Xia nu
A Touch of Zen
King Hu is revered as a wildly creative and impeccable craftsman of the wuxia genre. While other directors experimented across genres and unleashed countless films per year, Hu was the perfectionist with a razor-sharp vision of Chinese aesthetics and philosophy, and how those principles could translate into bravura action editing, elaborate staging, and cutting-edge special effects. The director made his greatest films in the exploding Taiwanese film industry of the 60’s and early 70’s. A TOUCH OF ZEN is Hu’s magnum opus, at once a sprawling epic drama of religious proportions and an anthology of brilliant action set pieces, including one that famously inspired the bamboo forest scene in CROUCHING TIGER HIDDEN DRAGON. A TOUCH OF ZEN won a technical award at Cannes in 1975, the first prize ever won by a Chinese-language film in one of the world’s top festivals.
- Hsu Feng - Yang Hui-ching
- Shih Jun - Ku Shen Chai
- Pai Ying - General Shih Wen-chiao
- Roy Chiao - Hui Yuan
- King Hu based on «The Magnanimous Girls» by Pu Sung-ling
- Hua Hui-ying
- Cou Yeh-hsing
- King Hu
- Ng Tai-kong
- King Hu
- Li Chia-chih
- Han Ying-chieh
- An Yaokun
Taiwan Film Institute
