Chang Tseng-chai (1931 – 9 October 2010) was born in Shandong and grew up in northern China. He directed stage plays at eighteen and moved to Taiwan at about twenty, graduating from the drama department of the Political Warfare Cadre School. Entering the film industry around 1953–54, he joined the China Film Studio, first working as an editor and cataloguing more than two hundred documentaries. He made documentary films such as 'Kinmen Fortress' (1958), as well as Taiwanese-language pictures including 'The Maiden' (1961) and 'The Wife-Fearing Husband' (1963), and his first Mandarin feature, 'Gratitude and Vengeance in the Wilds' (1962); spotted by Li Han-hsiang, he became the first local director promoted by the Grand Motion Picture company. He followed with 'The Dodder Flower' (1965) and 'The Bridge' (1966). In 1970 he won Best Director at the 8th Golden Horse Awards for 'The Wandering Swordsman and the Assassin'. He directed 'The Redbeard' for Shaw Brothers in 1971, then films such as 'The Casino' and 'The Fugitive' (1972), 'The Roaming Life' (1973), 'The Mask' (1974) and 'The Big Cheat' and 'The Bully' (1975). He founded his own Chang Tseng-chai Film Company, making 'The Bar Girl' (1975), 'The Legend of Zhu Lao-san' (1979) and 'The Paratroopers' (1981). His 1977 'Heroes of the Eastern Skies' brought him Best Director and Best Feature Film at the 14th Golden Horse Awards. In 1982 he set up a production company to make television drama, his TTV anthology dramas earning Golden Bell recognition. In the 1990s he and his wife Li Hong moved to Orange County, California, where he died of heart disease on 9 October 2010, aged seventy-nine.
Chang Tseng-chai began as a documentary editor and Taiwanese-language filmmaker before becoming a mainstay director of Mandarin pictures in Taiwan and at Shaw Brothers. Winning the Golden Horse Best Director award twice, for The Wandering Swordsman and the Assassin and Heroes of the Eastern Skies, he was known for hard-edged action and military subjects; his career across Taiwan, Hong Kong and the United States reflects the movement of post-war Chinese-language film talent.
Achievements
- 1962 · Made his first Mandarin feature, 'Gratitude and Vengeance in the Wilds'
- 1970 · Won Best Director at the 8th Golden Horse Awards for 'The Wandering Swordsman and the Assassin'
- 1977 · Won Best Director and Best Feature Film at the 14th Golden Horse Awards for 'Heroes of the Eastern Skies'
- 1982 · Founded a production company and moved into television drama