Ten Chinese Films That Will Turn Your Head Around
by Walter Jon Williams

1. Chinese Ghost Story, starring Leslie Cheung and Joey Wong [Wang]. My favorite occult film, which is saying a lot. Terror, action, and romance are wonderfully blended into an almost perfect film.
2. Zu: Warriors of Magic Mountain, directed by Tsui Hark. The first of the modern sword-and-sorcery films, and maybe the best.
3. Peking Opera Blues, directed by Tsui Hark. A costume comedy-adventure set in the 1900s, and starring the wonderful Brigitte Lin, also known as Venus Lin and Lin Ching-Hsia.
4. Police Story 1. Jackie Chan at his best, ably supported by Brigitte Lin and Maggie Cheung.
5. Police Story 3: Supercop, just Supercop in the States. Jackie Chan meets Michelle Khan! Yeow!
6. Project A. Jackie Chan battles pirates in 1890s Hong Kong. The first film Jackie controlled, and a real groundbreaker.
7. Crazy Safari. Hopping Chinese vampires in Africa! See the One-Eyebrow Priest ride his battle-ostrich into combat alongside NiXau, the Bushman star of The Gods Must Be Crazy. See our heroes fight the undead, a bunch of Boers, and the entire Zulu Nation! See Bushman NiXau possessed by the spirit of Bruce Lee! Must be seen to be believed.
8. The Legend of Fong Sai-Yuk, starring Jet Li [Li Lian-ji]. Jet Li is one of the great action stars of all time, and this is one of his best films. He is ably seconded by Josephine Siao as his demented mom, whose reaction to the fact that another woman intends to marry her [after she's won a fight dressed as a man] is to burn down the house and pretend to be dead.
9. Hard Boiled, directed by John Woo. This is my favorite of Woo's actioners starring the highly charismatic Chow Yun-Fat. Fantastic action! Weird homoerotic overtones! More ammunition expended than during the Tet Offensive!
10. Bride With the White Hair, starring Leslie Cheung and Brigitte Lin. Who says romance is dead? Doomed lovers Cheung and Lin fight family, history, and the Siamese Twins of Death in this bittersweet tale of love and tragedy.