
The best wuxia films made in Hong Kong
From epic duels in the desert to fights atop bamboo forests, wuxia is one of Hong Kong cinema’s greatest exports. We list the best the genre has to offer
Wuxia is one the genre staples of Hong Kong cinema, as much a cornerstone of local filmmaking as kung-fu flicks and triad movies.
In Chinese literature, tales of heroic swordsmen wandering the realm, combatting evil, have a history dating back centuries. In cinematic terms, the genre can be traced back to 1925 and Lady Knight Li Feifei, produced in Shanghai by none other than the Shaw brothers’ Tianyi Film Company.
The genre’s early popularity ebbed and flowed. But in 1966, director King Hu’s Come Drink With Me amalgamated traditional wuxia movies’ elements of heroic fantasy with a more realistic depiction of violence, revolutionising and revitalising the genre. More than 50 years on from that classic, we look at the 10 best wuxia movies ever made in Hong Kong...
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