A Chinese Ghost Story 4K restored version to be screened in mainland China on March 21

The 4K restored version of the classic film "A Chinese Ghost Story" is scheduled to be re-released in mainland China on March 21.

A Chinese Ghost Story is a Hong Kong fantasy romance film released in 1987, directed by Cheng Xiaodong, produced by Tsui Hark, and written by Ruan Jizhi. The film is adapted from the chapter "Nie Xiaoqian" in Pu Songling's work "Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio", telling the love story between the female ghost Nie Xiaoqian and the scholar Ning Caichen. The film stars Leslie Cheung, Joey Wong, Wu Ma, and Liu Zhaoming, and other actors include Lam Wai, Xue Zhilun, Wong Jing, and Hu Dawei.

In 1978, Tsui Hark, who had joined the television industry, planned to shoot a horror film. He then recalled his childhood memories of watching the Li Hanxiang version of "A Chinese Ghost Story". Unfortunately, the producer of Television Broadcasts Limited rejected his proposal. Many years later, Tsui Hark decided to bring it to the big screen. The film story is based on the original "Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio" and Li Hanxiang's version of "A Chinese Ghost Story". Ruan Jizhi was hired as the screenwriter to add modern elements to the film. The main shooting of the film began in October 1986, and it took more than five months to complete the pre-production and mid-production. The film budget was about more than 1.2 million Hong Kong dollars, but it exceeded the budget twice.

The film was well received after its release, earning more than HK$18 million at the box office in less than a month, and was subsequently released in various places. Most film critics gave it positive reviews, especially appreciating the film's shooting techniques, visual effects, and actors' acting skills, while a few called it a cult classic. As time went on, many retrospective reviews recognized this work, even saying that it broke the monopoly of comedy and action films, making the fantasy martial arts film a comeback, and was one of the milestones of Hong Kong films. The film received many honors, including four Golden Horse Awards and four Hong Kong Film Awards, and also won prizes at film festivals around the world. The success of the film spawned two sequels, "A Chinese Ghost Story II: The Road to Humanity" (1990) and "A Chinese Ghost Story III: The Road to Humanity" (1991). Tsui Hark also produced the animation "A Chinese Ghost Story" in 1997. Since 2005, the film has been selected into the list of the 100 best Chinese-language films, the 100 best Chinese-language films in film history, and the list of 100 must-see Hong Kong films.