THE ECSTATIC CINEMA OF TONY CHING SIU-TUNG

By Jeremy Mark Robinson

Tony Ching Siu-tung (b. 1953) started out as an actor and stuntman, working in movies in the late 1960s and 1970s; he moved into television as martial arts co-ordinator, in the late 1970s and thru the 1980s (where on several historical TV series); he moved up to directing movies with 1983's Duel To the Death. This book is fully illustrated in colour.

Tony Ching Siu-tung's two signature works are probably A Chinese Ghost Story and The Swordsman 2. Critically, those two films (and their movie series, the Chinese Ghost Story series and the Swordsman series) have garnered the highest criticial accolades (and they were big hits financially), and The Swordsman 2 has been the subject of numerous analyses of gender-bending issues in cinema. The sight of Brigitte Lin in drag and later fooling around with Jet Li as a 'woman' seems to drive film critics goo-goo.

Tony Ching Siu-tung has won awards for the action choreography for The Witch From Nepal, Shaolin Soccer, New Dragon Gate Inn, Hero and The Swordsman.

Like the other famous action directors in Hong Kong cinema (such as Yuen Woo-ping, Sammo Hung, Corey Yuen and Yuen Bun), Tony Ching Siu-tung has worked with every single star in Hong Kong, every producer, every cameraman, designer, stylist, costumier, etc, and probably every stuntman and stuntwoman.

Ching Siu-tung had provided action direction for Tsui Hark, Johnnie To, John Woo, Wong Jing, Ringo Lam, Zhang Yimou, Peter Chan, Andy Lau, Kevin Chu, and Stephen Chow, among others. That is, practically all of the major filmmakers in China.

Technically, the movies directed by Tony Ching Siu-tung are breathtaking - in every department of film production, Ching's movies excel. Costumes are lavish, the sets are super-detailed, and the cinematography is stellar. Sometimes you really are looking at something very close to a classical, Chinese painting, where the billowing robes that the actors wear fit in perfectly, and are spot-on equivalents for the spiritual mood of Chinese art.

Fully illustrated in colour throughout (over 290 illustrations), with images from the films of Tony Ching and other Chinese/ Hong Kong productions.

With filmography, bibliography and notes. 592 pages.

Hardcover, with a full colour laminate cover.

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