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Post by yenchin on Aug 26, 2018 3:53:04 GMT
While researching on Nine Dragon Warriors I got into some history of the Taiwanese Wuxia Dramas. Besides some scattered information, there is this long article which was published in 1999, documenting the peak of Taiwanese Wuxia Drama in the 80s. It's kind of unstructured itself, often repeating content after a few paragraphs and the author sometimes wanders off point, but the content is at least a good primer for Taiwanese Wuxia Drama, and so I'll try my best to put in the content on this thread, as well as some other information I found. Updates will be indexed on this post. PtI The Early Age of Taiwanese Wuxia Drama (1970-1980)wuxiasociety.freeforums.net/post/6093/threadPt II Introduction of Hong Kong Series into Taiwanwuxiasociety.freeforums.net/post/6095/threadPt III Taiwanese Local Productions and Taiwanese Made Hong Kong Dramas (1)wuxiasociety.freeforums.net/post/6107/threadPt III Taiwanese Local Productions and Taiwanese Made Hong Kong Dramas (2)wuxiasociety.freeforums.net/post/6120/threadPt IV Interest in Wuxia Declineswuxiasociety.freeforums.net/post/6175/threadPt V The End of an Erawuxiasociety.freeforums.net/post/6186/thread------------ The Early Age of Taiwanese Wuxia Drama (1970-1980)The first Taiwanese Drama was aired in 1964, called Eccentric Heroine of Jianghu (江湖一奇女, 1964, TTV), there was only 1 episode and didn't have much effect. The second Taiwanese Wuxia Drama was in 1970 called Thief Red Line (紅線盜), and TV stations began producing Wuxia. In the early 70s various Taiwanese language Wuxia Dramas were produced, such as Heroic Bones, Gentle Feelings (俠骨柔情, 1970, TTV), Half Blade of Kang-ôo (江湖半把刀, 1972, TTV), and a long series Seven Swords of Sai Lei (西螺七劍, 1972, CTS). These Wuxia were more focused on folk legends and heroics. Some were adapted from the puppet show Scholar Hero of Hûn-chiu (雲州大儒俠, 1970, TTV). What really brought the Wuxia genre into television was Oath of the Jade Hairpin (玉釵盟, 1972, TTV), adapted from the novel of the same name written by Wolong Sheng. It had exterior scenes and a large, stellar cast. After that, in 1974, CTS presented The Escorters (保鏢, 1974, CTS), which had high ratings and more than a hundred episodes.
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Post by yenchin on Aug 26, 2018 4:12:43 GMT
Some videos related to the series mentioned.
Half Blade of Kang-ôo
Opening and Closing theme of The Seven Swords of Sai Lei
Scholar Hero of Hûn-chiu (This is likely from the 80s remake or direct video version...I posted it here just for the sake of showing what it's about)
Main theme of Oath of the Jade Hairpin
Main theme of The Escorters
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Post by yenchin on Aug 26, 2018 4:48:16 GMT
Introduction of Hong Kong Series into Taiwan
In 1982, during the Golden Bell Award (highest honor of Taiwanese Television), two episodes of Chor Lau Heung (楚留香, 1979, TVB) were aired on CTV Taiwan as "selected views". They were highly praised and CTV purchased the series with Mandarin dubbing and was an instant hit with 70% rating. The social effects were strongly felt: When the show was on TV, streets became more empty, taxis stopped picking up passengers. There were a lot of restaurants or tea shops named "Chor Lau Heung" or "Mo Fa". The phenomenom was highly discussed on all media, domestic actors worried about their acting rights, legislators in parliament questioned about the content, and the main theme of CLH also became a popular song for funeral processions. After four months, according to the law, HK dramas had restricted broadcast time, and CLH went from CTV Taiwan to CTS Taiwan.
After CLH was The Green Dragon Conspiracy (琥珀青龍, 1982, RTV), which was expected to be a hit due to its suspense and Chiang Tai Wai. However, because there was excessive fighting and a later airing slot (it was broadcasted at 21:30), it had weaker effect.
Then there was Young's Female Warrior (楊門女將, 1981, TVB), which made Shek Sau popular in Taiwan, and resulting in the TV stations to purchase The Young Heroes of Shaolin (英雄出少年, 1981, TVB), another Shek Sau drama.
Then came The Hawk (飛鷹, 1981, TVB), The Legend of the Unknowns (十三妹, 1983, TVB), Reincarnated (天蠶變 1979, RTV). The popularity of Reincarnated also resulted in The Bastard Swordsman (天蠶變, 1983, Shaw Brothers) having a strong opening but rapid drop in the box office in Taiwan, because at that time Reincarnated was still on air and the movie was quite different from the series.
Finally came Demi Gods & Semi Dragons, the only Jin Yong series of that era.
In the first weeks of its airing, DGSD scored twice in ratings against a famous variety show, Variety 100 (綜藝100, 1979, CTS) of CTS. Variety 100 was dominating the Sunday night timeslot since 1979 and was finally crushed in competition, marking the beginning of its decline. Around that time a filmmaker invited most of the original cast, substituted Bryan Leung with Norman Chui and filmed Demi Gods and Semi Dragons (1982, New Century Motion Pictures(?)). This film was retitled "Demi Gods and Semi Dragons Grand Finale" in Taiwan, and was released during the Lunar New Year holidays. Shaw Brothers also rushed their Return of the Bastard Swordsman around the same time.
At this time, the Taiwanese Actors Association finally had enough, they lobbied complaints to the Government Information Bureau, and finally HK Dramas were banned from television.
However, at this time videotapes were still allowed and audiences were still able to watch series from Hong Kong.
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Post by yenchin on Aug 26, 2018 5:34:49 GMT
Since the series discussed above are all HK productions, I'll put some of their Mandarin main themes over here. All HK series were dubbed and their main themes were sung by Taiwanese singers. I couldn't find the Mandarin main theme for The Hawk or The Young Heroes of Shaolin. They do exist though. Chor Lau Heung. I see a lot of people criticizing it in the comments section. The Green Dragon Conspiracy vlog.xuite.net/play/UDF2SG1MLTE4ODI0NjAuZmx2/Young's Female Warrior Legend of the Unknowns Reincarnated (Sooooooft) DGSD There are two versions by the same singers, this one seems to be the one used on TV. This version seems less serious. It's too happy for me. Ending theme
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Post by reinafu on Aug 26, 2018 10:04:39 GMT
Thank you soooooo much for all these informations and clips !!
I guess that these series are completely unavailable anywhere...So sad !
Also, I guess that this series Seven swords of Sai Lei and the series New seven swords of Xiluo tell the same story ?
I LOVE this Chang Ling's song ! I didn't know that the English title for the series Bai Biao was The escorters.
Finally, if it's not too demanding, would it be possible to get the pinyin lyrics for the theme of The escorters, please ? I only caught " Tian Shan Bai Xiong... ", then " Wo Hui Liao Yi ... " and then " Wei Shenma Wo Dui Ta "...
And it looks like the series Half-blade of Kang Ôo has a story with Japanese, because it seems to me that on the first picture of the link to the blog regarding this series, the first guy wears Japanese clothes...
How interesting it would be to see these old 60's-70's series, but unfortunately, it seems that youn people nowadays aren't interested in any of these old gems...
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Post by reinafu on Aug 26, 2018 21:23:57 GMT
I had missed the first clip this morning ! The images shown are from the movie The broken sword with Au Wei and Got Siu Bo. Is the series Hald sword of Kang Ôo related to this movie ?
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Post by galvatron prime on Aug 26, 2018 23:54:00 GMT
Introduction of Hong Kong Series into TaiwanIn 1982, during the Golden Bell Award (highest honor of Taiwanese Television), two episodes of Chor Lau Heung (楚留香, 1979, TVB) were aired on CTV Taiwan as "selected views". They were highly praised and CTV purchased the series with Mandarin dubbing and was an instant hit with 70% rating. The social effects were strongly felt: When the show was on TV, streets became more empty, taxis stopped picking up passengers. There were a lot of restaurants or tea shops named "Chor Lau Heung" or "Mo Fa". The phenomenom was highly discussed on all media, domestic actors worried about their acting rights, legislators in parliament questioned about the content, and the main theme of CLH also became a popular song for funeral processions. After four months, according to the law, HK dramas had restricted broadcast time, and CLH went from CTV Taiwan to CTS Taiwan. After CLH was The Green Dragon Conspiracy (琥珀青龍, 1982, RTV), which was expected to be a hit due to its suspense and Chiang Tai Wai. However, because there was excessive fighting and a later airing slot (it was broadcasted at 21:30), it had weaker effect. Then there was Young's Female Warrior (楊門女將, 1981, TVB), which made Shek Sau popular in Taiwan, and resulting in the TV stations to purchase The Young Heroes of Shaolin (英雄出少年, 1981, TVB), another Shek Sau drama. Then came The Hawk (飛鷹, 1981, TVB), The Legend of the Unknowns (十三妹, 1983, TVB), Reincarnated (天蠶變 1979, RTV). The popularity of Reincarnated also resulted in The Bastard Swordsman (天蠶變, 1983, Shaw Brothers) having a strong opening but rapid drop in the box office in Taiwan, because at that time Reincarnated was still on air and the movie was quite different from the series. Finally came Demi Gods & Semi Dragons, the only Jin Yong series of that era. In the first weeks of its airing, DGSD scored twice in ratings against a famous variety show, Variety 100 (綜藝100, 1979, CTS) of CTS. Variety 100 was dominating the Sunday night timeslot since 1979 and was finally crushed in competition, marking the beginning of its decline. Around that time a filmmaker invited most of the original cast, substituted Bryan Leung with Norman Chui and filmed Demi Gods and Semi Dragons (1982, New Century Motion Pictures(?)). This film was retitled "Demi Gods and Semi Dragons Grand Finale" in Taiwan, and was released during the Lunar New Year holidays. Shaw Brothers also rushed their Return of the Bastard Swordsman around the same time. At this time, the Taiwanese Actors Association finally had enough, they lobbied complaints to the Government Information Bureau, and finally HK Dramas were banned from television. However, at this time videotapes were still allowed and audiences were still able to watch series from Hong Kong. yenchinSo,after the HK drama was banned by Taiwanese government,it start Introduction of Hong Kong Actor and Actress into Taiwan like Adam Cheng ,Kenny Ho,Michelle Yim,Max Mok,David Chiang ,Felix Wong ,Dicky Cheung,Norman Tsui,Julian Cheung etc. Do the Taiwanese Actors Association complain to Government Information Bureau about this?
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Post by yenchin on Aug 27, 2018 4:12:52 GMT
Introduction of Hong Kong Series into TaiwanAt this time, the Taiwanese Actors Association finally had enough, they lobbied complaints to the Government Information Bureau, and finally HK Dramas were banned from television. However, at this time videotapes were still allowed and audiences were still able to watch series from Hong Kong. yenchin So,after the HK drama was banned by Taiwanese government,it start Introduction of Hong Kong Actor and Actress into Taiwan like Adam Cheng ,Kenny Ho,Michelle Yim,Max Mok,David Chiang ,Felix Wong ,Dicky Cheung,Norman Tsui,Julian Cheung etc. Do the Taiwanese Actors Association complain to Government Information Bureau about this? Probably not. Because at least the Taiwanese actors still had some chance in participating in filming, as opposed to the whole series imported from Hong Kong and basically zero participation.
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Post by siuyiu on Aug 27, 2018 4:16:01 GMT
yenchin this is fascinating! once i've had the chance to watch the vids as well, i'll jot down a few more thoughts! meanwhile, more info, please!
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Post by yenchin on Aug 27, 2018 5:09:29 GMT
reinafu: The Broken Sword: To be frank besides difference in language (the movie is in Mandarin while the TV series is in Taiwanese) I really don't know. The screenshots in the music video seems to be taken from the movie. The lyrics of the song, though, fit the main character a lot. I suspect that the Taiwanese show (which was later than the movie) might have at least borrowed ideas from the movie. New/Seven Swords of Sai Lei/Xi Luo: These two series are based on the same historical premise, that there were seven martial art families in the Xi Luo region of Taiwan, and a master, nicknamed "Ah San Sai" (Ah Shan Shi, "Master San/Shan") came and united the families. I haven't watched either series, but based on information on the internet, the older series seems to be set before the Japanese occupied Taiwan, while the newer series seem to be set in an earlier era focusing on the families' links with the Heaven and Earth Society. The Bao Biao English title was made up by me. There weren't official English titles for Taiwanese series at that time so I just translated it. Lyrics for the theme: 天上白雲飄蕩 tiān shàng bái yún piāo dàng 地上人兒馬蹄忙 dì shàng rén ér mǎ tí máng 我為了一腔俠骨柔情 wǒ wéi le yī qiāng xiá gǔ róu qíng 流浪走四方 liú làng zǒu sì fāng 不怕風和霜 bù pà fēng hé shuāng 只怕情絲亂 zhī pà qíng sī luàn 想把兒女私情放 xiǎng bǎ ér nǚ sī qíng fàng 誰知偏又不能放 shuí zhī piān yòu bù néng fàng
為什麼我對他 wéi she mo wǒ duì tā
總是情難忘 zǒng shì qíng nán wàng
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Post by reinafu on Aug 27, 2018 7:07:17 GMT
THANK YOU VERY MUCH !!!
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Post by yenchin on Aug 27, 2018 10:29:57 GMT
Pt III Taiwanese Local Productions and Taiwanese Made Hong Kong Dramas (1)
With the impact of HK Dramas, some producers, such as Wei Hsin (韋辛), of CTS, chose to push the quality of local productions to face competition. When Young's Female Warrior and The Young Heroes of Shaolin were airing, Wei worked with Barry Chan on Dagger Lee (小李飛刀, 1982, CTS). The show didn't fare well against the HK productions but at least it didn't suffer a crushing defeat. This "small defeat" result was praised and Wei Hsin produced The Eleventh Son (蕭十一郎, 1983, CTS) to follow up. At the same time TTV produced Bright Moon Boundless Sky (明月天涯, 1983, TTV, based on Gu Long's The Unofficial History of the Martial World ), while CTV was airing The Hawk. The Hawk won both local shows, but The Eleventh Son only suffered a small defeat.
Around this time Kwan Chung joined the cast of Jade Maiden's Flute (玉女神笛, 1983, CTS), marking the first time a Hong Kong actor was in a Taiwanese Wuxia Drama.
When CTV was airing The Legend of the Unknowns, TTV produced The Rogue Hawk (浪子飛鷹, 1983, TTV, not a Wuxia) and Wei Hsin produced The Crafting Dragon (七巧游龍, CTS, 1983). TTV's show still failed but The Crafting Dragon gradually progressed in ratings, eventually winning over The Legend of the Unknowns during its finale.
After the ban of HK Dramas, studios began inviting stars and crews from Hong Kong to produce their own shows. These were known as the "Taiwanese made HK Dramas" (台製港劇).
TTV started this trend by filming the Jagged Yang Family Warriors (鐵血楊家將, 1984, TTV) in 1984. After that was Shaolin Temple (少林寺, 1984, TTV), starring Shek Sau, then Norman Tsui starred in Dragon Swordsman (天龍劍俠, 1984, TTV), and then there was Cold Moon, Lone Star, Sword (冷月孤星劍, 1984, TTV).
On the other hand, Zhou You (周遊), of CTV, produced Return of the Condor Heroes (神鵰俠侶, 1984, CTV) to compete with Shaolin Temple. At that time the HK version of ROCH (1983, TVB) was popular in the video rental market, and Zhou invited Meng Fei and Angela Pan from Hong Kong to star in her show. ROCH competed with Shaolin Temple.
The first episode of ROCH resulted in a small loss. With Shaolin Temple getting near its finale and ROCH getting near Xiao Long Nu's debut, the audience were in a hard dilemma. Shaolin Temple's approach was stable, powerful and realistic, while ROCH focused on special effects and beautiful visuals. Every time XLN showed up on the screen the camera angles and the editing and her poses some say even surpassed the HK Drama version
Under crossfire from HK Dramas and Taiwanese HK Dramas, the other TV station, CTS, which was originally dominating the weekend time slot for five years with its variety show, Variety 100, was finally forced to cancel the show in October, 1984.
Zhou You later utilized the popularity of TVB's The Duke of Mount Deer (鹿鼎記, 1984, TVB) and produced her version of The Deer and the Cauldron (鹿鼎記, 1984, CTV) with modest success due to lower budget. It competed against TTV's Heavenly Sword and Dragon Saber (倚天屠龍記, 1984, TTV), another Jin Yong adaption, starring Roy Liu De Kai, directed by Chen Ming Hua (陳明華). HSDS had Lau Yuk-Pok as Chao Min (which, according to Jin Yong fans by 2009, is the best version), as well as Yu Ke-Hsin as Chou Zhirou. Yu was all over gossip news because she was dating Andy Lau at that time, which also boosted the popularity of the series. Eventually, HSDS had higher ratings.
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Post by yenchin on Aug 27, 2018 11:15:29 GMT
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Post by reinafu on Aug 27, 2018 13:28:24 GMT
Thank you again for all these informations and clips. I'm surprised that huaijiu99 shows whole series. Until now, I had only saw very short clip of their series.
I noticed that Chang Ling's series Bao Biao shares the same Chinese title as the Shaw Brothers' movie Have sword will travel with Ti Lung, David Chiang, Ku Feng and Li Ching. Are the plots related ?
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Post by yenchin on Aug 28, 2018 11:58:12 GMT
Thank you again for all these informations and clips. I'm surprised that huaijiu99 shows whole series. Until now, I had only saw very short clip of their series.
I noticed that Chang Ling's series Bao Biao shares the same Chinese title as the Shaw Brothers' movie Have sword will travel with Ti Lung, David Chiang, Ku Feng and Li Ching. Are the plots related ?
No they aren't. The premises are also very different.
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