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ARCHIVE

3rd(2001)



The Lost Kingdom

Lee Hsiang-hsiu

  • Taiwan
  • 1999
  • 98min
  • 16mmm
  • color
  • Documentary

SYNOPSIS

This is a documentary about the rise and fall of the Kung Yue Society, considered the originator of Taiwanese opera. After liberation, many little girls in Taiwan were sold to the Kung Yue Society. Although not many people, even in Taiwan, know about Kung Yue, it was the opera troupe that started in the Forties and shared the joy, sorrow, and anger of the Taiwanese until the Seventies. Chen Cheng-San, an extraordinary entertainer, founded a school with this troupe, produced the first Taiwanese-language film, and even reached into TV, but this would all have been impossible if not for the sacrifices demanded of the little girls.
 To understand this film properly, one has to be aware of Taiwanese history. The native Taiwanese who make up about 70% of the population and have gone through the Japanese colonialization, the 2.28 incident, and the martial government of the Kuomintang cannot help but have strong consciousness about being Taiwanese. The Kuomintang, which took over the government later on, seized hold of the economy and all the institutions of power, disallowing the use of the Taiwanese language and fanning the flames of their discontent. The historical consciousness of the Taiwanese is quite apparent in this film as well. (Bae Doo-Rye)
 

PROGRAM NOTE

This is a documentary about the rise and fall of the Kung Yue Society, considered the originator of Taiwanese opera. After liberation, many little girls in Taiwan were sold to the Kung Yue Society. Although not many people, even in Taiwan, know about Kung Yue, it was the opera troupe that started in the Forties and shared the joy, sorrow, and anger of the Taiwanese until the Seventies. Chen Cheng-San, an extraordinary entertainer, founded a school with this troupe, produced the first Taiwanese-language film, and even reached into TV, but this would all have been impossible if not for the sacrifices demanded of the little girls.
 To understand this film properly, one has to be aware of Taiwanese history. The native Taiwanese who make up about 70% of the population and have gone through the Japanese colonialization, the 2.28 incident, and the martial government of the Kuomintang cannot help but have strong consciousness about being Taiwanese. The Kuomintang, which took over the government later on, seized hold of the economy and all the institutions of power, disallowing the use of the Taiwanese language and fanning the flames of their discontent. The historical consciousness of the Taiwanese is quite apparent in this film as well. (Bae Doo-Rye)
 

Director

  • Lee Hsiang-hsiuLee Hsiang-hsiu

    Lee Hsiang-hsiu, the director and producer of this film, graduated from Temple University with a master¡¯s degree in Film and Media Arts. Her works have been acknowledged with several awards, including three Golden Harvest Awards in Taiwan. Her short works include The Death of D.J.(1989), The Train to Paradise(1991), and Simpson House(1993). The Lost Kingdom is her debut feature-length documentary.

Credit

  • ProducerLee Hsiang-hsiu
  • Cinematography Tsai Jeng-Huei, Wayne Lin, Chin Ding-Chang