Writing

Chiu Kang-Chien

Born — Died

1940-01-01 — 2013-11-27

Place of birth

Gulangyu, Fujian, China

Known for

Writing

Credits

43 titles

Chiu Kang-Chien (Chinese: 邱剛建, 19 May 1940-27 November 2013) was a Chinese screenwriter and director.

Known for

Center Stage poster
7.3

Based on the tragic true story of China's first prima donna of the silver screen, Ruan Lingyu, chronicling her rise to fame as a movie actress in Shanghai during the 1930s.

Center Stage

1991

Rouge poster
7.4

Amid the opulent teahouses of 1930s Hong Kong, a humble courtesan and the wayward scion of a wealthy family fall in love and embrace death by suicide pact. Fifty years later, her ghost returns to find him, drawing a young contemporary couple into her quest to rekindle a passion that may be as illusory as time itself.

Rouge

1987

The Banquet poster
6.1

Crown Prince Wu Luan is in love with Little Wan but left heartbroken when she marries his father, the emperor. The emperor's brother, Li, kills him and Wu Luan tries to avenge his father's death.

The Banquet

2006

An Amorous Woman of Tang Dynasty poster
6.2

Rebellious Yu Yuan-gi becomes a Taoist priestess in order to avoid traditional roles designated to her as a woman by the society and focus on her studies and poetry. However, her trysts with both her maid and a ronin lead to trouble.

An Amorous Woman of Tang Dynasty

1984

Intimate Confessions of a Chinese Courtesan poster
6.2

18-year-old Ainu is kidnapped and sold to a brothel. Her good looks and wild personality make her very popular with the lustful clients, but also draw the lesbian attentions of brothel madam Chun Yi. Chun Yi teaches Ainu the ways of lust and the ways of kung fu, and Ainu becomes more and more similar to her captor. But rage at her treatment is still burning inside her.

Intimate Confessions of a Chinese Courtesan

1972

Love Unto Wastes poster
6.7

Four young people spend their time living the wild life - until one of them is brutally murdered in a burglary. The survivors come under the scrutiny of an eccentric cop, and their underlying fears and regrets slowly but surely emerge.

Love Unto Wastes

1986

Film credits

Behind the camera

Center Stage poster
7.3

Based on the tragic true story of China's first prima donna of the silver screen, Ruan Lingyu, chronicling her rise to fame as a movie actress in Shanghai during the 1930s.

Center Stage

1991

Rouge poster
7.4

Amid the opulent teahouses of 1930s Hong Kong, a humble courtesan and the wayward scion of a wealthy family fall in love and embrace death by suicide pact. Fifty years later, her ghost returns to find him, drawing a young contemporary couple into her quest to rekindle a passion that may be as illusory as time itself.

Rouge

1987

The Banquet poster
6.1

Crown Prince Wu Luan is in love with Little Wan but left heartbroken when she marries his father, the emperor. The emperor's brother, Li, kills him and Wu Luan tries to avenge his father's death.

The Banquet

2006

An Amorous Woman of Tang Dynasty poster
6.2

Rebellious Yu Yuan-gi becomes a Taoist priestess in order to avoid traditional roles designated to her as a woman by the society and focus on her studies and poetry. However, her trysts with both her maid and a ronin lead to trouble.

An Amorous Woman of Tang Dynasty

1984

Intimate Confessions of a Chinese Courtesan poster
6.2

18-year-old Ainu is kidnapped and sold to a brothel. Her good looks and wild personality make her very popular with the lustful clients, but also draw the lesbian attentions of brothel madam Chun Yi. Chun Yi teaches Ainu the ways of lust and the ways of kung fu, and Ainu becomes more and more similar to her captor. But rage at her treatment is still burning inside her.

Intimate Confessions of a Chinese Courtesan

1972

Love Unto Wastes poster
6.7

Four young people spend their time living the wild life - until one of them is brutally murdered in a burglary. The survivors come under the scrutiny of an eccentric cop, and their underlying fears and regrets slowly but surely emerge.

Love Unto Wastes

1986

Boat People poster
7.6

A Japanese photojournalist revisits Vietnam after the liberation to document the nation, and begins following and documenting the young children from a poor Vietnamese family.

Boat People

1982

The Bells of Death poster
7.2

A simple woodcutter named Wei Fu finds his world shattered when three murderous horsemen arrive to kill his family and kidnap his sister. Left with nothing but his mother’s bell-laden bracelet, he sets out to seek his revenge. Lucky for him, Wei Fu encounters a master swordsman, who takes him under his wing.

The Bells of Death

1968

The Postman Strikes Back poster
6.6

Four heroes embark on a secret mission for Dr Sun Yat Sen's Nationalist Guard. Relentlessly pursued by the warriors of notorious Warlord Yue Sai Hoi, they have seven days to reach the Lo Yang Pass with their secret cargo.

The Postman Strikes Back

1982

The Duel poster
6.9

After a gang massacre that resulted in the killing of his adopted father and gang leader, a martial artist goes into exile to take the blame. A year later, his gang is mysteriously trying to kill him, and he slowly discovers why.

The Duel

1971

The Kiss of Death poster
5.4

One night a textile worker is sexually assaulted by five deviants. The young lady tries to cope with the aftermath of this dramatic event but her life is ruined. Like a shattered vase, the pieces can be put back together but it'll never be the same. Cheng get's a job as a bar girl. She meets the club's owner who was a former kung-fu fighter until he was crippled. Cheng uses her position as a B-girl to go after the losers who raped her, She soon learns from a sleazy doctor that she has contracted a dark V.D. called Viet-Nam Rose. Crushed, she begs Lo Lieh to teach her kung-fu. At first he refuses until he learns her secret. Furious, Lo Lieh teaches her his deadly fight techniques (such as a groin crunching blow).

The Kiss of Death

1973

Distant Thunder poster
5.7

Director Zhang Jiarui's new film, "Mi Cheng," formerly called "Distant Thunder," has been nominated for the upcoming Beijing College Student Film Festival, Ent.sina.com reported. After a successful premiere at the 34th Hong Kong International Film Festival, "Mi Cheng" received a great deal of attention from the audience. A thoughtful and humanistic film, it includes a deep discussion of humanity with tight links to reality. The intense story line and sad ending made a deep impression on the audience. Famous critic and dramatist Peigi Chiu and viewers alike were impressed with the performances of the lead trio, Huo Siyan, Ge Siran and Guo Xiaoran. The film is a horror, mystery and love story that uses special filming techniques to tell the uncanny and thrilling story of happiness and sadness among lower class people. It took two years for director Zhang Jiarui to finish this film.

Distant Thunder

2010

Women poster
7.0

Liang Pao-erh joins the carefree Spinsters' Club when she discovers her husband is having an affair. Despite the seemingly happy front that her sisters put on, beneath it all, each of them secretly yearns for a man in her life.

Women

1985

Nomad poster
6.9

Four carefree lovers in Hong Kong enjoy their youth while danger looms on the edges.

Nomad

1982

Soul of the Sword poster
6.7

Ti Lung is the Nameless Swordsman bent on defeating the faceless King of Swords to claim the title, and the glory, for himself. Hordes of fighters lunge from the shadows to cut down the mysterious challenger. Even a cunning seductress takes a stab at him in a revealing bath house assassination. It is said that a man's weapon reflects his utmost dreams, desires and fears. A warrior with no name and one motive has a soul as merciless as cold steel.

Soul of the Sword

1978

The Singing Thief poster
5.6

A jewel thief decides to turn over a new leaf. He starts anew as a professional singer; but before long, the he becomes suspect again for a series of robberies. He sets up a trap to snare the copycat thief, but will it snare him instead?

The Singing Thief

1969

Dream Lovers poster
6.9

Musician Song Yu and jewellery designer Yuet-heung, who barely know each other, meet in their dreams before finally uniting in person.

Dream Lovers

1986

Coolie Killer poster
7.1

Ko leads a team of Hong Kong assassins that are taken out one by one. Ko manages to flee to the countryside, where he aims to find out who's behind this and to gain the strength to fight back. Helping him is local girl Tong, whilst chasing Ko is the long arm of the law, represented by cop Chung.

Coolie Killer

1982

I Am Sorry poster
6.2

Carole and Mandy have just become neighbors in a luxury apartment complex. Mandy is a successful career woman, educated and independent. Carole is a kept woman, dreaming of the day when her businessman lover will divorce his wife to marry her. Through Mandy, Carole meets Edgar, a neurotic headwaiter. She breaks off her affair with the businessman, but Edgar is still masochistically involved with his old girlfriend Alice. Carole realizes that she still has a lot to learn about life. And nothing is going to stop her from learning it.

I Am Sorry

1989

The Singing Killer poster
7.9

David Chiang stars as a nightclub vocalist whose former criminal friends blackmail him into working with them again.

The Singing Killer

1970

Devil and Angel poster
5.2

No synopsis available yet.

Devil and Angel

1973

Ming Ghost poster
6.5

A story of a girl haunted by the ghost of her mother, after witnessing her murder.

Ming Ghost

1990

Ming Ghost poster
6.5

A story of a girl haunted by the ghost of her mother, after witnessing her murder.

Ming Ghost

1990

Profiles of Pleasure poster
7.0

Before the Big Ban on prostitution, West Hong Kong is famous for its houses of pleasure. The most infamous of them all is Floral Ode House. Among its girls are Yen Hung, who becomes a widow regularly; aristocratic Chien Chien; Cherry Fun, who manages to lose the nickname; and a bevy of beauties. The madam who is on good terms with the police chief claims the best business this side of virtue. Then there comes from England Cheng Li-Peng, commissioned to ban prostitution. He is engaged to Lily, the police chief's daughter. But his parents had arranged a wife for him when he was an infant. They have lost trace of each other. Cheng Li-Peng starts his investigation, which lead him to Yen Hung's and Chien Chien's bedrooms. He is surprised to find himself in love with all three girls. And one of them turns out to be his missing fiancee!

Profiles of Pleasure

1988

Hearts, No Flowers poster
7.5

A youth film about four city lasses.

Hearts, No Flowers

1989

Thou Shall Not Kill... But Once poster
7.0

Yao Hao (Chen Sing), is a young man whose father was assassinated and whose mother was killed in an attack on the funeral procession. He survives the attack and winds up at a Shaolin temple where he insists he wants to stay and become a monk. His beautiful fiancée (Lu Shu Chin) pleads with him to come back with her, but he refuses. The head monk, Brother Fa (Chan Wai Man), an orphan who's been at the monastery all his life and is expecting to succeed the current Shaolin Abbot, is jealous of the privileges Yao Hao has had in life and asks him questions about the outside world, including what it's like to touch a woman. Brother Fa's weakening resolve soon finds him leaving the monastery and falling into the clutches of Lord Eagle (Kam Kong), the Manchu ruler in the area who's trying to wipe out all resistance to Manchu/Ching rule.

Thou Shall Not Kill... But Once

1975

The Bastard poster
7.0

Little Bastard searches for the parents who abandoned him as an infant, with the help of Little Beggar. He finds his father, who is a powerful and wealthy manl and is taken in by him and his family. Before long Little Bastard is seduced by his attractive cousin, making Little Beggar very jealous. However, the seduction and family welcome are all part of a nefarious plan.

The Bastard

1973

Dream of the Red Chamber '77 poster
NR

Set against the backdrop of the wealthy Jia clan’s slow financial decline, Jia Bao-yu falls in love with his cousin Lin Dai-yu, newly arrived from Taiwan. Their growing mutual affection gets derailed when their family’s materialistic interests and another cousin from the United States comes between them. Considered one of the four great masterworks of Chinese literature, Chiu’s adaptation reimagines this classical saga by transposing it to 1970s Singapore, featuring a largely local cast and weaving in various idiosyncratic film tropes popular at the time. In this rare rediscovery, Dream of the Red Chamber offers a unique and uncommon glimpse into early independent and transnational filmmaking in a rapidly developing post-independence Singapore.

Dream of the Red Chamber '77

1977

The Rendezvous of Warriors poster
9.0

A young merchant returns secretly to his city to avenge the treachery of his companions... Film released in French on VHS under the title Operation Black Belt

The Rendezvous of Warriors

1973

Night of the Devil Bride poster
4.7

A wronged female ghost is out for revenge.

Night of the Devil Bride

1975

Secret of the Shaolin Poles poster
6.4

Legendary Chinese rebel Fong Sai Yuk (Fei Meng) takes on the Manchu dynasty in this high-octane martial arts actioner. After killing one of the governor's thugs, Fong must not only elude authorities, but also face a deadly assassin. Discovering the governor has murdered his two kung fu brothers, Fong vows to take on the corrupt leader. The film includes a slew of awe-inspiring battles using lethal Shaolin poles.

Secret of the Shaolin Poles

1977

The Long Chase poster
6.8

Yueh Hua stars as an assassin who flees after killing a hated prime minister, with Lo Lieh as the relentless imperial guard who pursues him to a remote village being terrorized by bandits. When Yueh takes over the identity of a county officer newly assigned to the village, his ruse is assisted by a pretty innkeeper's daughter (Li Ching) who insists to Lieh that Yueh is indeed the county officer and happens also to be the cousin who was betrothed to her as a child. The confused innkeeper is persuaded by his daughter to support the ruse, thus delaying Lieh's efforts to arrest the wanted man.

The Long Chase

1971

Great Wall, My Love poster
6.0

Chun, 28, Taiwanese, goes on a conflict-packed search journey with her Chinese guide, Ming, to find her father's long-lost first love, XiuQian, in China. Chun's father had promised XiuQian 60 years ago that he'd definitely come back to marry her. But not until recently, Taiwan and China were hostile to each other, he was never able to fulfill his promise. Chun and Ming grew up on two sides of the Taiwan Strait and were brought up with different values. They don't hesitate to cut each other down to size. Their turbulent romance unfolds in tears, laughter and a clash of values. The love story of two generations, across the Taiwan Strait, told with touching drama and biting comedy, is a poignant and entertaining road movie.

Great Wall, My Love

2011

Dead End poster
6.4

In the mid-sixties Chang Cheh changed the face of female dominated films with his male dominated, violent kung-fu films. Dead End was the start of a new force that lasted 6 years, the first film to star David Chiang and Ti Lung under director Chang's discerning eye. The trouble all begins when Chen Hung-lieh's character disapproves of Ti Lung's character courting his sister.

Dead End

1969

Finger of Doom poster
6.4

This creepy kung fu film fight-fest centers on the evil Madame Kung Sun and her poisonous "Finger of Doom", a unique supernatural power which allows her to transform normal, everyday people into horrifying zombies! In the face of this devastating talent, only one person has the guts to stop Madame Kung Sun in her chilling bid for martial arts supremacy - the villainess' own sister. But it's not something she can do alone, so this heroic young woman joins forces with three world-weary martial artists, The brothers-in-arms were actually looking to retire from the world of Jiang Hu, but now find themselves thrown back into the mix, embarking on one last mission to save the world from machinations of the venomous Madame Kung Sun!

Finger of Doom

1972

Full Moon in New York poster
7.9

Three Chinese women with vastly different backgrounds get acquainted and become friends amid the social desolation of New York.

Full Moon in New York

1989

Unmarried Mothers poster
NR

Hsiao-Peng, an unmarried mother is sent to a maternity home for young single mothers. During her time in the maternity home, she slowly overcomes the depressive thoughts and builds strong bonds with Wen-Yueh, Ko-Hsin, and Madam Pai. After moving out the maternity home, Hsiao-Peng lives with Wen-Yueh and Ko-Hsin in an apartment where they continue to be each other’s support. The two main settings of the film, the maternity home and the apartment, build an atypical family model. It is a tender coming-of-age tale where women are empowered with the right to think for themselves.

Unmarried Mothers

1980

Alienation poster
NR

A naked boy masturbates, accompanied by lines of poetry and caterpillars on the wall.

Alienation

1966

Twin Blades of Doom poster
6.3

A kung fu knight walks the road to vengeance after the evil Ghost Gang kills his wife and son. The swordsman known as "Twin Blades" must take on a quartet of color-coded cutthroats to set things right.

Twin Blades of Doom

1969

The Glamorous Boys of Tang poster
6.0

A surreal uninhibited adventure between two boys, their mysterious love interest and two Japanese monks in the Tang dynasty. Feature debut by the acclaimed scriptwriter Chiu Kang-Chien.

The Glamorous Boys of Tang

1985