Liu Ming
Two independent stories involving chess wizards are interwoven to satirize the politics of the Chinese Cultural Revolution as well as Taiwan's capitalist boom of the 1970's.
Arriving in Taiwan in the 1950s, Kuei-mei makes a disadvantageous marriage to a widower with three unruly kids and a bad gambling habit. Beautifully portrayed by celebrated actress Yang, she weathers pregnancies, her husband's infidelity, her daughter's resentment, a stint as servant in Japan, divorce, and illness while struggling to keep the family restaurant business afloat.
Chan is asked by a young, wealthy lady to take her sick brother to a particular doctor in order to be cured. To reach this doctor, Chan and a handful of travelling companions must pass through bandit-infested wild country. They meet and kung-fu-fight several gangs of thugs along the way.
A brother and sister escape from Japanese-occupied Shanghai to Japanese-occupied Taiwan, to stay with their grandfather who runs a Kung-Fu school there. However, the master of a Japanese Kung-Fu school in Taiwan has designs on bringing all other schools on the island under his domination, and part of his plan involves the murder of the siblings' grandfather.
Chia Ling plays the title character, who wields her way through a standard martial arts premise, but demonstrates tremendous grace and agility as she chops, kicks, and flies through the air.
