Shu Shuen Tang may not be familiar to mainstream movie lovers or even cinephiles of Chinese cinema, but she was actually the first internationally recognized, award-winning independent filmmaker in Hong Kong. In addition, she also happened to be a woman at a time when the Chinese film industry was controlled by studios run by men like the Shaw Brothers. The studios would only finance commercial films … Tang’s debut film, Dong fu ren, was self-financed and shot in Hong Kong on a limited budget. It garnered four Golden Horse Awards in 1971 including Best Actress (Lisa Lu), Best Cinematography, Best Artistic achievement and, most important of all, the Special Jury Prize of Creative Innovation created and awarded to Tang for this film … In the late 1960s, after her studies at USC, Tang returned to Hong Kong to prepare for the shoot of her first feature, Dong fu ren. The film is set in 17th century China; its protagonist, Madame Tung, is a widow for whom a triumphal arch is to be erected by the king to honour her contributions to her village – the arch being an ancient Chinese symbol of honour. A conflict arises when a young officer is billeted in her house and proceeds to show romantic attachment to both Madame Tung and her daughter. Madame Tung must choose between her own desire and her duty as a widow and mother, a situation that foregrounds the cruelty of societal pressure on a woman whose voice has been taken away from her after the passing of her husband … a similar expression of female suppression had never before been seen in Chinese films … Although Tang had been immersed in the American film scene, Dong fu ren does not resemble a Hollywood production as one might expect. “The subject matter is actually very cinematic. When I finished writing the script I gave it to my professor at USC to read, and he said that it was not a filmable script, because it was about the interior feelings of a woman who had no outlet to express them, and the plot had too few characters. But that is exactly why I thought it is good material for the cinema!”

Alice Shih, “Cineaction”, no. 94, 2014