is not much, but his emotional play is brilliant.
"Hu Jinquan will let you play it 100 times."

At the same time as Pei-Pei Cheng, there were Lingfeng ShangGuan and Feng Hsu. The name Lingfeng ShangGuan, at first glance, is a woman, but it is not her real name. She was born in Taiwan Province, whose original name was Xu Zhimei, and was chosen by Hu Jinquan because of her dance foundation. In the 1967 film Longmen Inn, she played Zhu Hui, a chivalrous woman disguised as a man. This is another classic in a martial arts film. More than 20 years later, the New Longmen Inn directed by Tsui Hark was also a great success. Qiu Mo Yan played by Brigitte Lin can be said to have developed from Zhu Hui. With the popularity of Longmen Inn, Lingfeng ShangGuan began to learn martial arts from his teacher. Taekwondo, karate and Taijiquan were all involved, and they became the rare movie stars with "real kung fu" at that time. In 1973, Lingfeng ShangGuan became the first "martial arts queen" of the Golden Horse Award for starring in the fashion martial arts film "Little Hero on the Road". After the film in 1981, she taught Taekwondo in America.

Hu Jinquan was very harsh on the actors’ performances. When filming Longmen Inn, he often scolded Lingfeng ShangGuan on the set. Feng Hsu plays a small role without a straight face in this play. He just needs to run around behind the protagonist, feeling glad that he is not the leading role, and need not be scolded. And the opportunity to star will come soon. Feng Hsu suffered a lot in her childhood, and her father died early. After her mother remarried, her stepfather treated her badly, resulting in her melancholy and introverted personality. Hu Jinquan thought she was particularly suitable for playing Zhongliang, whose life experience was bleak. In 1970, she was asked to be the heroine in Xia Nv. In the 200-minute film, she hardly laughed. "The first scene of the boot was that I fought with more than 40 martial artists. As a result, he scolded me in front of more than 100 reporters. It was a very cold winter, and my hair was dripping with water after filming. It’s too easy to shoot another director after filming director Hu’s play, because director Hu will let you play it 100 times, while other directors will pass it once. " Years later, Feng Hsu recalled.
Due to Hu Jinquan’s persistent pursuit of film quality, Xia Nv was filmed for more than 4 years. At that time, there was no high technology, and the performance of lightness skill mainly depended on the spring bed, and the actors had to keep practicing back and forth. Unless it’s particularly dangerous, Hu Jinquan always asks the actors to go into battle in person. The bamboo forest war in "Xia Nv" has become an eternal classic in martial arts films, and it has appeared frequently in subsequent martial arts films. The film later went to Cannes, France to participate in the film festival and became famous internationally. After winning two golden horse movies, Xu Feng turned behind the scenes and set up Tomson Film Company. She was the producer of films such as Rolling Red Dust and Farewell My Concubine. Feng Hsu called Hu Jinquan an enlightenment teacher, and playing "Beating Women" became a turning point in her fate.
In the 1960s and 1970s, Hong Kong was in a period of rapid economic development, and a large number of well-educated female white-collar workers showed their edge in the workplace. The "beating women" on the screen did not let a man, not only with great kung fu, but also with chivalry and bravery, which coincided with the social psychology at that time to some extent, and thus succeeded.

The younger generation has a chance to get ahead, which is related to Pei-Pei Cheng’s early retirement. In 1971, after filming Lady Zhong Kui, Pei-Pei Cheng, who was only 24 years old, "quit the Wulin" and married in the United States, leading a normal life of caring for her husband and educating her children. For the female movie stars of that era, it was a common choice to get married and take a rest. In 1989, Pei-Pei Cheng’s marriage failed, and three years later, she returned to Hong Kong. Twenty years have passed, and the film industry is completely different. Stephen Chow is the hottest star. Pei-Pei Cheng was introduced to play Mrs Hua in Stephen Chow’s film "Tong Pak Hu Dian Qiu Xiang", which was also "beating women", but this time she was in charge of making jokes. Most of the funny tasks in the original film fall on Chou-heung played by Gong Li, but Gong Li can’t adapt to Stephen Chow’s funny way, but Pei-Pei Cheng is willing to put down his body and eat "half a step with a smile". Director Li Hanxiang felt sorry for her: "The role of Mrs. Hua ruined Pei-Pei Cheng."
In Ang Lee’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Pei-Pei Cheng’s image is subverted again, and she plays a ruthless "blue-eyed fox". In the film, the blue-eyed fox has a classic line, "He looks down on women, so he deserves to die", which makes many male viewers feel worried. This time, what women want is not love, but respect. The old fans in Hong Kong are still obsessed with her once pretty face, while the new audience in the mainland are only amazed at the sharpness and determination in her eyes. From golden swallow to the blue-eyed fox, the beauty is getting old and the kung fu is still there.
This article is adapted from the National Humanities History in May 2014, with the original title "Exploring Bagua Palm from a Generation of Masters". This article is an exclusive contribution of National Humanities History, and readers are welcome to forward it to their circle of friends.
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Author | Liu Xinyin
Editor | Hu Xinya
Typesetting Editor | Han Qijuan (Internship)
Proofreading | Miao Yiqi