Postsocialist vernacular modernism, nationalism, and the shaolin trilogy (1982–1986)

After three decades of prohibition, martial arts cinema reappeared in the PRC in the early 1980s. This revival is largely attributed to the popularity of The Shaolin Temple (1982), produced in mainland China by the leftist Hong Kong film company Chung Yuen Motion Picture. The success of The Shaolin Temple was quickly followed by two sequels: Kids from Shaolin (1984) and Martial Arts of Shaolin (1986). Despite their immense popularity, current scholarship has yet to study how the Shaolin trilogy reflects the cultural, economic, and political dynamics between Hong Kong and the PRC in the early post-Cultural Revolution period. This article investigates these three films not only to reveal the industrial and production context underlying the early wave of Hong Kong-China co-productions, but also to illuminate how the Hong Kong leftist film industry negotiated the political doctrines of the Chinese state and the demands of the different film markets. I argue that the trilogy epitomizes Hong Kong filmmakers’ endeavor to reconfigure martial arts cinema by redefining nationalism and ‘authenticity’, manifesting what I call a ‘postsocialist vernacular modernism’.