ABSTRACT
It is notable that in the recent renaissance of Chinese-language cinema, wenyi and wuxia return together as powerful source materials for filmmakers to venture onto global screens. Examples include In the Mood for Love (2000, wenyi); Hero (2002, wuxia wenyi); Yiyi: A One and a Two (2000, wenyi); House of Flying Daggers (2004) and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000, both wenyi wuxia).1 Wenyi, “literature and art” or literary art, can be described as Chinese melodrama characterized by interior staging, female pathos, and Confucian ethics, while wuxia, martial chivalry, refers to swordplay films embedded in righteous heroism. Wenyi and wuxia were both staples of the industry from the advent of film production in China at the turn of the twentieth century. Although both disappeared in the Mainland after 1949, they were the backbone of the rationalized, Fordist modes of production in Hong Kong and Taiwan for nearly three decades.
