Hou Xiaoxian [videorecording] / directed by Hsiao-hsien Hou.

侯孝賢 [videorecording] / directed by Hsiao-hsien Hou.

The boys from Fengkuei originally produced as a motion picture in 1983 ; A summer at grandpa's originally produced as a motion picture in 1984 ; A time to live, a time to die originally produced as a motion picture in 1985 ; Dust in the wind originally produced as a motion picture in 1986 ; The puppetmaster originally produced as a motion picture in 1993 ; Good men, good women originally produced as a motion picture in 1995 ; Goodbye South, goodbye originally produced as a motion picture in 1996 ; Flowers of Shanghai originally produced as a motion picture in 1998.

The boys from Fengkuei / screenplay, Chu T'ien-wen ; cinematography, Kun Ho Chen -- A summer at grandpa's / screenplay, Chu T'ien-wen ; music, Edward Yang ; cinematography, Kun Ho Chen -- A time to live, a time to die / screenplay, Chu T'ien-wen, Hou Hsiao-hsien ; cinematography, Pin Bing Lee -- Dust in the wind / screenplay, Chu T'ien-wen, Wu Nien-Jen; music, Chen Ming Chang, Hsu Ching Chun; cinematography, Lee Pin Bing -- The puppetmaster / executive producer, Yang Teng-kʻuei ; screenplay, Wu Nien-chen, Chu Tʻien-wen -- Good men, good women / Cinematography, Chen Hwai-En ; music, Chen Hwai-En, Chiang Hsaio Wen; screenplay by Chu Tien-Wien -- Goodbye South, goodbye / screenplay, Jin Jiewen, Gao Jie -- Flowers of Shanghai / Cinematography, Pin Bing Lee; music, Yoshihiro Hanno, Du-Che Tu.

In Chinese; with subtitles varying between individual films to include Chinese, English and/or Japanese.

Eight films by Hou Hsiao Hsien 1983-1998.

The boys from Fengkuei : Ah-Ching and his friends have just finished school in their island fishing village, and now spend most of their time drinking and fighting. Three of them decide to go to the port city of Kaohsiung to look for work. They find an apartment through relatives, and Ah-Ching is attracted to the girlfriend of a neighbor. There they face the harsh realities of the big city.

A summer at grandpa's : After their mother becomes hospitalized, two city children find themselves spending the summer in the country with their grandfather.

A time to live, a time to die : The film depicts a family transplanted from mainland China to Taiwan in the early 1950s. The father dies of illness and the elder sister marries. A-ha, the protagonist, struggles to deal with adolescence.

Dust in the wind : A love story about a young couple from a village in the southern part of Taiwan. The boy goes to Taipei to work after graduating from junior high to earn money to send home. The girl follows him the next year and they work hard to earn enough money to marry. Then the young man spends three years in the military and the girl marries someone else. Although the young man regrets what happened he does not blame the girl.

The puppetmaster : Based on the memoirs of Li Tien-lu, Taiwan's most celebrated puppeteer, this story covers the years from Li's birth in 1909 to the end of Japan's fifty-year occupation of Taiwan in 1945. Li's puppetry, like all Chinese culture was banned by the Japanese, but during World War II, the Japanese used the traditional Chinese puppet theatre for the war propaganda. Only after the war did street theatre start playing again.

Good men, good women : This film consists of three intermingling stories: a film within a film as well as the past and present as linked by an actress in present-day Taipei. The film in which she plays is about a couple who return to mainland China to participate in the anti-Japanese movement in the 1940s and are arrested as Communists when they return to Taiwan. Images of the film-in-progress contrast with images from the actress' own past, when she was a party girl involved with a gangster.

Goodbye South, goodbye : Gao, a small-time criminal in present-day Taiwan, and his pals want to be rich and happy. A succession of get-rich-quick schemes, however, leads them only to the brink of disaster. In the course of the film the unsavory alliance between the underworld and the political elite emerges.

Flowers of Shanghai : Set in late nineteenth-century Shanghai and takes place in an elegant brothel. With its own highly ritualized codes of behavior, the lives of the "Flower girls" depend on their ability to win, and then keep, the affections of their wealthy callers.

Hou Hsiao Hsien ultimate collection

Fenggui lai de ren.

風櫃來的人.

Dong dong de jia qi.

冬冬的假期.

Tong nian wang shi.

童年往事.

Lian lian feng chen.

戀戀風塵.

Boys from Fengkuei, The [Feng gui lai de ren] (1983, 101 min.)

Summer at Grandpa's [Dong dong de jia qi] (1984, 93 min.)

Time to Live and a Time to Die, A (1986, 138 min.)

Dust in the Wind [Lian lian feng chen] (1986, 109 min.)

Puppetmaster, The [In the Hands of the Puppetmaster] [Xi meng ren sheng] (1993, 142 min.)

Good Men, Good Women [Hao nan hao nu] (1995, 108 min.)

Goodbye South, Goodbye [Nan guo zai jian, nan guo ] (1996, 124 min.)

Flowers of Shanghai [Hai shang hua] (1998, 130 min.).

Puppeteers > Taiwan > Drama.

Friendship > Drama.

Adolescence > Drama.

Grandparents > Drama.

Man-woman relationships > Drama.

Communism > China > Drama.

Prostitution > 19th century > Drama.

Taiwan > Drama.

Feature films.

Biographical films.

侯孝賢, 1947-

Sino movie.