The Chinese Ghost Story Saga: A Retrospective

The Chinese Ghost Story Saga: A Retrospective

           

     A Chinese Ghost Story is a trilogy of movies that are connected by a few things. They were all directed by Ching Siu-tung. They all revolved around the plot of a hapless schmuck who becomes romantically entangled with a beautiful ghost. Most importantly (at least to me), they all featured that most lovely image of serene beauty, Joey Wong.

           

     They aren’t really horror films as much as they are romances with horror themes and trappings. Mixed in with this are slap stick comedy, action and Chinese mythology and philosophy.

            

     The original trilogy features some very prominent names and faces from the heyday of Hong Kong cinema. Hong Kong films of the late 1980s through early 1990s are a genre unto themselves. The films were so lively and creative. Their budgets were low (compared to comparable American movies) but the creative energy was extremely high.  That creativity is on full display in these movies.

            

     Tsui-Hark, produced all three films. He also directed the first three installments of the Jet Li franchise, Once Upon a Time in China, Zu Warriors from the Magic Mountain (which was an influence for John Carpenter when he made Big Trouble in Little China) and Green Snake (which also starred Joey Wong) and he produced the Chow Yun-Fat /John Woo collaborations, A Better Tomorrow and The Killer.

            

     The director of the trilogy, Ching Siu-tung, may be a lesser known name but his work is not. He was an action choreographer on Hero (2002), House of Flying Daggers (2004) and Curse of the Golden Flower (2006).

            

     Jacky Cheung, who stars in the second and third films, is better known for his singling (selling over 25 million records!) but also did some notable acting including John Woo’s Bullet in the Head.

            

     Tony Leung Chiu-wai, who plays the schmuck in part 3 starred in Butterfly and Sword (with Joey Wong), achieved some international notoriety with Chungking Express, but is probably best known to Western action fans has one half of the cop duo in Hard Boiled.

           

     Without a doubt, the best known member of the cast was Leslie Cheung, who starred in the first two films. It’s difficult to describe the level of his success in a way that would make since to a westerner that was unfamiliar with him. Leslie was an incredibly successful actor and singer, popular throughout all of Asia. He was respected and commercially successful in the movie business, working with the biggest names in Hong Kong cinema. His music career included topping the charts in other countries and multiple gold and platinum albums. Imagine the acting chops of Leonardo DiCaprio with the appeal of Elvis, and that gives you some idea as to his popularity. Unfortunately, Leslie committed suicide in 2003 after suffering from depression.

            

     

     But as I said earlier, the centerpiece here is Joey Wong. In addition to the previously mentioned movies she also starred in God of Gamblers and City Heat. Joey possesses a beauty that is hard to describe. When she is on the screen you just want to sigh. The character she plays in all three movies is a kind of damsel in distress. That type of character is probably out of touch with today’s culture, but Joey played it perfectly, mixing charm and allure with just enough tragedy that you really hoped someone would save her from the terrible things that were happening.

           

     Though all three films were successful, the first film was incredibly well received, nominated for all kinds of awards, and is still considered an influential film today.

(A word of warning, all of the actors and characters names listed below are likely wrong. Because of the difficulty of phonetically translating Chinese to English, IMBD has the names spelled one way, Wikipedia has them spelled another, and the subtitles on my TV have them spelled another! For instance 30 years ago, I always thought the star of the franchise was Joey Wang. Today most sources have her listed as Joey Wong, but  still a few have her listed as Wang! So I made my best guest or picked the name that sounded, to my Western ears, like what was really being said).

A Chinese Ghost Story

1987

Director- Ching Siu-tung

Cast- Leslie Cheung, Joey Wong, Wu Ma, Lau Siu-ming, Lam Wai, Xue Zhilun, Wong Jing

           

     Ning (Leslie Cheung) is a bill collector roaming around rural China from town to town collecting owed money (talk about non-glamourous). After getting caught in a storm he arrives at a town soaking wet and tired. He has no money (of his own) and needs a place to stay. After asking around someone tells him that he should go to an old abandoned temple on the outskirts of town.

            

     Upon arriving he meets Yin Chik-ha, s sword fighting Taoist priest (Wu Ma). Yin is a bit surly and seems to have little patience for Ning. That night, Ning also meets a beautiful girl, Tsing. To the audience, it’s pretty clear right from the start that Tsing is either a ghost or some kind of supernatural entity, but Ning is a bit slow on the draw.

            

     Tsing is actually the ghost of a girl who was murdered when she was 18. Her spirit is trapped and in servitude to an evil Tree Spirit (Lau Siu-ming). The spirit looks like a wealthy matron but can transform into a giant tongue! The spirit uses Tsing, and another beautiful ghost, Siu-ching  (Xue Zhilun) as bait. They seduce men and when they are vulnerable, the Tree Spirit (in the form of the giant tongue) rushes in and sucks their life out, turning them into the undead.

        

  

     Yin hangs around the temple partly because he is sick of people and partly to fight the spirits that live there.  At night Ning meets with Tsing and they start to fall in love, but Ning is still slow to catch on. Meanwhile, the Tree Spirit has betrothed Tsing to Lord Black, an ancient demon, and they are to marry in three days. Yin and the Tree Spirit, though enemies, have achieved a kind of détente. This ends when the Tree Spirit attacks Ning. Yin uses his magic to banish the Tree Spirit for a hundred years.

           

     

    While in the village, Ning runs across a painting of a beautiful girl washing her hair. The girl in the painting bears a striking resemblance to Tsing. He finds out that the girl in the painting is dead and slowly Ning finally figures out what Tsing really is. She tells him about her servitude and reveals that the only way to free her is to find the urn containing her ashes and remove it from the temple grounds, giving her a chance to move on and reincarnate. Ning asks for help from Yin and the story culminates with Ning, Tsing and Yin, journeying to the underworld and fighting Lord Black.

            

     They defeat the Lord and travel back to the mundane world just as the sun is rising. To keep from being destroyed by the sun’s rays, Tsing has to retreat into the safety of the urn that contains her ashes. She and Ning say goodbye but aren’t able to see or touch each other in their farewell. Finally, Ning and Yin give her ashes a proper burial. Ning is left alone, with the painting of Tsing the only thing he has left of her.

            

     To Western eyes, seeing this film for the first time will be like nothing you have ever seen before. The conventions are familiar; holy symbols to fight evil, evil spirits dispelled by the sun, etc. But it is the way they are presented that is so strange, fresh and entertaining. Swordsman Yin is analogous to Van Helsing but he uses a flying sword, arrows with spells written on them, writes incantations in his palm with his own blood, and shoots fireballs from his hands. Tsing is familiar as the beautiful ghost, but she flies through the air with long flowing robes and veils, pale but vibrant.

            

     The story is based on an old Chinese story, Nie Xiaoqian, that is hundreds of years old. There have been at least 20 film and TV adaptations of the story. The first was The Enchanting Shadow, a 1960 Shaw Brothers film. The most famous, and beloved , version is this one, the 1987 version. It is not possible to overstate the impact of this movie on Chinese cinema. There was an anime adaptation in 1997 and an “official” remake in 2011 (see below).

   

A Chinese Ghost Story 2

1990

Director- Ching Siu-tung

Cast- Leslie Cheung, Joey Wong, Michelle Reis, Jacky Cheung, Wu Ma, Lau Shun, Lau Siu-Ming, Waise Lee

           

     After the events of part 1, Ning and Yin part ways and Ning returns home. He must have been gone a long time because the town is over run by cannibal bandits! The police arrest him in a case of mistaken identity and he is thrown in jail.

            

     His cell mate is a strange old man who doesn’t seem that perturbed about being in jail. He tells Ning that he has been imprisoned for being a dissident. Ning spends enough time in jail to grow a beard. Eventually the order for his execution is given. As it turns out, the old man has made an escape route but prefers to stay in prison until he is done writing his manifesto.

            

     Ning uses the escape route and runs into a new Taoist swordsman, Autumn (Jacky Cheung). They take shelter in an abandoned ruin and are attacked by rebels that disguise themselves as ghosts. The leaders of the group are a pair of sisters, Windy and Moon (Joey Wang and Michelle Reis). As it happens, Windy is the spitting image of Ning’s lost love from the first film. The group of dissidents mistake Ning (with his new beard)  for a respected writer, Elder Chu. They believe that he is there to help them. He explains that he is not Chu but they don’t believe him, thinking it is a test. He tries to kindle a relationship with Windy but to no avail. Windy was promised at birth to someone else in an arranged marriage. Moon, however, is available and has the hots for Ning.

            

     While the rebels are away trying to rescue Windy and Moon’s father (Lau Siu-ming, who played the evil tree spirit in the first film). Ning and Autumn run afoul of a giant monster. Autumn’s sorcery is formidable but the monster seems to be un-killable. Autumn cuts it in half but it escapes.

            

     Meanwhile, the rebels set a trap to ambush the caravan carrying Windy and Moon’s father. The caravan is led by a lawful warrior of great skill, Fu (played by a very virile looking Waise Lee). The monster has shown back up and a fight ensues between Fu, the rebels, and the monster. Autumn is finally able to destroy the beast, but Windy is showered with its blood, causing her to be possessed by evil spirits.

           

     Windy turns into a demoness and Autumn tells Ning that only a dose of Yang (masculine) energy will counteract the possession.  Autumn can’t do this because he is a monk and can’t get too close to women, so Ning kisses her and the spirits are exorcised, but Moon is heartbroken to see him kiss her sister.

            

    

     Fu, having witnessed the bravery of the rebels, is sympathetic to their cause and offers to speak on their behalf to the Imperial High Monk, a clergyman that advises the Emperor. As it turns out, the High Monk is actually a demon. It starts to kill the rebels but Autumn uses his sorcery to fight it. He and Moon are captured but Ning and Windy escape.

            

     On the run, Windy starts to fall in love with Ning. Needing help against the demon, Ning goes to his old friend Yin. Fu helps Moon and Autumn escape but is killed in the process. Yin, Ning and Windy show up and the group confronts the demon and it reveals its true form, a giant, flying centipede.

            

     They defeat the demon, at the cost of Autumn’s life. The danger passed, the group prepares to go their separate ways. At the last moment, Windy abandons her marriage commitment and rides off with Ning. 

  

A Chinese Ghost Story 3

1991

Director- Ching Siu-tung

Cast- Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Joey Wong, Jacky Cheung, Nina Li Chi, Lau Siu-ming, Lau Shun, Lau Yuk-ting

            

     Whereas part 2 was a continuation of the story from part 1, part 3 is only loosely connected to the other films and pretty much exists independent of the other two, so much so, that it can be viewed as a standalone film. It’s really a remake of part 1 telling essentially the same story with a few twists.

            

     Fong (Tony Leung Chiu-wai) is a young Buddhist monk in training. He travels with his wizened master on a mission to deliver a golden Buddha statue to a temple. On their way, they stop at the same temple ruins that were the setting for the first film. It’s now been a hundred years since the first film, so the Tree Spirit that Yin imprisoned has now returned and is up to its old tricks again. The Tree Spirit has new ghosts as its servants; Lotus (Joey Wong) and Butterfly (Nina Li Chi).

           

     Lotus and Butterfly lure and seduce men for the Tree Spirit to feed off of. They are also rivals in competition with one another. Lotus tries to seduce the young monk but he resists her charms. The two develop an uneasy friendship where she continues to visit him. He likes her but also knows that if his master finds out, he will destroy her.

            

     The young monk enlists the help of a sort of honorable swordsman Yin (Jacky Cheung). He’s not the same swordsman Yin from the first film, but he has named himself in his honor. Rather than sorcerous powers he uses magic scrolls and enchanted armor. He’s mainly in it for the money but with no small amount of encouragement he is willing to do the right thing. He helps the pair of monks fight the evil tree spirit and free Lotus.

            

     Part 3 lacks the spark of originality of part 1 (you get a lot of points for being first) but the production values are better. Also, I don’t know if it was a case of Ching Siu-tung getting better as a director or Tsui Hark getting better as a producer, but the movie looks better and seems better executed. Really the only complaint you can make about it is that it’s essentially a remake. However, I thoroughly enjoy the film and thought it was a great way to wrap up the franchise.

A Chinese Ghost Story: The Tsui Hark Animation

1997

Director- Andrew Chen

            

     This is not an animated remake of the first film. Rather it’s a new retelling of the basic story, Nie Xiaoqian. The screenplay is by Tsui Hark. It begins with debt collector Ning pining for a lost love as he makes his way across the countryside. Well, lost love may be too strong. More like a girl that he was infatuated with that had no interest in him.

            

     He crosses paths with a pair of Buddhist monks, White Cloud and Ten Miles. They are going about the countryside zealously destroying any spirits or supernatural creatures they find. They have a rival ghost hunter, Red Beard who is trying to clean out the spirits before they can. Red Beard uses magic and a giant wooden mech called Way of Ways.

           

     Ning makes his way to a nice town but soon discovers that it is a literal ghost town; everyone there is a spirit. There are two beautiful spirits, Shine and Butterfly. They work for the evil tree demon, Madame Trunk, who sends them out to collect souls that she can devour in order to stay youthful. Shine sets her eyes on Ning, but before she can collect him, Red Beard shows up with his mech and wreaks havoc.

            

     Ning saves Shines “life” from Red Beard and they escape together. Ning doesn’t care that she is a ghost and has a crush on her. Shine however, is infatuated with a spirt called Mountain Evil. He is a kind of rock star amongst ghosts. He is narcissistic, vain, and abusive. Shine incurs his wrath by accidentally messing up his hair. Before he can pummel her, Ten Miles and White Cloud show up and start laying waste.

            

     Ning and Shine and escape and Shine decides it’s time to stop fooling herself and sucks Ning’s soul out of his body so that it can be presented to Madame Trunk. Shine, realizing how much Ning loves her, repents at the last moment and with the help of Butterfly, they escape.

            

     They devise a plan to be together. Every night, a magic train comes through collecting spirits for reincarnation. They plan to get on board and reincarnate so that they can be together as humans. The plan goes awry, and they decide that their present ghost /human situation is good enough to maintain a romantic relationship.

            

     The film is a combination of 2D and 3D animation. Unfortunately it’s that terrible late 90s CGI. The character designs are very retro, looking like something from the late 70s or early 80s. However, that look doesn’t jive well with CGI, at least not to my eyes. One of the biggest problems with CGI is that it doesn’t age well. The animation was by Triangle Staff, the same company that gave us Venus Wars and the excellent Lain: Serial Experiments.so you know they do good work. Quality is not my issue, it’s just the choice of using the CGI so extensively that bothered me. On the other hand, the movie was well received in its day, so perhaps I’m being too critical.

           

     Don’t expect anime of the quality of Akira or Ghost in the Shell. And don’t expect stylish horror on par with Vampire Hunter D. But if you are one of those folks that rabidly consume any anime you can get your hands on, or if you are looking for a version of Chinese Ghost Story that may be more accessible to a younger audience, then this may be something you’d be interested in.

A Chinese Ghost Story (remake)

2011

Director- Wilson Yip

Cast- Louis Koo, Liu Yifei, Shaoqun Yu, Kara Wai, Wang Danyi, Siu-Wong Fan, Elvis Tsui, Gong Xinliang, Lin Peng, Li Jing

            

     The story begins with Yan Chixia ,a Spirit Master (a kind of ghost hunter), chasing a beautiful fox spirit, Nie Xiaoqian. Their conflict leads unexpectedly to intimacy and they fall in love. However, as a spirit and a human, their romance is doomed to fail. Nie Xiaquian, distraught, begs him to kill her. He can’t bring himself to do this so he stabs her with a magic stiletto that wipes away her memory of him. With his love for her, he has disgraced himself as a Spirit Master and is chastised by his fellow master, Xia Xuefenglei, a hardnosed fighter who believes the only good ghost is a destroyed ghost. They must team up to fight the Tree Demon that rules the Black Mountain area. They succeed in locking her away in a kind dimensional prison. Xuefenglei goes on his way (minus an arm that he lost in the battle) and Yan Chixia remains to watch over the Black Mountain.

           

    

    Fast forward a few years and Ning the bill collector shows up to settle accounts in the village at the base of the mountain.  The village is suffering from a drought. It is suspected that a source of water lies in the mountains, but that is also where the haunted temple sits that houses the Tree Demon’s spirit and where her minions still roam free. Though he is just a lowly bureaucrat, as a government official, he is the closest thing to help the people are going to find. The town’s people tell him of their plight (conveniently leaving out the part about demons and ghosts). He agrees to help and journeys up the mountain with a crew of convicted murderers in tow who have all been “volunteered” to help him.

            

     He finds a cute little fox spirit in a tree trunk and gives it a piece of candy. Unbeknownst to him, this is Nie Xiaoqian. She follows him and the prisoners on their journey and becomes interested in him.

            

     Like in the other versions of the story, the Tree Demon has beautiful sprits that serve her, including two voluptuous spirts, Green Snake and White Snake (which is a nod to another Chinese legend, Madame White Snake as well as another Tsui Hark movie, Green Snake, which also starred Joey Wong). When the men show up at the temple, the beautiful spirits go to town, seducing the men, and stealing their chi (life-force), which they give to the Tree Demon so that she can get stronger. However, Nie Xiaoqian doesn’t seduce Ning. The two of them slowly build a budding romance.

            

     Yan Chixia enters the picture and tries to break up their affair. It’s never clear if he is acting out of a desire to avoid further tragedy or maybe he has some jealousy over seeing his lost love with a new man. However, this love triangle creates a dynamic that the other films didn’t have and you know there is no way this is going to end happily for all those involved.

           

     Yan Chixia goes back and forth over what to do but ultimately it doesn’t matter. His old comrade, Xuefenglei shows up with his little sister, Bing, who is also a ghost hunter. He traps Nie Xiaoqian and subdues Yan Chixia. He intends to kill them both but first goes off to fight the Tree Demon who has grown strong enough to finally break free. His little sister, the only practical person of the bunch, agrees to free Yan Chixia and Nie Xiaoquin if they will help her brother defeat the Tree Demon.  They join Ning in a final assault on the Black Mountain temple.

            

     

  This movie is not just another adaptation of the old story. This is an intentional remake of the 1987 film, and they want you to know that. It begins with the familiar image of a long piece of silk flying in the breeze (black in this one instead of red) and it features the same song from the original as its intro and credit music (that song sung by Leslie Cheung himself). Whereas the tone of the movie is grimmer than the original, the style and themes are similar.

  This film relies more on CGI (which was almost non-existent in 1987) so while the effects look flashier, I’m not sure if they look better (CGI never fools the eye the way practical effects do). That aside, I think it was a faithful adaptation of the spirit of the original while still veering far enough away that it gives us something new and can stand on its own merit. Expecting this film to compare to the original would be like someone expecting a remake of Labyrinth to be as good as the original. It’s not going to happen so why expect that and be disappointed. Just enjoy the film for itself.

        

  

     While the original Chinese Ghost Story trilogy made stars of many its actors, this film features many actors with long established careers. Fans of 90s Hong Kong Cinema will recognize Siu-Wong Fan as the militant Spirit Master, Xia Xuefenglei. He starred in the title role of one of the craziest movies of the decade, Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky. He has also had supporting roles in the Ip Man films. Kara Wai, who played the tree demon, has a career stretching all the way back to the Shaw Brothers. She starred in (among many other things) Dirty Ho, Return to the 36^th Chamber, My Young Auntie and Eight Diagram Pole Fighter. She also starred in the adventure fantasy film Seventh Curse with Chow Yun-Fat and Maggie Cheung. Elvis Tsui, who plays the village chief, also has a list of acting credits as long as your arm. He starred in Shaolin and Wu Tang, Sex and Zen, Butterfly and Sword, and several Chow Yun-Fat movies including Seventh Curse (with Kara Wai), City on Fire and Tragic Hero. The director Wilson Yip has also had a successful career. He directed the horror comedy Bio-Zombie but is best known for directing the Ip Man series of films.

          

     But what about Liu Yifei? How does she do in the main role? In much the same way that comparing this movie to the original would be useless, comparing her to Joey Wong would be unfair. That would be like comparing someone to Audrey Hepburn! Given the different tensions in the movie and the greater focus on conflict rather than playful romance, I don’t think as much of the movie relied on her charm and charisma as what was required of Joey in the originals.  Her portrayal is also much more tragic, which suits the tone of the film. She also arrived to the part with a loyal following from the television series, Chinese Paladin. She starred in the Hollywood produced Forbidden Kingdom with Jet-Li and Jackie Chan. Liu Yifei is also playing the title role in the upcoming live action Mulan from Disney, so she is likely to become a much bigger star than she already is.

            

     There are have been many cinematic adaptations of the story since that original 1960 Shaw Brothers movie (including a 2019 version starring Jackie Chan and Lin Peng who played White Snake in the 2011 version) and many more versions will be made. No doubt these will be of varying quality, and maybe, one day, there will be one as good or better than the 1987 version. But for now, it remains the best version, and for me , the high water mark for Hong Kong fantasy cinema.