Peking Opera Blues

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Peking Opera Blues
Directed byTsui Hark
Written byRaymond To
Produced byTsui Hark
StarringBrigitte Lin
Cherie Chung
Sally Yeh
Paul Chun
Wu Ma
Kenneth Tsang
CinematographyHang Sang Poon
Edited byDavid Wu
Music byJames Wong
Production
company
Distributed byGolden Princess Film Production
Release date
  • 6 September 1986 (1986-09-06)
Running time
104 minutes
CountryHong Kong
LanguageCantonese

Peking Opera Blues (traditional Chinese: 刀馬旦; simplified Chinese: 刀马旦; pinyin: Dāo Mǎ Dàn; Jyutping: dou1 maa5 daan2; Cantonese Yale: Dòu Máah Dáan) is a 1986 Hong Kong action comedy film directed and produced by Tsui Hark. It stars Brigitte Lin, Cherie Chung, Sally Yeh, Paul Chun, Wu Ma, and Kenneth Tsang. The film combines action comedy with scenes involving Peking Opera.[1]

The plot follows Tsao Wan, the daughter of a general and a devoted patriot, who is torn between her love for the nation and her loyalty to her father, who aids Yuan Shikai in securing massive foreign loans that push the country further into financial despair. Meanwhile, Bai Niu, who grew up in an opera troupe, and Sheung Hung, a money-hungry courtesan, cross paths with Tsao Wan through fate. Together, their intertwined lives weave an epic tale of love, sacrifice, and patriotism, as they embark on a daring journey in the midst of political chaos.

Peking Opera Blues was nominated for six awards at the Hong Kong Film Awards including Best Actress.

Plot

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Corrupt General Tun escapes from his mansion with his wives and children after losing his assets to General Tsao in a game of mahjong. Amidst the chaos, Sheung Hung, a wandering musician, obtains a box of precious jewelleries and escapes. She bumps into Tsao Wan during an inspection by General Tsao's soldiers, and loses the box in the process.

Sheung Hung follows the box to an opera theatre, where Tsao Wan meets with Pak-Hoi to thwart her father's plans in securing foreign loans to amass power and restore the Qing monarchy. In an attempt to escape a strange man's harassment, Sheung Hung unknowingly hides in Tsao Wan's car trunk. Commander Looi, the head of the powerful auditing bureau, bullies the theatre owner into bribing him for bogus suspicious activities.

Back home from the theatre, Tsao Wan eavesdrops on her father's meeting with foreign bankers, and discovers the location of the key to the safe containing the signed loan documents. Because of Pak-Hoi's premature intervening, they fail to steal the documents, and are forced to escape with Sheung Hung and Tung Man, a soldier who got injured from saving Pak-Hoi. They seek refuge at Bai Niu's home that she shares with her father and his opera troupe, and is able to save Tung Man's life thanks to Tsao Wan's surgical skills.

Days later, Tsao Wan brings her father to the opera theatre, where Pak-Hoi and Tung Man awaits to steal the key from him when he's in the toilet from food poisoning. Their plan fails when Commander Looi and his men intervene, and a gunfight breaks out in the theatre, resulting in Pak-Hoi and Tung Man's escape, and the theatre's closure. Shaken from the ordeal, Tsao Wan invites Bai Niu and Sheung Hung, who somehow ended up performing on stage that night, to her home for drinks. General Tsao takes an interest in his daughter's friends, and upon finding out they were the performers from earlier that day, arranges for them to perform for him the following night. Both women spend the day preparing for the show, while Tsao Wan, Pak-Hoi, and Tung Man bribe Sheung Hung to drug General Tsao when he invites them home to spend the night, without letting Bai Niu in on the plan.

Despite Sheung Hung's best efforts, Bai Niu ends up knocking out General Tsao with a vase, giving Tsao Wan enough time to steal the key and obtain the loan documents. Sheung Hung, greedy for more money, keeps half the document as leverage. In the ensuing argument, Bai Niu berates them for their schemes and greed, and angrily leaves. As Tsao Wan is leaving with the entire document in hand, Sheung Hung is attacked by the strange man from before, but Tsao Wan rescues her. They discover that the man is a spy for the auditing buraeu. Back at the opera theatre, Bai Niu finds her father and the opera troupe missing. Pak-Hoi shows up and tells her that General Tsao is looking for her and Sheung Hung, and escapes with her. While leaving the theatre, they bump into Sheung Hung, who passes the document to Pak-Hoi, and informs them that Tsao Wan had returned home as her identity might have been exposed. They are interrupted by General Tsao's men, who capture Pak-Hoi and Tung Man.

Back at the mansion, General Tsao orders Tsao Wan to pack her bags and escape together, after finding out that the loan documents are missing. Tsao Wan manages to free Mr. Wong and the opera troupe from prison, but before she could escape with her father, the auditing bureau shows up to arrest her. Refusing to believe that his daughter is an insurgent, General Tsao defends her and is murdered by Commander Looi.

Commander Looi captures Tsao Wan and tortures her for information on the stolen documents, with the help of General Tun, who returned after General Tsao's death. The perverted General Tun orders Tsao Wan to be tied up in his bedroom for his enjoyment, but on his way there, he is greeted by two mysterious guests: Sheung Hung and Bai Niu. Sheung Hung seduces the general in his bedroom, and accidentally kills him in the process, then frees Tsao Wan from her binds. The three women unite to rescue the men from prison, and escape to the theatre together.

Commander Looi and his men arrive at the theatre to capture the escapees. The entire group decides to dress up in Peking Opera costumes and makeup, and escape through the roof of the stage as part of the performance. The bureau notices the ruse and chases after them. In the ensuing gunfight, Commander Looi is accidentally killed by his own men.

Later, Tsao Wan, Bai Niu, Sheung Hung, Pak-Hoi, and Tung Man meet at a valley. They briefly share their own paths forward, and part ways with the promise to meet again after the revolution succeeds.

Cast

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Title

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The Chinese title translates as Knife Horse Actresses, a term used in Peking Opera to refer to male actors playing female warriors (See Dan article for details). It is sometimes erroneously translated as Knife Horse Dawn, because both words are represented by the same Chinese character.[2]

Language

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In the original audio, the characters pre-dominantly converse in Cantonese, but Bai Niu occasionally speaks Mandarin when she's frustrated. She and her father also speak Cantonese with a Taiwanese accent.

Reception

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The film grossed HK$17,559,357 in Hong Kong.[3]

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 100% of 5 critics' reviews are positive.[4]

In his Wrap Up video to the Region 1 DVD of Wong Kar-wai's Chungking Express, Quentin Tarantino refers to Peking Opera Blues as "one of the greatest films ever made" and "a blast—it's a lot of fun."[5]

Awards

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Hong Kong Film Awards
Year Category Recipient Result
1987 Best Actress Sally Yeh Nominated
Best Supporting Actor Paul Chun Nominated
Best Action Choreography Ching Siu-tung Nominated
Best Cinematography Hang Sang Poon Nominated
Best Film Editing David Wu Nominated
Best Art Direction Vincent Wai
Kim-Sing Ho
Chi-Hing Leung 		Nominated

References

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  1. ^ Bleiler, David TLA Video & DVD Guide 2005 (St Martin's Griffin, 2004) p.478
  2. ^ Jenny Kwok Wah Lau, 'Peking Opera Blues: Exploding Genre, Gender and History', in Film Analysis (Norton, 2005), p. 739.
  3. ^ "Peking Opera Blues (1986)".
  4. ^ "Peking Opera Blues". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved 5 August 2025.
  5. ^ filmSCHOOLarchive (8 May 2013). Quentin Tarantino on "Chungking Express". Retrieved 27 September 2025 – via YouTube.
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