“Never bring a knife to a gun fight,” a wise man once said, giving useful, if limited, advice. What might one bring to a broadsword battle, or a chain-whip melee? How best to fend off a Chinese spear, or a three-section staff? This collection draws from more than half a century of martial arts cinema to introduce what director Lau Kar-leung describes in the title of his 1982 wuxia wonder as the Legendary Weapons of China.
Picking up their blades for the breathtaking final battle in Xu Haofeng and Xu Junfeng’s 100 Yards (2023), the embittered apprentices of the film’s rival fight schools are embracing a tradition in screen combat that dates back to the earliest days of Chinese cinema. Before kung fu came on the scene, the wuxia—or “martial chivalry”—genre was synonymous with swordplay. When Shaw Brothers Studio inaugurated a golden age of big-screen brawling in the mid-1960s, filmmakers like Lau and the great Chang Cheh unleashed an endlessly inventive procession of weapons-based skirmishes.
From the defining films of the Shaw Brothers library to the work of modern masters such as Zhang Yimou and Hou Hsiao-hsien, this collection traces a cinematic legacy of sharpened steel. In a wild world of flying guillotines and one-armed swordsmen, fists and feet will only get you so far.

&#8220;Never bring a knife to a gun fight,&#8221; a wise man once said, giving useful, if limited, advice. What might one bring to a broadsword battle, or a chain-whip melee? How best to fend off a Chinese spear, or a three-section staff? This collection draws from more than half a century of martial arts cinema to introduce what director Lau Kar-leung describes in the title of his 1982 wuxia wonder as the Legendary Weapons of China.
Picking up their blades for the breathtaking final battle in Xu Haofeng and Xu Junfeng&#8217;s 100 Yards (2023), the embittered apprentices of the film&#8217;s rival fight schools are embracing a tradition in screen combat that dates back to the earliest days of Chinese cinema. Before kung fu came on the scene, the wuxia&#8212;or &#8220;martial chivalry&#8221;&#8212;genre was synonymous with swordplay. When Shaw Brothers Studio inaugurated a golden age of big-screen brawling in the mid-1960s, filmmakers like Lau and the great Chang Cheh unleashed an endlessly inventive procession of weapons-based skirmishes.
From the defining films of the Shaw Brothers library to the work of modern masters such as Zhang Yimou and Hou Hsiao-hsien, this collection traces a cinematic legacy of sharpened steel. In a wild world of flying guillotines and one-armed swordsmen, fists and feet will only get you so far.

Beyond the 36th Chamber

BEYOND THE 36TH CHAMBER

From the defining films of the Shaw Brothers library to the work of modern masters such as Zhang Yimou and Hou Hsiao-hsien, this collection traces a cinematic legacy of sharpened steel. In a wild world of flying guillotines and one-armed swordsmen, fists and feet will only get you so far.

From the defining films of the Shaw Brothers library to the work of modern masters such as Zhang Yimou and Hou Hsiao-hsien, this collection traces a cinematic legacy of sharpened steel. In a wild world of flying guillotines and one-armed swordsmen, fists and feet will only get you so far.

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Contains material that may not be suitable for children or young adults.