History of Hong Kong Cinema

The History of Hong Kong Cinema

"What do swordplay, gunplay, melodrama and ghosts have in common? Hong Kong cinema," according to Film Studies Professor David Cook (Cook, 1999). Fighting with swords and guns, exaggerated drama and a bent for the supernatural--ghosts, vampires and the spirits of dead ancestors--are four basic ingredients in the last 20 years of films from Hong Kong.

The history of film is an important one today. Many people in our society today may see film as simply a form of entertainment; however, it is indeed more than that. Film is a medium of expression that is unlike no other. It can tell many tales of many different types of people throughout history. Film is also a good reflection of culture. The art of film can often be seen imitating life and telling the story of a nation and their peoples

Hong Kong cinema can be divided into six generations.

A 26 segment × 3 exposure (78 frames in total) pa...

Myrtle Cook of Canada (left) winning a preliminary...

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The term "generations" is referred by the different phases of Honk Kong film history, moreover each generation are not completely different from one another. A particular generation may share something in common with the previous generation, while also passing something onto the next generation. In a sense, the history of Hong Kong film can be said to have gone through a sort of evolution from its beginnings to the present.

The first and second generations of film began during the 1890's and continued through the beginning part of the early 1900's. These two generations of Chinese film are often seen as the pioneers for Chinese cinema. Many of these films consisted of operatic shorts and short comic skits. Eventually the Chinese would go on to make full-length film features. The first film length Chinese film ever made was created in 1921 and was entitled Yan Ruishe.