This is the first and only surviving entry in a 13-part, silent wuxia film series that originally screened in Shanghai from 1930 to 1932, during China’s first martial arts film craze. SWORDSWOMAN OF HUANGJIANG stars actress Xu Qin-fang and actor He Zhigang as sibling knights Fang Yuquin and Yue Jianqui who travel the countryside, applying their sword-fighting skills to thwarting evil, vanquishing monsters and protecting the innocent. Like many martial arts films of the era, this one was based on a popular serialized novel that appeared in a local newspaper. The film features an appearance from Sammo Hung’s grandmother, pioneering martial arts actress Chin Tsi-ang. Along with RED HEROINE, this is the only surviving martial arts film from China’s silent film era to remain mostly intact. In 2003, a 73-minute version of the film toured the U.S. as part of the “Heroic Grace: The Chinese Martial Arts Film” screen series, presented by the UCLA Film and Television Archive and the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office. During it’s screening at the Seattle International Film Festival, the film was accompanied by seven musicians performing traditional Chinese and American folk songs on a variety of exotic instruments. Scenes from the film were featured in Keith Clarke’s documentary THE ART OF ACTION: MARTIAL ARTS IN MOTION PICTURE (2002) and in the Celestial Pictures’ documentary CINEMA HONG KONG: WUXIA (2003).AKA: Huangjiang Nüxia, Uproar at the Baolin Temple, 荒江女侠
