Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon - Encyclopedia

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Traditional: 臥虎藏龍; Simplified: 卧虎藏龙; Hanyu Pinyin: Wò Hǔ Cáng Lóng) is a wuxia ("martial arts and chivalry") film released in 2000. It is a China/Hong Kong/Taiwan/USA co-produced film. It was directed by Ang Lee and starred Chow Yun-Fat, Michelle Yeoh, and Zhang Ziyi. It was choreographed by Yuen Wo Ping (袁和平; pinyin: Yuán Hépíng) and based on the fourth novel in a pentalogy, known in China as the Crane/Iron Pentalogy by Wang Dulu (王度盧; pinyin: Wáng Dùlú).

Made on a mere $15 million budget, with dialogue in Mandarin, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon became an international success. It grossed US$128 million in the United States alone, where foreign-language films are very rarely embraced by the public. The critically-acclaimed movie was nominated for numerous awards around the world including the Academy Awards' Best Picture. It won four Academy Awards, including Best Foreign Language Film. The score by composer Tan Dun also received much acclaim. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon received the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation in 2001.

It was filmed in the Anhui and Xinjiang provinces of China.

Although a fiction, the story is set in the Qing Dynasty in China, likely during the reign of the Kangxi Emperor (circa 1680). Support for this is found in the props, the hair and clothing styles, the appearance of a telescope and the fact that the desert raiders still expected government officials to be Han Chinese, as opposed to Manchu.

The story follows two experienced and legendary martial arts warriors, Li Mu Bai (李慕白; pinyin: Lǐ Mùbái) (played by Chow Yun-Fat) and Yu Shu Lien (余秀蓮; pinyin: Yú Xiùlián) (played by Michelle Yeoh). Both are in love but feel they cannot act on their feelings because of a previous commitment years ago, when Shu Lien was bethrothed to be married to Mu Bai's "Brother by Oath". Meanwhile Jen (玉嬌龍; pinyin: Yù Jiāolóng) (played by Zhang Ziyi), a Manchu aristocrat's daughter, yearns for adventure, not life as a court wife. Jen is a secret apprentice to the evil warrior woman Jade Fox (whom Mu Bai has sworn to kill for the death of his master). Mu Bai is tasked with locating the legendary sword, The Green Destiny, which has been stolen by Jen. Jen fights with Mu Bai on several occasions, but he refuses to kill her because he wants to train her as his apprentice. Jen also fights with Shu Lien, who spares her out of feelings of love and friendship. Jen is headstrong in her powers and emboldened by her forbidden love to the desert bandit Lo (played by Chang Chen), and consequently she does not accept Mu Bai as a master nor Shu Lien as a friend.

The title Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (臥虎藏龍) is attributed to a Chinese saying which teaches one to conceal one's strengths from others in order to preserve the element of surprise. In the Chinese version of the movie, Lo is named Xiao Hu which means "Little Tiger" and Jen is called by the nickname Jiao Long which means "Pampered Dragon."

The fantasy aspect of the film comes into play whenever the three protagonists fight. They possess seemingly magical powers, literally vaulting across roofs, running up walls, and moving with superhuman ease. These powers are explained in the movie only by the protagonists' training and secret knowledge of the Wudang school of martial arts. This aspect of the film, which is characteristic in the wuxia film genre, also lends itself to frequent parody.

Much of the international success of the film was due to the fact that, unlike most Chinese films, this one was supported by Sony Pictures and therefore received marketing typical of Western films.

Despite its international fame, the movie was not as well received in China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. It was perceived by many as another wuxia movie among countless in the past four decades. Members of the Mandarin-speaking audience complained that they had to read the Chinese subtitles because the actors' accents were hard to understand. Neither Chow nor Yeoh speak Mandarin as a native language.

The film is an adaptation of the fourth novel in a pentalogy, or five-novel cycle, known as the Crane/Iron Pentalogy and written by noted wuxia novelist Wang Dulu. The novels in the pentalogy are: Crane Frightens Kunlun; Precious Sword, Golden Hairpin; Sword's Force, Pearl's Shine; Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon; and Iron Knight, Silver Vase.

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is an "international co-production", and it was produced by the following film companies: Asia Union Film & Entertainment Ltd., China Film Co-Production Corporation, Columbia Pictures Film Production Asia, EDKO Film Ltd., Good Machine, Sony Pictures Classics, United China Vision, Zoom Hunt International Productions Company, Ltd.

• A Love Before Time (end-credit title song)
• Cinema of China
• Cinema of Hong Kong
• Cinema of Taiwan

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page