The second event of the "Taiwan in Dialogue" lecture/dialogue series titled "Return to the Mountain: In Conversation with Chung Ling" will be exploring director King Hu’s (胡金銓) wuxia cinema stories through the lens of screenwriter Chung Ling (鍾玲) on April 14.
A prestigious writer and scholar, Chung Ling was married to director King Hu in 1977, and has since then participated in the production of several of his films. Ling was invited to participate in a dialogue with Michael Berry, Director of UCLA Center for Chinese Studies (CCS) on the integration of the spirit of traditional Chinese culture with director Hu’s film aesthetics.
Hu's iconic Chinese wuxia film "Come Drink with Me (大醉俠)" became a pioneering classic of the Chinese wuxia film genre. In 1975 his film "A Touch of Zen (俠女)" won the Technical Grand Prize at the Cannes Film Festival, earning him international recognition. His works have redefined the aesthetics of wuxia cinema by incorporating various experimental approaches to storytelling influenced by Buddhism, Taoism, and Peking Opera.
In 1977, director Hu traveled to South Korea to shoot "Legend of the Mountain (山中傳奇, 1979)" and "Raining in the Mountain (空山靈雨, 1979)," the former of which was awarded Best Director and Best Art Direction awards at the Golden Horse Awards.
Having produced both films and wrote the screenplay for "Legend of the Mountain," Chung Ling will reflect on these two monumental films and King Hu’s distinguished film genre.
Chung Ling is a writer, scholar, translator, and screenwriter. She was Dean of Liberal Arts at National Sun Yat-sen University in Taiwan; the founding Master of Cheng Yu Tung College in the University of Macau; Dean of Arts, chair professor, and Associate Vice President at Hong Kong Baptist University. She is also the founder of the Dream of the Red Chamber Award (紅樓夢獎), an important literary prize for contemporary Chinese fiction as well as an author of numerous books in Chinese, which range from prose to poetry and literary criticism to short stories.
Initiated in 2013 by Taiwan's Ministry of Culture, the Spotlight Taiwan Project seeks to establish long-term relationships with global professional art and culture organizations and leading universities to promote Taiwan's culture to the international community. This year, Taiwan Academy of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Los Angeles partners with UCLA CCS to launch, "Taiwan in Dialogue" lecture/dialogue series, which encompass eight online events from February to November.
The event will be held through Zoom as it livestreams on CCS's YouTube channel and Facebook. For more information on registering for the event, please click here.