Rachel Zen Wai-chu was born in Shanghai on 23 January 1951 and moved to Hong Kong with her family in 1960, later studying mass communication at Shih Hsin University in Taiwan. She first worked as a reporter in RTV's news department, moved to TVB's drama unit as an assistant director in 1974 and was promoted to director in 1975, becoming one of the few woman directors in TVB's drama division at the time. In 1977 she joined Radio Television Hong Kong and directed the long-running realist series When We Were Young, which looked at Hong Kong life through the eyes of children and became a shared memory for many local families; she went on to work for many years on the Below the Lion Rock and Hong Kong Hong Kong anthology series. Her 1982 production The Child in the Windmill won an award at the US International Rehabilitation Film Festival as well as a silver medal at the New York Film and Television Festival, and her 1984 Below the Lion Rock episode Born Talented, about people helping one another, won further international prizes and earned her the label of a humanitarian director. In film, she made her feature debut with Cream Soda and Milk in 1981, and in the same year directed the episode Goodbye, My Love in the Hong Kong Hong Kong series, the first leading role for Andy Lau, who was discovered through it. She spent nearly twenty years at RTHK, where the station's research-driven culture led her to conduct field interviews and gather material before writing, and her work focuses on grassroots people, youth and marginalised communities with a plain, unsentimental style. She was especially skilled at handling youth and family relationships, bringing documentary observation into drama, and together with other directors she helped build Below the Lion Rock into a realist tradition that answered social problems. She retreated from Hong Kong's screen industry in the mid-1990s, emigrated to Hawaii in 1996, and returned briefly in 2002 to produce the TVB drama Love Is Everywhere before leaving again.
Rachel Zen was an early force in Hong Kong's realist television drama. Her RTHK work When We Were Young and Below the Lion Rock recorded Hong Kong life through the eyes of children and ordinary people, becoming collective memories for a generation; her 1984 episode Born Talented won several international prizes and earned her the name of a humanitarian director. She was also one of the few woman directors to move from television into film, and her 1981 episode Goodbye, My Love was Andy Lau's debut.
Achievements
- 1977 · Joined RTHK and directed the long-running realist series When We Were Young.
- 1982 · Directed The Child in the Windmill, which won a US international film award and a New York television silver medal.
- 1984 · Directed the Below the Lion Rock episode Born Talented, which won several international awards.
- 1981 · Made her feature debut with Cream Soda and Milk and directed Goodbye, My Love, Andy Lau's first leading role.