Chang Cheh

Chang Cheh was born on February 10, 1923, in Shanghai, China. He studied politics at the National Central University (Nanjing University) in Chongqing, and then moved to Hong Kong, where he became a film critic. He started his career in the film industry as a screenwriter, and made his directorial debut in 1949 with Happenings in Ali Shan. He joined the Shaw Brothers Studio in 1957, and became one of the most prolific and influential directors in Hong Kong cinema. He was known for his martial arts films, especially wuxia and kung fu films, which were filled with violence, heroism and bloodshed. He also experimented with other genres, such as modern period dramas, costume epics and historical films. He worked with many famous actors, such as Jimmy Wang Yu, David Chiang, Ti Lung, Alexander Fu Sheng, and the Venom Mob. He also collaborated with other directors, such as Wu Ma, Pao Hsueh-li, and Liu Chia-liang. He was influenced by directors such as Akira Kurosawa, Hideo Gosha, Sergio Leone, and Sam Peckinpah, and brought elements from their films into his own work. He was also a screenwriter, lyricist and producer, and wrote novels, poetry and non-film related articles under various pseudonyms. He was widely regarded as the "Godfather of Hong Kong cinema" and a cultural icon of China. He was also a member of the third batch of national intangible cultural heritage inheritors, a member of Chinese Ballad Singers Association and a member of China Society for Literature Popular Research. He died of a heart attack on June 22, 2002, at the age of 79, in Hong Kong.