Member Athena Posted January 9, 2011 Member Share Posted January 9, 2011 *THE WORLDS FIRST MARTIAL ART STAR FAN XUEPENG !! http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/hs007.snc6/165774_157857344261621_151960294851326_283693_8079664_n.jpg Oh (!)who would have guessed IT IS A LADY... She is a treasured icon in the world of EARLY SHANGHAI cinema in addition too be generally considered China first WUXIA super star ..!! This is a early photo the famous and very traditional beauty !! She was born in Jiangsu in 1908 & made her first film in Shanghai around 1925 ! Fan soon achieved great success in the film HEROIC SONS AND DAUGHTERS (1927) and the sequels.. Just as in the RED HEROINE & SWORDSWOMAN OF HUANGJIAN series...Sadly very few of this brilliant stars work has survived today .. MAKE NO MISTAKES ABOUT IT, WITHOUT THE EARLY DEVELOPMENT OF SHANGHAI WUXIA CINEMA, I DOUBT THE KUNG FU GENRE THAT WE ALL LOVE WOULD HAVE BEEN THE RAVE IT IS TODAY ! Thank you Fang Xuepeng !! ~Athena Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member MarsHarmony Posted January 11, 2011 Member Share Posted January 11, 2011 Wouldn't it be thrilling if one of her films were to turn up. Great find Athena and thanks for sharing it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Ryo Posted January 11, 2011 Member Share Posted January 11, 2011 Thank you for the information, Athena. Until now I thought the first martial arts movie star was Zhang Hui-Chong. He played a leading role in Shandong Ma Yongzhen (1927). This movie was one of the earliest hits in chinese martial arts movie history. Directed by Zhang Shi-Chuan (founder of Mingxing Film Company). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Michael L. Posted January 12, 2011 Member Share Posted January 12, 2011 I have read that women starred in early martial arts films (and films in general) in China because they were still not accepted on stage by serious opera fans and even sometimes played male characters. In fact, I vaguely remember this being mentioned in a documentary on martial arts films but I can not for the life of me think of what it was... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Morgoth Bauglir Posted January 16, 2011 Member Share Posted January 16, 2011 Michael I think that was Art of Action with Samuel L Jackson. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SMK Posted January 16, 2011 Share Posted January 16, 2011 Michael I think that was Art of Action with Samuel L Jackson. I just saw the second half of this doc the other day on TV. I had seen it years ago, I enjoyed this one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Athena Posted January 17, 2011 Author Member Share Posted January 17, 2011 Yes, you are right Michael... It is a remarkable PARADOX ! Actresses were looked very "down upon " and considered "NOT FEMINIME" when they wished to perform in the Peking Opera scene, BUT were considered the most desirable and feminine while being the top stars ( sometimes as male characters) in the early WUXIA film industry ! This was the prevailing attitude up to the mid 50's... But never FEAR ( ) .. To balance this belief off--> The Peking opera male stars ( even the ones portraying females) were very popular and sought after by both the Chinese girls AND THEIR FAMILYS as potential husbands ... On the other hand the early WUXIA actors (males) often were considered WEAK and "less serious" males (??) ... Anyways YIN & YANG may have traded places for a time... But as you see it was all nicely balanced out in a PURE TAOIST TRADITION !!! We would expect NO LESS FROM THE MIDDLE KINGDOM (CHINA ) !!! !! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Michael L. Posted January 17, 2011 Member Share Posted January 17, 2011 No, it wasn't The Art of Action. It was part of a series on Chinese films that was on something crazy like Ovation or the Higher Learning Network. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Jadedragon61 Posted January 17, 2011 Member Share Posted January 17, 2011 These real early stars like Fan Xuepeng are all but forgotten by the great mass of people here in mainland China. For people now in their 40's, who you might think would know Shaw Bro.s, et al, in fact don't know those films at all, as it was all previously banned in the mainland as capitalist. As for those in their 20's, they only know more contemporary guys like Jackie and Jet. Most mainland Chinese are at something of a loss, even shocked, that foreigners know more about HK films than they do - which actually is entirely reasonable, as they know nearly nothing about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Omni Dragon Posted January 18, 2011 Member Share Posted January 18, 2011 I heard about a 1921 Wuxia film called THE LADY KILLER but it was destroyed when the communists came to power as they might encourage people to rebel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Jadedragon61 Posted January 19, 2011 Member Share Posted January 19, 2011 I heard about a 1921 Wuxia film called THE LADY KILLER but it was destroyed when the communists came to power as they might encourage people to rebel. Man, you hit that nail on the head! Once these boys get in power, the revolution, as far as they are concerned, is o v e r ! Kafka: The zeal of every revolution degenerates into the slime of bureaucracy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Michael L. Posted January 19, 2011 Member Share Posted January 19, 2011 These real early stars like Fan Xuepeng are all but forgotten by the great mass of people here in mainland China. For people now in their 40's, who you might think would know Shaw Bro.s, et al, in fact don't know those films at all, as it was all previously banned in the mainland as capitalist. As for those in their 20's, they only know more contemporary guys like Jackie and Jet. Most mainland Chinese are at something of a loss, even shocked, that foreigners know more about HK films than they do - which actually is entirely reasonable, as they know nearly nothing about it. When I went to Shanghai a couple of years ago I had plenty of time to look for old movies when I wasn't working. I found exactly ZERO. Not only did no one have them, they couldn't believe I would want to watch something black and white or silent. I also found it much easier to find Japanese films than HK films. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Jadedragon61 Posted January 19, 2011 Member Share Posted January 19, 2011 Even the new Celestial Shaw series is stocked by very few DVD stores here, Michael. I got most of my collection, of about 200 titles, from one store! The dude that ran the place told me I was 邵氏电影疯狂 ~Shaw movie crazy. Yeah, man, whatever. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Michael L. Posted January 21, 2011 Member Share Posted January 21, 2011 I bet you can get the new Tron on DVD, though... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Michael L. Posted January 31, 2011 Member Share Posted January 31, 2011 Art of Action was on one of my movie channels last week so I threw it in the DVR. I have seen this, but it was not the documentary I referenced. The one I am thinking of had more than one episode, each with a theme and might have been earlier than Art of Action. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member WonBin'sMojo Posted January 31, 2011 Member Share Posted January 31, 2011 Will some of these earlier work by these great pioneers be available on dvd anytime soon??? I would love to brush up on my history.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Jadedragon61 Posted February 1, 2011 Member Share Posted February 1, 2011 Will some of these earlier work by these great pioneers be available on dvd anytime soon??? I would love to brush up on my history.... A word to the wise: much of this stuff will never be on any widely-distributed DVD; further, proper copyright does not actually exist for much of it (i.e. who the hell really owns it, Buddha knows); and last, a lot of it is freely available on the large Chinese sites. Seek and you shall find... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Michael L. Posted February 1, 2011 Member Share Posted February 1, 2011 Actually, if there are copies in existence they will be available eventually because there will probably come a point where the copyrights will disappear thanks to one international agreement or another. You know, Kim Jong Il is supposed to have an INCREDIBLE film collection; I wonder if he has any 'lost' films wudapian... he is thought to possibly have some other lost films! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member WonBin'sMojo Posted February 1, 2011 Member Share Posted February 1, 2011 You know, Kim Jong Il is supposed to have an INCREDIBLE film collection; I wonder if he has any 'lost' films wudapian... he is thought to possibly have some other lost films! LOL, if someone can raid his house the way they did to Sadam's, I can't imagine what his collection would be like... Isn't he like almost on the verge of death or something, and his son is taking over the throne??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Jadedragon61 Posted February 4, 2011 Member Share Posted February 4, 2011 LOL, if someone can raid his house the way they did to Sadam's, I can't imagine what his collection would be like... Isn't he like almost on the verge of death or something, and his son is taking over the throne??? You know, if the truth be told, the whole U.S. - N Korea squabble is based on who will get those flicks when old man Kim kicks the proverbial bucket... (Penn. 1600 rumor is that Obama is a closet Shaw freak.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member shaolin swords Posted April 8, 2012 Member Share Posted April 8, 2012 good info and nice find Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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