A Chinese Ghost Story

A Chinese Ghost Story (Chinese: 倩女幽魂; Cantonese Yale: Sihnnéuih Yāuwàhn; lit. 'The Ethereal Spirit of a Beauty') is a 1987 Hong Kong horror film starring Leslie Cheung, Joey Wong and Wu Ma, directed by Ching Siu-tung and produced by Tsui Hark. The plot is loosely based on a short story about Nie Xiaoqian from Qing dynasty writer Pu Songling's Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio and is also inspired by the 1960 Shaw Brothers Studio film The Enchanting Shadow. The film was popular in Hong Kong and several Asian countries, including South Korea and Japan. Although the film could not gain access to movie theaters in mainland China when it was first released, it became a cult film among young people in the mainland. At that time the film generated a phenomenal cult following among audiences, especially the generation born in the 1980s. In 2011, the Hong Kong producers screened a restored version officially in mainland China. Most notably it boosted the stardom of Joey Wong, won Leslie Cheung popularity in Japan, and sparked a trend of folklore ghost films in the Hong Kong film industry. The film was ranked number 50 of the Best 100 Chinese Motion Pictures presented at the 24th Hong Kong Film Awards, the Special Jury Special Award of the 16th French Science Fiction Film Festival and the Best Film Award of the Portuguese Science Fiction Film Festival. The film was followed by two sequels: A Chinese Ghost Story II (1990) and A Chinese Ghost Story III (1991). In 2011, a new adaptation of Pu's short story was released, directed by Wilson Yip and starring Louis Koo and Crystal Liu.