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A Touch of Zen

Xia nu

audiovisual digital film film core Lifetime Path planned

Creators

  • King Hu, director/writer/editor
  • Union Film Company, production company

Canon Rationale

A core wuxia and world-cinema film, included for King Hu, martial-arts film form, landscape and editing, Buddhist and Zen imagery, female warrior narrative, and the movement between genre cinema and art cinema.

Path

Lifetime path, phase 1, rank 87.

Evidence

  • institutional list: BFI, 'A Touch of Zen'.
  • review essay: The Criterion Collection, 'A Touch of Zen', including David Bordwell essay and 4K restoration notes.

Audit Flags

translation dependency, version dependency, access preservation required

Completion unit: watch the complete feature film in a subtitled edition and document the cut/restoration used. Mark it complete when you can explain its wuxia form, bamboo/landscape action staging, editing style, Buddhist/Zen imagery, and why it matters as both martial-arts cinema and global art cinema.

Reading Lists