When you think of Chinese films, you are probably thinking of wuxia – ancient and mythic stories that have given rise to Ang Lee’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Zhang Yimou’s Hero and The Grandmaster by Wong Kar-wai. Combining martial arts (wu) and honour (xia), cinematic adaptations of the magical-realist tales of this genre not only ensure high box-office returns, but symbolise in post-socialist China a nostalgic escape to a once-discredited past. Still, it is not without its detractors at home, many of whom bemoan wuxia’s orientalist commercialisation of Chinese culture. If they are right, the formula has worked – Crouching Tiger is still the most successful foreign film in US history.
Given that lately wuxia has become almost a rite of passage for Chinese directors, it is no surprise that after 35 years of making low-key social-realist masterpieces the Taiwanese auteur Hou Hsiao-hsien is joining the fray. His latest film, The Assassin, has received praise worldwide, winning him the Best Director award at Cannes, and will be Taiwan’s official contender at the Oscars next month (the only other Taiwanese film to win is Crouching Tiger: a co-production between China, Hong Kong, the United States and Taiwan).
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