We love our kung fu stars
From Bruce Lee
To Jackie Chan
To Jet Li
And now, Donnie Yen
But kicking ass is hardly a men-only game
Two of the best sword fights in movie history
Are performed by actresses
In Chinese, we called them "Da Nü"
Fighting women
A special title for action ladies who dare to break the traditional gender roles
Actresses who are known for their punches, kicks and all around badassery
Women warriors who stand defiantly in the face of patriarchy
All while looking fabulous
The live action Mulan remake is coming out soon
What better time to dedicate an episode to the proud ladies in our audience
Buckle up, as we journey through the history of Chinese cinema in a 2-part series
To learn about the stories behind a few fighting women
And how they reflect women's culture in China of their respective era
This is my ode
To kung fu heroines
Back in feudal China, during the Qing Dynasty
Opera theatre actors were all men
Even when the roles were female
That's because acting as a career was generally looked down upon in feudal China
Basically viewed as only slightly better than prostitution
In a highly patriarchal, repressive society
Seeing a woman in public
Actively flaunting herself in front of a large crowd was deemed unacceptable
Additionally, opera companies travelled around
And inevitably, actresses draw a lot of attention from gangsters
Not to victim blame here
But with law enforcement being rather limited in those days
It is understandable why only men stayed in the business for long
Not that being a man is safe, mind you
But that's a story for another time
Things changed in late Qing dynasty
Many women at the time took up arms and joined the rebellions
And would go on to be politically active in the Republic of China
Gradually gaining grounds for women on the issue of equal rights
During and after World War II
In the early years of the People's Republic of China
There were also notable movements for female equality and empowerment
With 1955's directive
"Women Hold Up Half the Sky"
Being one of the more famous examples
All this gradually eroded of the old conservative moral code
Opera ceased to be a men-only industry
One funny side effect, however
Is that now female characters can be played by both men or women
And occasionally, you can even see a woman playing a male character
With Brigitte Lin's Dongfang Bubai being the most iconic
And still, the dismissal of acting as a career for women has not gone away, even today
"Why acting?"
"It's not a real job"
Prejudice against actresses, especially B and C list actresses
Is still strong
And from what I can tell
This prejudice is nowhere near as strong against men
People still see C-list actresses as people
Who sell their bodies for opportunities
As if that's the fault of the actresses
In effect, female empowerment gave women the chance to join the workforce
But the old cultural perception lingers
That women should prioritize taking care of their families
So now, women not only have to work
But also have to take care of their home
So this is where we are at
Some progress was made
But there are still a lot of things needing to be done
Now, let's see how movies reflect that
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Introducing Xu Qin-fang
One of China's earliest action heroines
Born in 1907
Xu was, by all account, a new generation woman for her time
A horse riding
Sword dancing
Badass
She knew how to drive!
A woman, driving
In the 1930s!
Xu was a student of China's first cinema acting school
Chinese Cinema Academy of Shanghai
Just one year after her enrollment
She co-starred in the period drama
Complaints
Which launched her career
In 1930
Xu starred in, supposedly, the first Chinese martial arts film ever
The Swordswoman of Huangjiang
Effectively making her not only the first "Da Nü" ever
But the first action star in China
The Swordswoman of Huangjiang is a 13 part series
In which the titular swordswoman goes through a serialized adventure
Fighting giant birds and stuff
All but one film is lost to history
And the remaining footage is damaged beyond repair
Yet, we can still see her performance quite well
Confident
Slightly unkempt
And takes a bite right out of a piece of metal
Strength is how she rolls
Compared to other movies from the same era
Xu's character shows little traditional feminine beauty
This shows that, at the time
Strength was still largely synonymous with masculinity
For a woman to be strong
She must exhibits the qualities of a man
Down to the unkempt appearance
But beautiful or not
As you can see from news paper articles
She was popular indeed
Xu would continue to make movies all the way to 1951
Some of her films would have explicit messages for gender equality
Such as 1934's Bible for Girls
Where the topic of workplace sexual harrasment is discussed
1933's Actress on the Way
And 1934's The Doctrine of Women
Explore domestic abuse from the perspective of a wife
And a mother, respectively
Sadly, these films are either extremely hard to find
Or lost to history
For its time, these topics were fairly radical
A sharp criticism of the conservative value
And the burden it put on women
In short, Xu was a radical woman with great ambitions
Compare to her contemporary, Chien Szu-Ying
Who also appears in Swordswoman of Huangjiang
And had a similar career to Xu
Later in life, Chien married director Hung Chung-Ho
And had to quit acting afterward
Now, it's worth noting that Chien had every intention to keep on acting
And left purely because taking care of her 7 children proved too much to handle
This is what I mean by women taking care of their home and work
Old moral code dictated that she had to put family first
Xu, however, did not let moral code get in her way
Reportedly, during the war
She and her company visited the militaries hospitals and refugee camps around China
Doing shows and helping out in her own way
In 1951, she settled down and became an Opera actor in Shanghai
1981, she started working as a member of Shanghai Wenshi Research Hall
She never retired, and passed away four years later, 1985
At age 79
For a woman who was most active in the 1930s and 40s
It is not a stretch to call Xu a revolutionary
She can certainly kick some ass on screen
But her dedication to the public
From fighting against sexism
To supporting the war effort
Is what makes her a true fighter
Fast forward to the 1960s
WWII was over
Old mainland Chinese film industry moved to British Hong Kong
And Taiwanese cinema was booming
And we see many heroines left their marks on cinema history in this era
There was Polly Kuan
A karate and taekwondo blackbelt
Famous for her starring role in Dragon Inn
And there's also Hsu Feng
Famous for A Touch of Zen
But few can truly compete with legend herself
Cheng Pei-pei
With 6 years of ballet training
At the young age of 19
Cheng became a super star with her terrific performance in Come Drink With Me
Cheng plays the Golden Swallow
A famous detective on a mission to arrest a rebel
And rescue her brother
Nimble, agile
Uses twin daggers instead of swords
And single handedly takes out a group of men
Even when she travels in disguise as a man
Cheng's character exhibits just a bit more traditional femininity than her predecessors
Empowering her gender
Rather than stripping it away from her
The perception of masculinity equals strength was somewhat eroded by the 60s
Still, Golden Swallow had to seek help from a man later in the film
In order to defeat a very effeminate villain
All that kinda dampens the message a little
But at least there's not romance plot between them
Actually pretty surprising for the period
Nevertheless, Cheng became a sensation
And an inspiration for many
Progressively carving out a bigger and bigger market for female lead action films
Starring in a sequel Golden Swallow
Lady Hermit
And in 1970, Lady of Steel
In which she plays the same character that her predecessor Xu Qin-fang had once played
The swordswoman of Huangjiang
After 1970, Cheng got married and moved to the US
She left the film industry and began taking care of her family
While pursuing a degree in dancing
She later divorced her husband in 1987
And returned to the big screen
By that time, she was pushing 50s
Our previously mentioned actress Chien Szu-ying also attempted the same thing
But only ever got minor roles and cameos
However, age did not stop Cheng
Cheng was invited by big classic movie fanatic, Stephen Chow
To play a major role in his action comedy
Flirting Scholar
Originally many gags were meant to be performed by Gong Li, the lead actress
Being a classical dramatic actress
Gong Li refused to do most of the visual gags
Fearing it may damaged her career
It was at this moment, Cheng stepped up
And took on most of the gags herself
While there was some backlash innitially
Cheng's hilarious performance proves irresistibly charming
Showcasing her acting talent beyond fights
That's not to say she can't still fight
While her age and injuries forbids her from doing wire works
She can still kick higher than I can punch
Cheng's performance rekindled her career
Which led to her international fame
In Ang Lee's Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon
A movie of which, we'll talk about next time
Cheng is an absolute badass
A strong fighter on screen
But even more so in real life
Refusing to be shackled by burden society put on her
Cheng cares for her family
And still manages to remain relevant to this day
Every time I see her in Mulan
I still expect her to jump out and kick everyone's ass
What a legend
Can you imagine
How much pressure there must be
To be an action heroine back in the early days of Chinese cinema?
It was the 1930s
Women were frequently nothing more than damsels in Hollywood movies
A time when innocent young girls awaiting rescue from men was the norm
Hell, the 19th amendment that allowed women to vote
Was ratified only 10 years prior
And here we have a woman having her own adventure
Not being subservient to anyone
These bold heroines went against the repressive moral code of their time
On screen, they were heroines who showcased what it meant to be a strong woman
And off screen, they continued to punch societal expectations in the face
And live their lives as they wished instead of conforming to traditional gender roles
But our story is not over
Tune in next time
As we head into the 80s
And journey all the way to today
To see how modern "Da Nü" continues the fight