Li Hsing

Taiwanese film director (1930–2021)

For people with the same Chinese name, see Li Hang.

In this Chinese name, the family name is  Li.

Li Hsing

Born| (1930-05-20)20 May 1930

Shanghai, China

Died| 19 August 2021(2021-08-19) (aged 91)

Taipei, Taiwan

Occupation| Film director
Years active| 1959–1986

Li Hsing or Lee Hsing (李行) was a Taiwanese film director. He was born Lee Tz-da (李子達) in 1930 in Shanghai and died in 2021. He made one of the early popular Taiwanese films in the late 1959, Wang and Liu Tour Taiwan (王哥柳哥遊台灣), though he did not speak Taiwanese. He was also the key director in the promotion of Healthy Realist film (健康寫實片) and Literary Romantic film (愛情文藝片). He was awarded the best director at Golden Horse Awards three times and had seven films awarded the best feature film: Beautiful Duckling (養鴨人家; 1965), The Road (路; 1967), Execution in Autumn (秋決; 1972), Land of the Undaunted, (吾土吾民; 1975), He Never Gives Up (汪洋中的一條船; 1978), The Story of a Small Town (小城故事; 1979), and Good Morning, Taipei (早安台北; 1979). After he made his last film The Heroic Pioneers (唐山過台灣; 1986), he vowed to be the lifetime volunteer for the promotion of development of Taiwan cinema. In 2009 he established the Cross-Strait Films Exchange Committee, which has been the main, if not only, organization promoting the interaction and cooperation of Taiwanese and Chinese filmmakers.[1] Lee Hsing is often referred to as the "godfather of Taiwan cinema" for his great contribution to Taiwan cinema.[2]

## Career

[edit]

Li Hsing graduated from Taiwan Provincial Normal College (台灣省立師範學院; now National Taiwan Normal University) in 1952.[2] After military service he got a teaching position in the high school of his alma mater and was interested in theater performance. He tried to apply to become an actor in Central Motion Picture Corporation (CMPC; 中央電影公司) but was rejected.[1] He was married to his college classmate Wang Wei-jin (王為瑾) in 1955.[3] He acted in many films and often also served as the assistant director between 1955 and 1958, such as The Assault (血戰; 1958).

In 1958 Li Hsing directed his first film, a Taiwanese-language comic film Brother Wang and Brother Liu Tour Taiwan though he did not speak the language. The film features a similar pair of characters like Laurel and Hardy and was released as two installments. They were so popular that it spun many more with the same pair of actors with similar titles, directed by Li Hsing and others.

In 1963 Li Hsing began to make his first mandarine film Our Neighbor (街頭巷尾). He was hired by CMPC and co-directed the first color feature film Oyster Girl (蚵女), which together with Beautiful Duckling become the representative films of the "Healthy Realism" (健康寫實主義) promoted by CMPC.[4] Li Hsing then began to adopt short stories by Qiong Yao (瓊瑤) and made Wan Chun (婉君表妹; 1965) and The Silent Wife (啞女情深; 1965).[3]

Li Hsing formed his own film production company Ta Chung Motion Picture Co., Ltd. (大眾電影公司) with Pai Jing-rui (白景瑞), Lai Cheng-ying (賴成英), and several other film colleagues and friends.[3] Among other films, he directed three extremely popular films adapted from Qiong Yao's novels in 1973 and 1974 and started the wave of Literary Romantic genre: The Young Ones (彩雲飛; 1973), The Heart with a Million Knots (心有千千結; 1973), and Where the Sea Gull Flies (海鷗飛處; 1974), all starring Chen Chen (甄珍). He later made two more films adapted from Qiong Yao's novel, Posterity and Perplexity (碧雲天; 1976) and Painted Waves of Love (浪花; 1976), before breaking up with her for good.

Li Hsing's other representative films include: He Never Gives Up, a film about the inspiring life of a handicapped man, The Story of a Small Town, about a love story in the small town Sanyi in central Taiwan, Good Morning, Taipei, about how a car accident changed the life of a young college student, and My Native Land (原鄉人; 1980), about the life of writer Chung Li-he (鍾理和). The last film he made is The Heroic Pioneers, released in 1986.[1]

Li Hsing was the first chairperson of the Association of Film Directors of the Republic of China (中華民國導演協會), which was founded in 1989. He was selected to be the chairperson of Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival Executive Committee (台北金馬國際影展執行委員會) by The Motion Picture Foundation, R.O.C. (中華民國電影事業發展基金會) in 1990. He received the Life Achievement Award at the 32nd Golden Horse Awards in 1995 and vowed to be a volunteer worker for the promotion of Taiwan cinema for the rest of his life.[5] He lost his only son Lee Xian-yi (李顯一), who died in a car accident in 1996.[6] In response to Lee Hsing's effort to promote the interaction and cooperation between filmmakers of Taiwan and Mainland China, the Motion Picture Foundation established Cross-Strait Films Exchange Committee (兩岸電影交流委員會), of which Li Hsing was the first chairperson.[7] The committee has since then organized the annual Cross-Strait Film Festival (兩岸電影展), which is simultaneously held in Taiwan and Mainland China. Li Hsing passed away on August 19, 2021 at age 91.

## Filmography

[edit]

Year  | English Title  | Chinese Title  | Ref.

|
|
|

1959  | Pigsy vs Monkey King  | 《豬八戒與孫悟空》  | [3]
1959  | Pigsy Rescues vs Leopard  | 《豬八戒救美》
1959  | Brother Insy and Outsy  | 《凸哥凹哥》
1959  | Wang and Liu Tour Taiwan 1  | 《王哥柳哥遊台灣 上集》
1959  | Wang and Liu Tour Taiwan 2  | 《王哥柳哥遊台灣 下集》
1961  | Wang and Liu Have a Good New Year  | 《王哥柳哥好過年》
1961  | Good Neighbors | 《兩相好》
1962  | Golden Phoenix and Silver Goose  | 《金鳳銀鵝》
1962  | The Liar Ah Chi  | 《白賊七》
1962  | Five Difficult Traps  | 《王哥柳哥過五關斬六將》
1963  | Our Neighbor  | 《街頭巷尾》
1963  | Oyster Girl  | 《蚵女》
1965  | Wan Chun  | 《婉君表妹》
1965  | The Silent Wife | 《啞女情深》
1965  | Beautiful Duckling | 《養鴨人家》
1966  | Fire Bulls  | 《還我河山》
1966  | The Monument of Virtue  | 《貞節牌坊》
1967  | Sun Rise, Sun Set  | 《日出日落》
1967  | The Road | 《路》
1970  | Stardust | 《羣星會》
1970  | Four Moods  | 《喜怒哀樂》
1971  | Love Styles XYZ  | 《愛情一二三》
1971  | Life with Mother  | 《母與女》
1972  | Execution in Autumn | 《秋決》
1973  | The Young Ones | 《彩雲飛》
1973  | The Heart with a Million Knots  | 《心有千千結》
1974  | The Three Tales  | 《大三元》
1974  | The Marriage | 《婚姻大事》
1974  | Rhythm of the Wave | 《海韻》
1974  | Where the Seagull Flies  | 《海鷗飛處》
1975  | Land of the Undaunted  | 《吾土吾民》
1976  | Posterity and Perplexity  | 《碧雲天》
1976  | Painted Waves of Love  | 《浪花》
1977  | Melody from Heaven  | 《白花飄雪花飄》
1979  | Good Morning, Taipei  | 《早安台北》
1979  | The Story of a Small Town | 《小城故事》
1979  | He Never Gives Up  | 《汪洋中的一條船》
1980  | China, My Native Land | 《原鄉人》
1981  | Another Spring | 《又見春天》
1983  | The Wheel of Life | 《大輪迴》
1986  | The Heroic Pioneers | 《唐山過台灣》

## Awards and honors

[edit]

### Golden Horse Awards

[edit]

Source:[4]

* 1965: Best Director for Beautiful Duckling
* 1972: Best Director for Execution in Autumn
* 1978: Best Director for He Never Gives Up
* 1979: Nominated for Best Director for The Story of a Small Town
* 1986: Nominated for Best Director for The Heroic Pioneers
* 1995: Special Award for Lifetime Achievement

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b c "導演李行：台灣電影風潮「領航者」 – 新華澳報". www.waou.com.mo. Retrieved 14 June 2023.
2. ^ a b 王, 心妤 (20 August 2021). "李行病逝享耆壽91歲 台灣電影教父縱橫影壇70年" (in Chinese). Central News Agency. Retrieved 21 August 2021.
3. ^ a b c d "製片-李行". TFAI-國家電影及視聽文化中心.
4. ^ a b "李行". 台灣電影網. 17 March 2023.
5. ^ "臺灣電影教父 教育系傑出校友李行享壽91歲". 國立臺灣師範大學. Retrieved 17 June 2023.
6. ^ 賀, 靜賢 (9 December 2021). "（專訪）何平貼身記錄3年 李行生前卸心防首揭喪子至痛". 自由時報.
7. ^ "中華民國電影事業發展基金會". mpfroc.org. Retrieved 17 June 2023.

## External links

[edit]

* Li Hsing at IMDb
* Li Hsing at the Hong Kong Movie Database

* v
* t
* e

Films directed by Li Hsing

* Brother Liu and Brother Wang on the Roads in Taiwan (1959)
* Good Neighbors (1962)
* Our Neighbor (1963)
* Beautiful Duckling (1965)
* Four Loves (1965)
* The Silent Wife (1965)
* The Road (1967)
* Execution in Autumn (1972)
* The Heart with a Million Knots (1973)
* The Young Ones (1973)
* Rhythm of the Wave (1974)
* He Never Gives Up (1978)
* Good Morning, Taipei (1979)
* The Story of a Small Town (1979)
* Land of the Undaunted (1975)
* My Native Land (1980)
* The Heroic Pioneers (1986)

* v
* t
* e

Golden Horse Award for Best Director

* Doe Ching (1962)
* Li Han-hsiang (1963)
* Li Hsing (1965)
* Li Han-hsiang (1966)
* Lee Chia (1967)
* Pai Ching-jui (1968)
* Pai Ching-jui (1969)
* Chang Tseng-chai (1970)
* Ting Shan-hsi (1971)
* Li Hsing (1972)
* Cheng Kang (1973)
* Liu Yi (1975)
* Chang Pei-cheng (1976)
* Chang Tseng-chai (1977)
* Li Hsing (1978)
* King Hu (1979)
* Wang Chu-chin (1980)
* Tsui Hark (1981)
* Alex Cheung (1982)
* Chen Kun-hou (1983)
* Johnny Mak (1984)
* Chang Yi (1985)
* John Woo (1986)
* Wang Toon (1987)
* Alex Law (1988)
* Hou Hsiao-hsien (1989)
* Yim Ho (1990)
* Wong Kar-wai (1991)
* Wang Toon (1992)
* Ang Lee (1993)
* Tsai Ming-liang (1994)
* Hou Hsiao-hsien (1995)
* Jiang Wen (1996)
* Fruit Chan (1997)
* Joan Chen (1998)
* Ann Hui (1999)
* Johnnie To (2000)
* Stanley Kwan (2001)
* Fruit Chan (2002)
* Andrew Lau and Alan Mak (2003)
* Johnnie To (2004)
* Stephen Chow (2005)
* Peter Chan (2006)
* Ang Lee (2007)
* Peter Chan (2008)
* Leon Dai (2009)
* Chung Mong-hong (2010)
* Ann Hui (2011)
* Johnnie To (2012)
* Tsai Ming-liang (2013)
* Ann Hui (2014)
* Hou Hsiao-hsien (2015)
* Feng Xiaogang (2016)
* Vivian Qu (2017)
* Zhang Yimou (2018)
* Chung Mong-hong (2019)
* Chen Yu-hsun (2020)
* Clara Law (2021)
* Laha Mebow (2022)
* Hsiao Ya-chuan (2023)
* Lou Ye (2024)

* v
* t
* e

Golden Horse Lifetime Achievement Award

* Wong Cheuk-Hon (1993)
* Tung Yueh-Chuan (1994)
* Li Hsing (1995)
* Li Han-hsiang / King Hu / Lo Wei (1997)
* Chou Tien-Su (1998)
* Pai Ching-Jui / Kong Hong (1999)
* Hsin Chi / Cheng Yin-Chou (2000)
* Sung Tsun-Shou (2001)
* Sihung Lung (2002)
* Yuan Cong-Mei (2003)
* A-phit-pô (2004)
* Ko Hsiang-ting (2005)
* Chen Tzu-Fu (2006)
* Edward Yang (2007)
* Chang Feng (2008)
* Ming Chi (2009)
* Hsu Li-kong (2010)
* Ting Shan-hsi (2011)
* Shih Chun (2012)
* Zhen Zhen (2013)
* Tien Feng (2014)
* Li Li-hua (2015)
* Chang Yung-hsiang (2016)
* Hsu Feng (2017)
* Wang Toon / Jimmy Wang Yu (2019)
* Hou Hsiao-hsien (2020)
* Lin Zan-ting / Cai Yang-ming (2021)
* Lai Cheng-ying / Chang Chao-tang (2022)
* Brigitte Lin / Chen Kun-hou (2023)

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