Hsin Chi

Hsin Chi (辛奇)  (23 October 1924 – 22 October 2010),^[1] birth name as Hsin Jin-Chuan (辛金傳),^[2] was a Taiwanese film director who was known for his Taiwanese-language films in the 1960s, including The Bride Who Has Returned From Hell (地獄新娘; 1965), Foolish Bride, Naive Groom (三八新娘憨子婿; 1967), and The Rice Dumpling Vendor (燒肉粽; 1969). He directed nearly fifty Taiwanese-language films, most of them have a close relationship with plays and literature.

Hsin Chi’s birth name was Xing Jin-Chuan (辛金傳). He was born in 1924 in Wanhua District, Taipei City. His home was close to the Wanhua Cinema (萬華戲院), where his neighbour worked, Hsin Chi thus developed had a love for cinema quite early in his life. He only enrolled in high school for a year before he transferred to polytechnic school. He started to develop an interest toward literature, and started to explore theatre. He went to Nihon University, Japan, and studied in the department of theatre in 1942 despite his family’s disagreement.^[2]

He dropped out of the university and came back to Taiwan in 1944, which was at the peak of the Japanization movement promoted by the Japanese government. Xing Jin-Chuan joined “Youth Culture Committee” (青年文化常會) and performed “street poetic play” (街頭詩劇). Due to the play’s implied questioning of Taiwan’s Japanese national identity, Hsin was investigated by the government. To him, plays were their media to spread patriotism and resist Japanese colonisation. He later joined the “Taiwan Theatre Committee” (台灣演劇協會) to be in charge of stage design and other works. He engaged in nearly all of the important theatre movements in Taiwan in the period of  WWII until the restoration of Taiwan.^[2] When he was the editor of Local Theatre  (地方戲劇), he used the name Hsin Chi as his pseudonym, and the name was kept for all his works afterwards.^[3]

In 1956, Hsin Chi adapted Cai Qiu Lin (蔡秋林)’s Xi Shi (西施), which was a script for Taiwanese opera, into film script to be filmed as Fan Li and Xi Shi (范蠡與西施). In the same year,^[2] Hsin adapted the play script Yu Ye Hua (雨夜花) into film script for the very first modern Taiwanese-language film of the same title. He founded Zhongxing Taiwanese Experimental Drama Club (中興台語實驗劇社) with Xu Shou-Ren (徐守仁) and Li Chuan (李川).^[4] They fostered Yang Ming (陽明), Jiang Nan (江南),  Yu Han-Xiang (余漢祥), Chen Yun-Qing (陳雲卿) and several other stars of Taiwanese-language film.^[3]

In 1957, Hsin Chi directed his first film Gan Bao Guo Taiwan  (甘國寶過台灣). That same year, he participated in the first edition of Taiwanese-Language Film Festival (台語片影展) held by the Intelligence News Agency (徵信新聞社) with his Miao Ying Piao Ling Ji (妙英飄零記) and Bo Min Hua (薄命花).^[3] In 1965, his Qiu Ni Yuan Liang (求妳原諒) won the Best Film award at the National Taiwanese-Language Film Exhibition (國產台語影片展覽會) held by the Taiwan Daily (台灣日報). Hsin Chi and Wang Yi-Juan(王薏雯) also won the Best Screenplay award for Bei Lian Gong Lu (悲戀公路) and Hsin Chi was selected as one of the top ten Taiwanese-language film directors and awarded the Baodao Award (Taiwan award/寶島獎). His Shuang Mian Qing Ren (雙面情人) released in 1965 was the first science fiction horror film in Taiwanese-Language films. In 1966, Hou Jie Ren Sheng (後街人生) was Hsin Chi 's most satisfying representative work in his film career. That same year, he directed his first Mandarin film Bing Dian (冰點). In 1970, he went to Hong Kong to work on the post-production of Shaw Brothers' Shadow Girl  (隱身女俠) which was shot in Taiwan.^[3]

In 1971, Hsin Chi began working in television and became the theatrical instructor for several TV shows, including The Chinese Television Service’s (now Chinese Television System)  Jia Qing Jun You Taiwan(Mr. Jia Qing’s tour to Taiwan/嘉慶君遊台灣), Xi Luo Qi Jian (The seven swords of xiluo/西螺七劍),  Wang Ni Zao Gui (Hope you return soon/望你早歸),  Nü Shen Long(Dragon goddess/女神龍), Shan  Hu Tan Zhi Lian (Love in Coral Lake/珊瑚潭之戀)", and Taiwan Television Enterprise’s Mu Lei Di Di Ai (Mother's tears of love/母淚滴滴愛), etc. In 1972, he went to Indonesia to film Jing Jing Xun Mu Ji (晶晶尋母記), which was not released in Taiwan. In 1978, he won the Golden Bell Award for Best Educational and Cultural Program Award for his educational program Ai Xin (Love/愛心). In 1979, he directed Drunken Shrimp, Crab, and Fish (醉魚醉蝦醉螃蟹), which was his last film.^[3]

Beginning in 1990, Hsin Chi assisted the National Film Archive to sort and catalogue Taiwanese-language film materials. In 1996, he acted in TV dramas Chunhua Dream" (春花夢露) and "Dharma " (達摩). He became the president of the "Taiwanese Film and Television Artists Association" (台語片演藝人員聯誼會) in 1997 and organized the "Taiwanese Filmmakers Group" (台灣影人劇團) the following year. In 1999, director Lai Feng-Qi (賴豐奇) made a documentary about him entitled On Hsin Chi and his A-Team for Taiwanese-Language Films (班底/角色-辛奇導演).  In 2001, the "Taiwanese Film and Television Artists Association" expanded and became the "Taiwanese Filmmakers Group" (台灣影人協會), with Hsin Chi serving as the first chairman.^[3]

Hsin Chi passed away due to colorectal cancer in 2010.^[4]