Hong Kong movies have played a giant role in shaping the pop culture of the world.  We'll take a look at the history of Hong Kong and its movies through the lenses of its most popular genres.

In the first of this four part series, we'll take an overall look at the formation of Hong Kong, the growth of the movie industry. The focus will be on the Kungfu genre. We'll look at the legends of the genre. We'll explore the history behind the martial arts and their schools, and how Kungfu took the world by storm.

Movies cited:

The Big Boss, 1971
Fists of Fury, 1972
Way of the Dragon, 1972
Enter the Dragon, 1973
Five Fingers of Death, 1972
Master of the Flying Guillotine, 1976
The Thirty Sixth Chambers of Shaolin, 1978
Drunken Master, 1978
Mystery of Chess Boxing, 1979
Return to the 36th Chamber, 1980
Once Upon A Time in China series, 1991-1997
Ip Man series, 2008-2019

Some great resources:

Accented Cinema: https://www.youtube.com/@AccentedCinema
The 37th Chamber: https://www.youtube.com/@the37thchamber93
Cool History Bros: https://www.youtube.com/@CoolHistoryBros
Never Grow Up, by Jackie Chan
Bruce Lee: A Life, by Matthew Polly
Chinese Martial Arts: From Antiquity to the 21st Century, Peter A. Lorge
The Cinema of Hong Kong: History, Arts, Identity
Martial Arts Cinema and Hong Kong Modernity: Aesthetics, Representation, Circulation, Yip Man-Fung