Few fantasy-horror-romance hybrids have aged as gracefully—or as wildly—as Tsui Hark’s A Chinese Ghost Story trilogy. Produced during Hong Kong cinema’s golden era of genre-mashing excess, the three films (1987, 1990, 1991) take a delicate 17th-century ghost tale from Pu Songling’s Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio and turn it into a kinetic, tragicomic, wire-fu opera of doomed love and Taoist exorcisms.
Part I: A Chinese Ghost Story (1987)
Director: Ching Siu-tung (produced by Tsui Hark)
The cornerstone. A hapless debt-collector, Ning Caichen (Leslie Cheung), gets stranded at a haunted Lanruo Temple. There he meets Nie Xiaoqian (Joey Wang), a ghost enslaved by a hideous tree demon (Lau Siu-ming) to lure men for consumption. Their romance is impossible—she’s dead, he’s broke—but the film sells it with swooning melancholy and breakneck action. The iconic scene: Xiaoqian floats through the moonlit forest while Ning plays a guqin, her white ribbons snaking like silk veins.
What makes it a masterpiece is tonal whiplash. One minute, it’s slapstick (Ning stumbling into a monk’s oversized martial arts training). The next, it’s a horror show of giant tongues and corpse puppets. Then it pivots to genuine tragedy: Xiaoqian’s soul trapped in an urn, Ning digging up her bones to reincarnate her. The finale—a cyclone of swords, spells, and burning trees—remains a benchmark for Chinese fantasy action.
Part II: A Chinese Ghost Story II (1990)
The rare sequel that expands rather than repeats. Years later, Ning is freed from prison (wrongly accused as a demon collaborator) and stumbles into a new mess: a government conspiracy where a high monk’s heart is needed to revive a thousand-year-old centipede demon. Joey Wang returns as a lookalike mortal, Fong (cleverly avoiding resurrection clichés), while Michelle Reis joins as another ghostly fighter.
The action is bigger, the politics more pronounced (corrupt officials are literal parasites), and the humor broader (a sword-swallowing Taoist played by Wu Ma). But it loses some intimacy. The love story feels contractual, and the centipede demon lacks the tree demon’s perverse charm. Still, the final battle—a collapsing mansion, flying swords, and a giant arthropod puppet—is glorious mayhem. Grade: B+, but essential for seeing the mythology stretch. a chinese ghost story i ii iii 198719901991 full
Part III: A Chinese Ghost Story III (1991)
A soft reboot disguised as a sequel. Set 100 years after Part I, with a new monk (Tony Leung Chiu-wai) and a new ghost, Lotus (Joey Wang again, now a fiery red-clad spirit), while the tree demon and a venomous butterfly demon (Jacky Cheung, scene-stealing) return. The plot mirrors the first film—monk falls for ghost—but the mood is darker and stranger. Jacky Cheung’s butterfly demon is a tragic fop who vomits glittering poison; Tony Leung’s monk breaks his vows for love.
It’s the most experimental of the three: less wire-fu ballet, more body horror and Buddhist guilt. The ending rejects the first film’s bittersweet reincarnation for something bleaker—no one gets saved. For that reason, it’s divisive. But as a coda, it asks: What if Ning and Xiaoqian’s love was just a fluke, and most ghost-human romances end in ash?
Why they still matter
The trilogy is a time capsule of pre-CGI Hong Kong craft: rain-soaked sets, hand-pulled wires, and synthesizer scores that sound like a haunted karaoke machine. Leslie Cheung’s wide-eyed sincerity and Joey Wang’s ethereal sadness anchor the fantasy. More importantly, they treat ghosts not as monsters but as refugees of an unjust afterlife—a metaphor for Hong Kong itself in the lead-up to 1997.
For a modern viewer, watch Part I for the poetry, Part II for the chaos, and Part III for the hangover. Together, they form one of cinema’s strangest, most beautiful love letters to the impermanence of everything. Spirits, Swords, and Song: The Haunted Magic of
Where to find them – Restored versions exist on Blu-ray (Eureka, 88 Films) and various streaming platforms (Criterion Channel occasionally). Avoid dubbed cuts; the original Cantonese/Mandarin audio is essential for the melancholy.
Original title: 倩女幽魂 III: 道道道
Director: Ching Siu-tung
Starring: Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Joey Wong, Jacky Cheung, Nina Li, Wu Ma
Plot: A young, naive monk (Tony Leung) and his gluttonous master (Jacky Cheung) stop at Lan Ruo Temple a century after the first film. The Tree Demon has returned, now served by a new, sensual ghost (Joey Wong again, as a different character named "Lotus"/"Butterfly"). The monk struggles with his vows as he falls for her, leading to a spectacularly chaotic battle of flying Buddhas, demon tongues, and comic swordplay.
Joey Wong reprises the ghost role in spirit but not in character. This is often considered the most action-packed and visually wild of the three. Where to find them – Restored versions exist
A Chinese Ghost Story (倩女幽魂) is a landmark Hong Kong fantasy-horror-romance series blending gothic atmosphere, martial arts, comedy, and tragic love. Adapted loosely from Qing dynasty writer Pu Songling’s Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio, the three films — released in 1987, 1990, and 1991 — helped define a genre and cemented key stars and filmmakers in Hong Kong cinema history.
The first film introduces us to Ling Choi San (Leslie Cheung), a timid, indebted tax collector who seeks shelter at the ominous Orchard Temple during a rainstorm. The temple is a hunting ground for the evil Tree Devil (Lau Siu-ming), who controls an army of beautiful female ghosts to seduce and drain the life force of living men.
One of these ghosts is the ethereal and tragic Nie Xiaoqian (Joey Wong). Unlike her cruel sisters, Xiaoqian is a reluctant killer, forced to serve the Tree Devil to protect her ashes. When Choi San discovers she is a ghost, instead of fleeing, he falls deeply in love. With the help of the bombastic, sword-swallowing Taoist sorcerer Yin Chek Ha (Wu Ma), Choi San fights to rescue Xiaoqian’s soul and reincarnate her—even if it means losing her forever.
The saga begins with Ning Choi-san (Leslie Cheung), a timid, debt-ridden accountant who travels to a remote village to collect money. During a storm, he seeks refuge at the eerie Lan Ro Temple. There, he meets Nie Xiaoqian (Joey Wong), a mysterious and breathtakingly beautiful woman.
Ning falls deeply in love, unaware that Xiaoqian is a ghost. She is a tragic spirit forced by the hideous tree demoness Lao Lao (the Tree Devil) to seduce men so the demon can absorb their life force. When Ning discovers the truth, he refuses to abandon her. With the help of the eccentric, sword-fighting Taoist priest Yin Chek-ha (Wu Ma), Ning descends into the underworld itself to rescue Xiaoqian’s soul.