Wu Xia! Hong Kong’s Flying Swordsmen at NYAFF 2011

A rustle of silk, a flash of steel, and a swordswoman flutters out of the sky and alights on a tree limb that bends gracefully. This is the image most people associate with wu xia (literally, chivalrous hero) films. Wu xia novels have been popular in China and Hong Kong for centuries and Hong Kong has been putting them on the big screen practically since film was invented. Although wu xia encompasses all martial arts movies, it’s come to stand for the flying swordsman (and woman) movies that the Western wor