The basis for elucidating the six stages of development in the history of Chinese cinema!!!!

Since the birth of China's first movie Dingjunshan in 1905 to 2005, China's movie has gone through a whole hundred years. In this century-long history of Chinese movies, the development history of Chinese movies cannot be separated from the melting in of Chinese martial arts.

From silent, single-camera, black-and-white films to high-tech, high-investment, giant-screen films with surround sound, and even the most influential film festivals around the world, Chinese movies with martial arts and the chivalrous ideology of honoring the martial arts and virtue have occupied an important position in Chinese cinema. Therefore, it can be said that Chinese martial arts promote the development of Chinese movies; Chinese movies promote and publicize Chinese martial arts.

2 Three Climaxes of the Development of Wushu and Chinese Cinema

2.1 The First Climax

The first climax of Chinese cinema's wushu action films appeared in the 1920s and 1930s of the 20th century. At that time, people used to call it "martial arts movie". With the development of Chinese cinema, martial arts movies reached their first climax. During this period, various kinds of martial arts movies appeared.

The rapid development of wuxia movies was related to the cultural background and wuxia novels of the time, and in 1928, Shanghai Star Film Company adapted and filmed a wuxia movie called "The Burning of the Red Lotus Temple" based on a wuxia novel called "The Legend of the Wonderful Heroes of Jianghu". It has also been historically recognized as China's first martial arts movie.

The movie was so popular that its box office and social popularity reached its peak. Over the next three years, 18 sequels to "The Burning of the Red Lotus Temple" were made to satisfy audience demand. Even today's American mega-films "Batman I", "Batman II" and "Batman III" would feel ashamed. The story of "Fire at the Red Lotus Temple" is about the armed fight between Liuyang and Pingjiang in Hunan province over a pier, involving the Kunlun and Kongdong sects of martial arts, and the Red Lotus Temple. The plot can go without going into depth, and the 18 consecutive episodes of The Burning of the Red Lotus Temple in fact formed the first climax of a martial arts action movie in the history of Chinese cinema. Two more episodes were later produced in Hong Kong in 1940 and 1993, thus making a total of 20 episodes of The Burning of the Red Lotus Temple.

During the entire period from 1929 to 1931, more than 50 film companies in Shanghai ****produced more than 250 martial arts movies, accounting for 60% of all films produced.

Chinese cinema was traumatized by the Japanese invasion of China, which also led to the end of the first climax of Chinese martial arts films.

2.2 The Second Climax

The second climax of martial arts action films in Chinese cinema occurred between the late 1950s and the 1970s. During the 1960s and 1970s, martial arts action films, along with romance films, became the two pillars that supported the Hong Kong and Taiwan film industries. During this period, a number of actors and directors emerged who represented the highest level of martial arts action films of this period. For example, Bruce Lee, Sammo Hung, etc. and later Jackie Chan and the Yuen Brothers.

In 1958, Hong Kong's Omei Productions first produced Jin Yong's The Legend of the Eagle Shooting Heroes and The Sword of Blood, and then martial arts movies appeared in Taiwan, such as Tailian Films' Seven Swords and Thirteen Heroes in 1960.

In 1973, Chinese martial arts action movies turned an important page. Dragon Crossing the River, a film written, directed and starred by Bruce Lee, was recognized as the successful martial arts action film that went to Europe to break into the world of cinema. The same year's "Dragon and Tiger" was a joint venture between Bruce Lee and Warner Pictures of Hollywood, becoming the first Chinese martial arts action film to cooperate with a foreign film company. The Game of Death was the last film Bruce Lee wrote, directed and starred in, and unfortunately he died without finishing the movie.

After that, although martial arts action films continued to be produced in Hong Kong and Taiwan, the creation, filming, and effects of martial arts action films as a group gradually receded.

2.3 The Third Climax

The third climax of martial arts action films in Chinese cinema occurred in the early 1980s. 1980 saw the first production of The Mysterious Buddha, starring Liu Xiaoqing, by the Beijing Film Studio, which opened the door to martial arts action films. 1982 saw the film Shaolin Temple, starring Jet Li, produced by the Kaifeng Performance Company of Henan Province and the Hong Kong United Chinese Films Joint Company. Shaolin Temple" really set off the third climax of martial arts action movies. During this period, a large number of martial arts action films were born, such as "Shaolin Temple Disciples", "Wudang", "Wulin Zhi", etc. in 1983; "Since ancient times heroes out of young people", "Cotton Tree Robe", "The Great Sword Wang Wu", etc. in 1984. At the same time, martial arts action films have the intention of blending and harmonizing action films with national culture.

The martial arts action movies triggered by Mainland China have certain differences from those of Hong Kong and Taiwan. That is to say, in comparison, under the premise of narrating the story, it shows more of the connotation of a traditional national culture and the inculcation of ideas.

In the 1990s, Hong Kong's martial arts action films had a new chapter, with 1992's "New Dragon Inn", 1993's "The East is Undefeated" and "The Lion King" having a greater impact on Chinese cinema. In particular, after an interval of more than half a century, The Burning of the Red Lotus Temple was followed by the 20th episode of the continuous series in 1993. As well as 1994's "Eight Dragon Parts" and so on, all of them have contributed to the third climax of martial arts action movies. Of all the martial arts action films, those based on the martial arts career of Huang Fei-hung, who was born in Foshan, Guangdong, have reached an unprecedented level. From 1949's Legend of Wong Fei Hung to the present, there have been over 100 feature films about Wong Fei Hung's martial arts career.

3 Representative characters of martial arts action films and their representative works

Many representative characters have appeared throughout the martial arts action films, and the most representative characters are mainly explored in the following points.

3.1 Bruce Lee

During the 1960s and 1970s, Bruce Lee created Jeet Kune Do from the martial art of Wing Chun, which then entered the film and television industry and became a sensation in the world of cinema. Thus, Chinese martial arts movies entered a second climax.

Bruce Lee's works include his childhood works, "Rich Floating Clouds", "Fine Roads", "The Beginning of Man", "Thunderstorm", "Lonely Hong in the Sea of Man"; "Scandalous Chatter", 1969; "Brother Tangshan", 1971; "Jingwu Men", 1972; "Mighty Dragons", "Dragon Fighting Tigers", 1973; and "The Game of Death" (unfinished), 1973.

Among Bruce Lee's films especially the martial arts action film "The Brotherhood of Tangshan" was produced by Hong Kong's Golden Harvest Films. The film successfully portrayed the Chinese hero "Brother Tangshan" to drive the Chinese film into the world film market, the protagonist Bruce Lee thus became a generation of international film stars.

3.2 Jackie Chan

Born in 1948, Jackie Chan's decades of filming have made him a global public figure. He has many movies to his credit, basically the Police Story series and the Drunken Fist series established him as a martial arts action movie. In addition, influential movies include "The Spectrum of Dragons", "Plan A", "Snake Dodger", "Miracle", "Red Band", "Breaking Bad", "Simple Tasks", "Who Am I?", "A Good Man", "Peak Hour" and many more. Jackie Chan received an honorary doctorate in sociology from the Hong Kong Baptist University in 1995. His "Drunken Fist II" was featured in Time Magazine in the United States and was recognized as one of the top ten best movies. Jackie Chan is passionate about charity and public service, especially as an ambassador for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

3.3 Jet Li

The screening of Jet Li's album in London, England, in 1996, was an unusually enthusiastic scene, reflecting the fact that Jet Li has become a Chinese kung-fu star who has attracted much attention in Europe after Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan. Jet Li's martial arts moves, in addition to traditional Chinese kung fu, have been enhanced with Hollywood stunt effects. Jet Li has successfully penetrated western countries such as Germany, Belgium, the United States and Japan.

Jet Li's works include "Shaolin Temple" in 1982; "Shaolin Kid" in 1984; "Shaolin in the North and South" in 1986; "Chinese Heroes" in 1988; "Dragon at the End of the World" in 1989; "Wong Fei Hung" in 1991; "Wong Fei Hung Ⅱ" and "The Smiling Pride of the Wanderer" in 1992, etc.; and "The Lion King's Battle", "Fong Sai Yuk", and "Tai Chi Zhang San Feng" in 1993; Hong Xiguan" and "Jingwu Hero" in 1994 and "Hero" in 2004, and the upcoming "Huo Yuanjia" in 2005.

Jet Li's value with its fame industry more and more high, from 1982 "Shaolin Temple" hundreds of dollars, to 1996 Hong Kong Long Xiang Film Company and Wing Sheng Entertainment signed the "Black Man", "Huang Fei Hong vi" and other three films, reached 36 million Hong Kong dollars; and later films in the tens of millions of dollars.

3.4 Other Representative Characters

Sima Jian (Zhao Changjun) in "Wudang", Zhuo Xu Hang (Huang Wenqing) in "The Wonderful Warriors of the Seas", and Dongfang Xu (Li Junfeng) in "Wulin Zhi". Among the many martial arts action movies, the movie based on "Huang Feihong" can be said to have reached the top of martial arts action. The actors who played "Huang Fei-hong" also included almost all the famous actors of martial arts action movies. Such as Jackie Chan, Jet Li, Sammo Hung, Yuen Bun, Donnie Yen, Zhao Wenzhuo, Wang Qun, Qiu Jianguo, etc.; There are many other famous stars. Such as Alan Tam, Alan Lau, Bruce Leung and so on. In this one of the "Huang Feihong" in the Huang Feihong (played by Guan Dexing). 1940 began, Guan Dexing played "Huang Feihong", until 1970, the whole of the performance of 99 to "Huang Feihong" theme of the movie.

4 Trends in Chinese Martial Arts Action Movies

The trends in martial arts movies can be seen in the century-long history of Chinese cinema from Dingjunshan to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon to Stephen Chow's Kung Fu and Tsui Hark's Seven Swords in 2005.

4.1 Emphasis on Film Festivals and Awards

There are more than 3,000 film festivals in the world in all shapes and sizes, and the number of international A-class film festivals recognized by the International Producers Association I*** is 11. Among these film festivals, the Oscars are the most important international film festival and one of the most commercial film festivals in the world. China's movie industry attaches great importance and attention to this, such as Zhang Yimou in recent years, every blockbuster seems to point to the Oscars, and all are related to martial arts action movies.

For Chinese movies, the Oscars are not just a chance to appear in front of the world, but also an opportunity to compete for the world movie market. It's not easy to win an award at the Oscars, and even a nomination is just as meaningful. But if you win an award, it will be of inestimable value to the overall image enhancement of Chinese films and the positioning of the world film market

The 73rd Academy Awards in 2001, known as China's martial arts kung fu movie "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," once again made China's martial arts action film debut in the global film industry. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" was directed by Ang Lee, who has lived in mainland China, Taiwan and the United States. The entire cast consisted of actors from Mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong, as well as Chinese actors from the United States and Malaysia. At the moment of the award, the public opinion called it "the artistic achievement of the world's Chinese in cinema".

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was nominated for 10 Oscars. It finally got four awards, including Best Foreign Language Film, Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography and Best Original Music. This is the first time a Chinese movie has won a pivotal award at the Oscars, an international A-list film festival.

Interestingly, the Chinese-language film, which was dubbed with English letters, also triggered a Chinese-language learning craze in the United States, with some schools even using the script of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" as a textbook.

In 2005, Chinese movies got a brand-new selection event, the Chinese Movie Ranking. The ranking has 4 programs, each with 5 nominations. We found out that 2 of the 5 movies in the Best Producer are martial arts action movies, they are "Kung Fu" and "Ambush on Ten Sides". One of them, "Ambush on Ten Faces" has 3 nominations in the program.

4.2 Box Office Value Leverage in the Film Market

In terms of box office value, with Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon reaching nearly US$200 million in North America alone, and Taiwan's Hueiyu Multimedia acquiring the exclusive worldwide animation rights of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon at an 8-figure, or 10 million-dollar, price, including licenses for discs and commercial tie-ups, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon received hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue is There's no doubt about it.

Similarly, "Hero" grossed $18 million over two weekends in the U.S. after being nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar at the 76th Academy Awards in 2004, and ended up with a worldwide box office miracle of $176.21 million, of which "Hero"'s domestic box office receipts accounted for only 17.24 percent. After the overseas rights of "Ambush from Ten Faces" were purchased by "Sony Classics", its box office exceeded $72 million. Statistics from the film distributor, China Film Distribution and Screening Branch, showed that Tsui Hark's Seven Swords, which began screening on July 29, 2005, grossed 26 million yuan over the first three days of its first weekend at the box office, which was basically the same as the first-weekend box office of Headwritten D. Meanwhile, the first three days in Southeast Asia had already earned the same amount of money. Meanwhile the first three days in Southeast Asia has already achieved over 40 million yuan in the box office, said Weng Li, the head of distribution, "From the performance of Seven Swords in the first week, it's not too difficult for the total box office to reach 70 or 80 million yuan." So Seven Swords is estimated to be at the top of the Chinese movie charts.

It's worth noting that the China Movie Chart uses a movie's box office revenue as a very important indicator.

4.3Entertaining martial arts action movies will rise to prominence

My Kung Fu Girlfriend was hailed as China's "first modern kung fu comedy" in 2005. It combines romantic, funny, kung fu and inspirational elements. My Kung Fu Girlfriend" is another masterpiece after the South Korean TV star Jang Nara's drama "Bright Girl Success" hit the peak of the ratings, and made Jang Nara the Asian diva status. People in the industry call it the Chinese version of "Bright Girl Success". Although Jang Nara was eventually unable to star in the drama due to scheduling reasons, My Kung Fu Girlfriend's combination of Chinese kung fu and comedy caught everyone's attention. Many overseas film distributors are also optimistic about the movie and want to introduce the modern kung fu comedy "My Kung Fu Girlfriend" movie.

The first movie imported from Hong Kong to the mainland in March 2005 was called "Jingwu Family". It is a martial arts action movie that combines martial arts, action and comedic warmth. The movie was produced by Jackie Chan, and the "Jackie Chan Family" took part in all the filming work. With a total investment of 40 million yuan, "Jingwu Family" has thrilling jumping scenes and difficult martial arts action.

Another Hong Kong martial arts action star, Sammo Hung, also released a "Hung-style" comedy kung fu movie in April 2005, "Dragon and Son". The film is set in Yunnan and Guangxi, where beautiful natural scenery and spectacular waterfalls and rivers add to the legendary color of Chinese martial arts action films.

In the 2005 Chinese New Year movie market, the Chinese kung fu movie "Kung Fu" starring Stephen Chow as the star of the New Year's movie shows the combination of "computerized kung fu" and real kung fu of martial arts. In addition, the movie makes this New Year's Kung Fu movie different from ordinary Kung Fu movies. With an investment of 150 million Hong Kong dollars, "Kung Fu" is an eye-catching parody of many classic Hollywood films.

After three years of silence, Tsui Hark is back with the martial arts masterpiece Seven Swords. The film, which is currently being shot, was released on July 29, 2005, and is now available to audiences.

Tsui Hark believes that the sword is the king of weapons, symbolizing the spirit of Chinese martial arts culture, the sword contains chivalrous manners and cultivation, and there is a kind of romance swirling in it, both in the attack and defense, you will find that there is a philosophy hidden in it. About the sword, Tsui thinks there is a lot of content can be developed, a move to let people re-understand the sword, the sword is not just a tool for fighting, it should have seven spirits and seven colors.

While "Seven Swords" has been called the most anticipated Hong Kong movie of 2005. But a movie, "The Devil of the Harp," has a tendency to steal the limelight from "Seven Swords" after its preview screening in Hong Kong a few days ago. The Devil of the Harp" is a costume martial arts action movie, costing tens of millions of dollars, and the props "Tianyin Zither Devil" alone cost more than 100,000 dollars. Industry insiders commented, "Seven Swords" and "the Devil of the Harp" the competition between the two action films, will drive the entire Hong Kong film market further recovery.

4.4 Mutual Existence and Progress of Wushu and Chinese Movie Development

The development of Chinese movies cannot be separated from the source of Wushu. The globalization and promotion of Wushu cannot be separated from Chinese films. In the 100 years since the successful shooting of "Ding Jun Shan", the development of Chinese movies has always been intertwined with the development of Chinese martial arts.

In the 1970s, Bruce Lee, the kung fu superstar, made the world aware of Chinese martial arts, creating a Chinese kung fu craze.

In the 1980s, Jet Li's "Shaolin Temple" set off a wave of martial arts across the country. According to incomplete statistics, in the years following the screening of "Shaolin Temple" and other martial arts action films, martial arts amateur schools sprang up across the country, reaching as many as 10,000, with more than 100 schools in Dengfeng, Henan Province, the location of the Shaolin Temple. Among them there is no lack of larger and higher grade of martial arts schools. For example, there are more than 10,000 students at the Tagou Wushu School. Meanwhile, the global martial arts fever is rising once again.

The martial arts action film "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," which won four Oscars in 2001, has reached an unprecedented level in terms of its influence on the global film industry, the market factor in box office receipts, as well as the publicity and promotion of Chinese films and Chinese martial arts.

In the 100 years of China's film development, the martial arts action films' going to the whole country and the world not only has the function of enhancing the international status of Chinese films and expanding the market effect of the films, but also has the function of a bridge to publicize the traditional culture of the Chinese nation and the educational function of promoting the spirit of the nation. China's thousands of years of civilization history can be propagated to some extent through films, thus enabling China to go global and the world to know China. Such as Oscar, such as Ghana, Tokyo Film Festival and so on are Chinese films become a window for the world to understand China. And then the movie "Huo Yuanjia" screening, so that countless people fell for it, thus making the national cohesion, national pride greatly improved.

Chinese movies are the bridge for Chinese martial arts to go to the world, and Chinese martial arts are the source for the development of Chinese movies. The mutual coexistence and mutual progress of the two will continue forever.

5 Conclusion

Wushu is a national traditional sport unique to our country, with a wide variety of contents, sects and forms of expression, which has great fitness value and technical value, and at the same time is richer in entertainment value. Movies are a reflection of people's cultural and spiritual life, and martial arts action movies occupy a significant position in the movie. Wushu can be combined with the movie, *** with the promotion of the development of both sides.