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Hsia nu (1969) Background

(aka A Touch of Zen)

As a student King Hu was captivated by the tales of ghosts and fox-spirits contained within Liao-chai chih-yi (Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio) by the scholar Pu Sung-ling (1640-1715).   He had wanted to make a film based on the stories since he first started making films, but had felt prevented from doing so by the simplicity of their plots, and the heavily didactic themes within the stories, which lacked any meaningful message.

While talking with some friends about the tales, it occurred to Hu that if he were able to incorporate a theme of Zen Buddhism into the tale ‘The Heroic Maid’ – one of the Liao-chai stories – the resulting film could be highly effective.   Although he was not a Buddhist himself, Hu was fascinated by the challenge of showing something that was not possible to explain by the logical processes of Western philosophy.  As Hu explained in the press kit for the film, ‘It must be very difficult to explain the concept of sweet to someone who has never tasted sugar; but enlightenment will come the instant you feed him a piece of candy.   ‘Wu’ (awakening) is somewhat akin to this process’.

 He spent six months writing the screenplay.

When it came to preparing for the shoot, Hu felt it was vital that all the costumes, properties and sets be true – and not merely realistic – in order to achieve the necessary supernatural flavour (the touch of Zen). To ensure this authenticity, all aspects of design, from the drawing boards to the sets came under Hu’s personal supervision.  The set of the haunted military fort in which Yang Hui-chen seeks refuge actually took nine months to construct, with Hu struggling to realise his artistic vision while he attempted to keep costs within budget.   Once it was built, Hu and his crew had to find a way to age the set convincingly, and then plant grass (a kind of ghostly white fern) to make it look overgrown.   Several fully-grown trees were transplanted to the set from other locations.   Although this all proved to be very expensive, the studio managed to recoup its costs by renting the set out for other films: by 1975 approximately 200 films had been shot there according to Hu

.

 The film took two years to shoot.   Because the times in which the shoot took place were often at odds with the season called for by the script, it was necessary to shoot the scenes out of sequence.   Three different cameramen were used on separate occasions, and Hu gave himself the difficult task of ensuring continuity in light and shade between the different segments.   The bamboo forest (where Yang Hui-chen first confronts the fugitives) was in a valley that only caught the sun 3 to 4 hours a day, and so it took 25 days to film the 10-minute sequence.

During the shoot, the film’s producer Jung-Feng Sha, complained that the film was running over-budget and suggested to Hu that he re-edit the film to be released in two parts.   Hu agreed to give it a go, even though he was halfway through filming.   Then, when the shoot was almost complete, Sha changed his mind.   Hu furiously pointed out that the film was not a piece of elastic that could be stretched or snapped tighter to suit the producer’s wishes.

 Editing the movie took Hu three months.   Once it was complete, he went to the United States to attend a conference, and returned to discover that in his absence the film had been edited from its intended 200 minute version to a truncated 2 hour print that was a flop upon its release.   Hu never watched this drastically edited version, and it was for this reason – and the fact that his name had been attached to films with which he had nothing to do for promotional purposes – that Hu felt compelled to leave the Union Film Company with whom he had signed in 1965.

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