top 100 chinese language films of all time
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- DirectorEdward YangStarsChang ChenLisa YangKuo-Chu ChangBased on a true story, primarily on a conflict between two youth gangs, a 14-year-old boy's girlfriend conflicts with the head of one gang for an unclear reason, until finally the conflict comes to a violent climax.
- DirectorEdward YangStarsNien-Jen WuElaine JinIssei OgataEach member of a middle-class Taipei family seeks to reconcile past and present relationships within their daily lives.
- DirectorBo HuStarsYu ZhangYuchang PengUvin WangFour people in a Chinese city live through a complicated day as their lives intersect.
- DirectorKar-Wai WongStarsBrigitte LinTakeshi KaneshiroTony Leung Chiu-waiTwo melancholic Hong Kong policemen fall in love: one with a mysterious female underworld figure, the other with a beautiful and ethereal waitress at a late-night restaurant he frequents.
- DirectorKar-Wai WongStarsTony Leung Chiu-waiMaggie CheungSiu Ping-LamTwo neighbors form a strong bond after both suspect extramarital activities of their spouses. However, they agree to keep their bond platonic so as not to commit similar wrongs.
- DirectorYimou ZhangStarsGong LiJingwu MaSaifei HeChina in the 1920s. After her father's death, Songlian is forced to marry the wealthy Master Chen. With three wives already, each living in a separate house, there is fierce competition for his attention and the privileges that are gained.
- DirectorKar-Wai WongStarsLeon LaiMichelle ReisTakeshi KaneshiroThis Hong Kong-set crime drama follows the lives of a hitman, hoping to get out of the business, and his elusive female partner.
- DirectorWen JiangStarsWen JiangKenya SawadaHongbo JiangVillagers in World War II China are unsure what to do with the two enemy prisoners who have been left in their care.
- DirectorEdward YangStarsCora MiaoLi-Chun LeeShih-Chieh KingA metaphysical mystery about the lives of three couples in Taipei that continually intersect over a span of several weeks.
- DirectorTsai Ming-liangStarsChen Chao-jungKang-sheng LeeKuei-Mei YangThree lonely young denizens of Taipei unknowingly share an apartment used for sexual trysts.
- DirectorKar-Wai WongStarsLeslie CheungTony Leung Chiu-waiChang ChenA couple take a trip to Argentina but both men find their lives drifting apart in opposite directions.
- DirectorTsai Ming-liangStarsKang-sheng LeeShiang-chyi ChenYi-ching LuA watch salesman meets a young woman soon leaving for Paris and becomes infatuated, so he begins to change all the clocks in Taipei to Paris time.
- DirectorTsai Ming-liangStarsKang-sheng LeeShiang-chyi ChenKiyonobu MitamuraOn a dark, wet night a historic and regal Chinese cinema sees its final film. Together with a small handful of souls they bid "Goodbye, Dragon Inn".
- DirectorWen JiangStarsYu XiaWei ChenShaobo DaiBeijing, 1970s. Now that the CR has driven most adults to the provinces, 14-year-old Monkey and his pals have free reign over the city. They hang around, get up to no good, and discover that unsolvable mystery referred to as "girls."
- DirectorYimou ZhangStarsYou GeGong LiBen NiuAfter Fugui and Jiazhen lose their personal fortunes, they raise a family and survive difficult cultural changes during 1940s to 1970s China.
- DirectorJohn WooStarsChow Yun-FatDanny LeeSally YehA disillusioned assassin accepts one last hit in hopes of using his earnings to restore vision to a singer he accidentally blinded.
- DirectorJohn WooStarsChow Yun-FatTony Leung Chiu-waiTeresa MoA tough-as-nails cop teams up with an undercover agent to shut down a sinister mobster and his crew.
- DirectorHsiao-Hsien HouStarsTony Leung Chiu-waiShu-Fen HsinSung-Young ChenThe story of a family embroiled in the "White Terror" that was wrought on the Taiwanese people by the Kuomintang government after their arrival from mainland China in the late 1940s.
- DirectorEdward YangStarsChin TsaiHsiao-Hsien HouI-Chen KoLung is a former member of the national Little League team who lives with his old childhood sweetheart Ah-chin, a traditional family woman. Although they live together, Ah-chin is weary of Lung's past liaison with another girl.
- DirectorTsai Ming-liangStarsKuei-Mei YangKang-sheng LeeMiao TienWhile never-ending rain and a strange disease spread by cockroaches ravage Taiwan, a plumber makes a hole between two apartments and the inhabitants of each form a unique connection, enacted in musical numbers.
- DirectorZhangke JiaStarsHongwei WangTao ZhaoLiang JingdongA theatre troupe from rural Fenyang struggles under the decline of communism and rise of popular culture in China in the 1980s.
- DirectorChia-Liang LiuStarsChia-Hui LiuSheng FuLily LiMongols with the help of an insider, ambush the influential Yang Family, defenders of the dynasty. The Mongols must hunt down all Yang survivors so their insidious plot to overthrow the dynasty will not be uncovered.
- DirectorKaige ChenStarsLeslie CheungFengyi ZhangGong LiTwo boys meet at an opera training school in Peking in 1924. Their resulting friendship will span nearly 70 years and endure some of the most troublesome times in China's history.
- DirectorNgai Choi LamStarsSiu-Wong FanMei Sheng FanKa-Kui HoRiki-Oh, a young man who has superhuman strength, is incarcerated in a private prison, where inmates are treated like slaves. He is forced to use his unstoppable form of martial arts to destroy the corrupt officials and their lackeys.
- DirectorHark TsuiStarsJoey WangMaggie CheungWenzhuo ZhaoTwo snake spirits become human and learn about love and suffering. A monk discovers his own weaknesses and finds that morality is not as simple as he had thought.
- DirectorTsai Ming-liangStarsWang Yu-wenChen Chao-jungKang-sheng LeeWithin the urban gloom of Taipei, four youths face alienation, loneliness, and moments of existential crisis amidst a series of minor crimes.
- DirectorEdward YangStarsSylvia ChangMing HsuLieh LeeTwo friends who haven't seen each other for thirteen years reunite. One is a successful concert pianist just back from a European tour and the other has just started a new business.
- DirectorKing HuStarsChun ShihFeng HsuSylvia ChangA scholar, tasked to copy a sutra, meets with a mysterious old lady and her daughter in the mountains.
- DirectorChia-Liang LiuStarsChia-Hui LiuLieh LoYue WongA man studies kung fu at the Shaolin Temple to fight back against the oppressive Manchu government.
- DirectorPeter Ho-Sun ChanStarsMaggie CheungLeon LaiEric TsangTwo Chinese-mainlanders living in Hong Kong form a close friendship. Over the years this grows into love, but there are obstacles.
- DirectorHsiao-Hsien HouStarsChia-bao ChangNeng ChangChih-Chen ChenThe semi-autobiographical film on director Hou Hsiao-Hsien's childhood and adolescence, when he was growing up in Taiwan, living through the deaths of his father, mother and grandmother.
- DirectorBi GanStarsTang WeiJue HuangSylvia ChangA man went back to Guizhou, found the tracks of a mysterious woman. He recalls the summer he spent with her twenty years ago.
- DirectorRingo LamStarsFennie YuenRoy CheungDamian LauA young schoolgirl gets involved in the triads of Hong Kong after a classmate is killed in a fight.
- DirectorJohn WooStarsTony Leung Chiu-waiJacky CheungWaise LeeWhen three close friends escape from Hong Kong to war-time Saigon to start a criminal's life, they all go through a harrowing experience which totally shatters their lives and their friendship forever.
- DirectorJackie ChanChi-Hwa ChenStarsJackie ChanMaggie CheungBrigitte LinA virtuous Hong Kong Police Officer must clear his good name when the drug lord he is after frames him for the murder of a dirty cop.
- DirectorBi GanStarsYongzhong ChenFeiyang LuoLixun XieWhile travelling the countryside to locate his nephew, a small town doctor finds himself interacting with people from his past and future.
- DirectorHsiao-Hsien HouStarsGrace ChenShu-Fang ChenShu-Fen HsinA young couple leave their mining town home for Taipei where they struggle to eke out a living in an industrial wasteland.
- DirectorHsiao-Hsien HouStarsTien-Lu LiGiong LimKuei-Chung ChengPuppeteer Li Tian-lu tells his life story, and through it, the story of Taiwan in the first half of the 20th century.
- DirectorTsai Ming-liangStarsKang-sheng LeeKuei-Mei YangYi-ching LuAn alcoholic man and his two young children barely survive in Taipei. They cross path with a lonely grocery clerk who might help them make a better life.
- DirectorFruit ChanStarsSam LeeNeiky Hui-Chi YimWenders LiAutumn Moon (Sam Lee), a low-rent triad living in Hong Kong, struggles to find meaning in his hopelessly violent existence.
- DirectorTsai Ming-liangStarsKang-sheng LeeShiang-chyi ChenNorman AtunA day laborer is badly beaten, and a young man nurses him back to health.
- DirectorZhangke JiaStarsTao ZhaoZhou LanSanming HanA town in Fengjie county is gradually being demolished and flooded to make way for the Three Gorges Dam. A man and woman visit the town to locate their estranged spouses, and become witness to the societal changes.
- DirectorHsiao-Hsien HouStarsTony Leung Chiu-waiMichiko HadaMichelle ReisIn the "flower houses" (upscale brothels) of Shanghai, various interweaving stories of love, loyalty, and deceit play out subtly.
- DirectorKing HuStarsPolly Ling-Feng Shang-KuanChun ShihYing BaiWhen the children of an executed General are pursued in 1457 China, some heroic martial arts swordsmen intervene.
- DirectorTsai Ming-liangStarsMiao TienKang-sheng LeeYi-ching LuA young man develops severe neck pain after swimming in a polluted river; his dysfunctional parents are unable to provide any relief for him or themselves.
- DirectorChih-Hung KueiStarsPhillip KoShao-Yen LinKar-Man WaiWhile in Thailand to avenge his brother who was crippled in a fight with a corrupt Thai boxer, a man gets caught up in a web of fate, Buddhism and black magic.
- DirectorKar-Wai WongStarsTony Leung Chiu-waiZiyi ZhangFaye WongSeveral women enter a science fiction author's life over the course of a few years, after the author has lost the woman he considers his one true love.
- DirectorZhangke JiaStarsHongwei WangHongjian HaoBaitao ZuoA small town pickpocket whose friends have moved on to higher trades finds himself bitter and unable to adapt.
- DirectorJohnnie ToStarsLouis KooSimon YamNick CheungAs election time nears, current Triad chairman Lok (Yam) faces competition from his godsons. At the same time, Jimmy (Koo) looks to increase his business relations with mainland China.
- DirectorChia-Liang LiuJackie ChanStarsJackie ChanHo-Sung PakLung TiA young martial artist is caught between respecting his pacifist father's wishes or stopping a group of disrespectful foreigners from stealing precious artifacts.
- DirectorTsai Ming-liangStarsKang-sheng LeeShiang-chyi ChenYi-ching LuHsiao-Kang, now working as a pornographic actor, meets Shiang-chyi once again. Meanwhile, the city of Taipei faces a water shortage that makes the sales of watermelons skyrocket.
- DirectorAng LeeStarsSihung LungKuei-Mei YangWang Yu-wenA senior chef lives with his three grown daughters; the middle one finds her future plans affected by unexpected events and the life changes of the other household members.
- DirectorHark TsuiStarsLieh LoChen-Chi LinAlbert AuThree lazybones friends manufacture a firebomb and place it in a cinema. Pearl, a sadistic young girl, has observed the scene, follows the bombers and starts to manipulate them. The four criminals plan more and more daring acts.
- DirectorJohnnie ToStarsLeon LaiChing Wan LauFiona LeungJack and Martin are members of rival Chinese triads in the middle of a gang war. Both of their gang leaders like to get advice from a fortune teller living in Thailand. On one such trip, Martin's gang ambushes Jack's at a Thai hotel. There is a spectacular shootout, in which both Martin and Jack are severely wounded. The leader of Jack's gang was at the hotel, unlike Martin's, and escapes. Afterwards, both gang leaders, Mr. Fong of Martin's and Mr. Yam of Jack's, go to a general and make peace. Meanwhile, both Jack and Martin are hospitalized. Martin's legs are amputated, and his girlfriend whores herself in order to get them back into Hong Kong...
- DirectorChia-Liang LiuStarsYue WongChia-Hui LiuLieh LoA prince enlists a thief to serve as his bodyguard to protect him from assassins.
- DirectorYu-Hsun ChenStarsAkio ChenYi-fan ChenHsiao-fan FanYoung boy, Ah-Jiang, a school failure and day dreamer witnesses the kidnapping of a child. After being taken hostage by a corrupt family, he begins an unusual adventure away from home.
- DirectorHark TsuiStarsBrigitte LinSally YehCherie ChungThe movie is set in chaotic 1920's China, when warlords fought each other for power while Sun Yat-Sen's underground movement tried to establish a democratic republic. The movie tells the story of three young women and two young men who are thrown together. One young woman grabs a box of jewels during the looting when one warlord takes Peking. A deserting soldier joins her, but the jewels end up at the Peking Opera. Here we meet the daughter of the head of the troupe, who dreams of being an actress. But even female roles are played by men in the opera. Soon, the daughter of the currently ruling warlord and a male agent of the democratic underground are involved.
- DirectorStanley KwanStarsMaggie CheungHan ChinTony Ka Fai LeungBiopic of 1930s Chinese actress Lingyu Ruan.
- DirectorYonggang WuStarsLingyu RuanTian JianZhizhi ZhangStreet walker by night, devoted mother by day, a woman fights to get her young son an education amid criminal and social injustice in China.
- DirectorSiu-Tung ChingStarsNorman ChuDamian LauFlora Chong-LeenThe best sword master from China vs the best sword master from Japan. Who will win?
- DirectorWan LaimingCheng TangStarsYue-Feng QiuRun-Sheng FuHans AlfredsonSun Wukong, the King of the Monkeys, sets off on his first adventure to gain a worthy weapon. This earns the attention of the Jade Emperor of Heaven.
- DirectorYimou ZhangFengliang YangStarsGong LiWei LiBaotian LiIn rural China, the young bride of a tyrannical owner of a silk-dyeing business finds temporary solace in the arms of her husband's nephew, but problems arise when she becomes pregnant.
- DirectorJohn WooStarsLung TiLeslie CheungChow Yun-FatA reforming ex-gangster tries to reconcile with his estranged policeman brother, but the ties to his former gang are difficult to break.
- DirectorHsiao-Hsien HouStarsShu QiJack KaoChun-hao TuanThe ethereally beautiful Vicky recalls her romances with Hao Hao and Jack in the neon-lit clubs of Taipei.
- DirectorJohnnie ToStarsNick CheungAnthony Chau-Sang WongFrancis NgA friendship is formed between an ex-gangster, and two groups of hitmen - those who want to protect him and those who were sent to kill him.
- DirectorNien-Jen WuStarsAkio ChenShu-Fang ChenJun FuAutobiographical story about the life of a poor family in the Taiwanese countryside during the 1940s and 1950s as the Japanese rule of the island ends and nationalist forces of Kwomintang arrive when the Communists take the mainland.
- DirectorJohnnie ToStarsLouis KooAaron KwokCherrie YingA former Judo champion is given the chance to redeem himself after he befriends a competitor and an aspiring singer.
- DirectorAndrew LauAlan MakStarsAndy LauTony Leung Chiu-waiAnthony Chau-Sang WongA story between a mole in the police department and an undercover cop. Their objectives are the same: to find out who is the mole, and who is the cop.
- DirectorToon WangStarsJen Chang-binXianmei ChenPin-Yuan HuangSet in 1920s Taiwan under Japanese rule, two men join the Chiu-Fen gold rush hoping for riches, while a widow struggles and a prostitute yearns for freedom. A mine collapse traps miners as the widow leaves town.
- DirectorJohnnie ToStarsLouis KooSammi ChengYuanyuan GaoAfter the bride of a popular actor ran away with her first love at their wedding, he went into grieving. In a drunken stupor, he ends up in a hotel atop the mountains. There, he finds love with a woman who is also grieving a lost love.
- DirectorPatrick TamStarsKenny BeeTony Leung Chiu-waiJoey WangTwo lovers are willing to do anything to reunite after criminals separate them.
- DirectorCheh ChangStarsTien-Chi ChengTien-Hsiang LungMeng LoA Chinese martial arts school is infiltrated and destroyed by ninjas. Tian Hao survives the massacre and seeks to uncover the trickery of ninjutsu in order to beat the Five Element Ninjas and avenge his family.
- DirectorZhuangzhuang TianStarsTian YiWenyao ZhangXiaoman ChenThe lives of a Beijing family throughout the 1950s and 1960s, as they experience the impact of the Hundred Flowers Campaign, the Great Leap Forward, and the Cultural Revolution.
- DirectorJohnnie ToStarsAnthony Chau-Sang WongFrancis NgJackie Chung-yin LuiTriad boss Lung, who has just escaped being killed in an assassination, hires five killers for his protection. Their grown solidarity is under compulsion when Lung gives a special order.
- DirectorSammo Kam-Bo HungStarsSammo Kam-Bo HungSiu Chung MokHoi MangLo Tung and his friend Malted Candy, pedicab drivers working the streets of Macao, have both fallen in love. The problem is that both their objects of affection--one a baker, the other a prostitute--are working under cruel and lecherous bosses. Somehow, the pair must find a way to win the ladies' hearts and free them from their unpleasant jobs.
- DirectorHsiao-Hsien HouStarsDoze NiuShih ChangChung-Hua TouAh-Ching and his friends have just finished school in their island fishing village, and now spend most of their time drinking and fighting. Three of them decide to go to the port city of Kaohsiung to look for work. They find an apartment through relatives, and Ah-Ching is attracted to the girlfriend of a neighbor. There they face the harsh realities of the big city.
- DirectorStephen ChowStarsStephen ChowWah YuenQiu YuenIn Shanghai, China in the 1940s, a wannabe gangster aspires to join the notorious "Axe Gang" while residents of a housing complex exhibit extraordinary powers in defending their turf.
- DirectorCheh ChangStarsJimmy Wang YuChiao ChiaoChung-Hsin HuangA noble swordsman, whose arm had been chopped off, returns to his former teacher to defend him from a villainous gang of rival swordsmen.
- DirectorCheh ChangStarsKuan Tai ChenFeng LuPhillip Chung-Fung KwokThree men who have been physically disabled by an evil warlord and his physically-disabled son become friends and learn kung fu so that they can seek revenge with help from an elderly martial-arts teacher and his mentally-disabled pupil.
- DirectorMu FeiStarsChaoming CuiWei LiYu ShiA lonely housewife finds her monotonous life altered when her childhood sweetheart returns to town.
- DirectorHsiao-Hsien HouStarsJieh-Wen KingKuei-Ying HsuAnnie Shizuka InohA glimpse at the lives of two petty criminals in Taipei.
- DirectorWoo-Ping YuenStarsRongguang YuDonnie YenJean WangA martial artist/doctor steals from the corrupt authorities as a masked thief to give to the poor while another martial artist/doctor is forced to hunt him down. But a major threat unites them as a powerful and traitorous shaolin monk takes over the authorities.
- DirectorZhangke JiaStarsTao ZhaoTaishen ChengJue JingAn exploration on the impact of urbanization and globalization on a traditional culture.
- DirectorXiaoshuai WangStarsJingchun WangMei YongXi QiTwo married couples adjust to the vast social and economic changes taking place in China from the 1980s to the present.
- DirectorPatrick TamTong Kay Ming TerryStarsCecilia YipLeslie CheungPatricia HaA story about the experiences of a group of youngsters who feel lost and try to find the true meaning of life.
- DirectorJohnnie ToKa-Fai WaiStarsAndy LauCecilia CheungEddie CheungA monk turned body-builder, with the gift to see into people's lives, befriends a female cop, and uses his gift to change the force of Karma and her destiny.
- DirectorEdward YangStarsLi-Mei ChenShiang-chyi ChenYi-Wen ChenAfter firing a colleague, the head of a PR company begins to question her lifestyle and values.
- DirectorHsiao-Ming HsuStarsShih ChangSung-Young ChenJack KaoBeigang teens A-guo and A-douzi fight, loaf, and cause trouble all day. One day, they accidentally grab a bag with guns and drugs, and head for Taipei looking for Brother Jie, a friend in the underworld there.
- DirectorHark TsuiStarsKenny BeeSylvia ChangSally YehIn 1937 Shanghai, a soon-to-depart soldier meets a young woman under a bridge during a Japanese air raid. They vow to meet after the war ends, but they don't each other's name or face. Ten years later, the young woman, a nightclub singer, takes in a naive girl fresh from the country. The country girl falls in love with the would-be song-writer upstairs who, unbeknownst to the singer, is none other than the soldier from the bridge.
- DirectorXiaogang GuStarsZhenyang DongHongjun DuWei MuA feature film shot over the course of two years intended to capture the changing of the seasons along the river in a town in the Fuyang district of Hangzhou city.
- DirectorFruit ChanStarsRobby CheungTak-Man FongTony HoIt is July 1st of 1997, and Hong Kong is bright in celebration. The United Kingdom handover of Hong Kong to the People's Republic of China leaves Ga Yin, and his fellow soldiers without work. Which leads them to find employment and money any way they can get it. Without much success, Ga Yin decides to join his brother Ga Suen in the triad gang world.
- DirectorStanley KwanStarsLeslie CheungAnita MuiAlex ManFleur is the blue angel in one of Hong Kong's "flower houses" - bordellos and night clubs of the 1930s. A detached and beautiful performer, she falls in love with Twelfth Master Chan, heir to a chain of pharmacies. They agree to a suicide pact. 50 years later, in modern Hong Kong, Fleur's ghost appears in Yuen's newspaper office, wanting to place an ad to find Chan, who never arrived in the afterlife. Yuen, and his equally bewildered girlfriend, An Chor, are captivated by Fleur and her story.
- DirectorWoo-Ping YuenStarsJackie ChanSiu-Tin YuenJeong-lee HwangWong Fei-Hung is a mischievous yet righteous young man, but after a series of incidents his frustrated father has him disciplined by a master of drunken martial arts.
- DirectorZhangke JiaStarsTao ZhaoFan LiaoZheng XuA story of violent love within a time frame spanning from 2001 to 2017.
- DirectorHark TsuiStarsWenzhuo ZhaoXin Xin XiongSonny SuA swordsmith trains his friend's orphaned son. The boy seeks revenge for his father's murder but loses an arm rescuing the swordsmith's daughter. A hermit girl nurses him, and he learns swordsmanship with his father's broken sword.
- DirectorJoan ChenStarsXiaolu LiLopsangZheng QianYoung teen girl Xiu Xiu is sent away to a remote corner of the Sichuan steppes for manual labor in 1975 (sending young people to there was a part of Cultural Revolution in China). A year later, she agrees to go to even more remote spot with a Tibetan saddle tramp Lao Jin to learn horse herding.
- DirectorEdward YangStarsTsung Sheng TangChang ChenLawrence KoWhen a well known businessman goes missing, owing $100m to Taipei's underworld, two hoods decide to follow his son, the leader of a youth gang. A small group of trendy foreigners gets caught up in the action.