Chung Kwok-yan (born 10 September 1944), originally named Au Kan-shing and of Zhongshan ancestry in Guangdong, left home at nine to earn a living and once spent three years on his own in the United States. Returning to Hong Kong, he entered the film industry and served as producer and story provider on Golden Harvest's The 426 (1977), directed by Lam Kwok-cheung, which took more than HK$1.7 million and ranked twelfth among Chinese-language releases that year. Recruited by Shaw Brothers, he then produced The 428 (1978), The 108 (1978) and The 489 (1978). In 1978 he formed the Overseas Film Company with Cheng Kei-ying and turned director, making his debut with The Lion's Head, Glass Belly (1978). Continuing with Golden Harvest he shifted to crime stories, directing The Fatal Plot (1979), Wind and Dust (1980), Zero Point Three Eight (1980) and The Scorpion (1981); under the alias Wah Yan he directed The 633 (1979), and in Taiwan he directed The Avenger (1982). His films often dealt with triad and police subjects and used numbers as titles, earning him first the nickname of the 'number producer' and, once he directed, that of the 'number director'. Besides producing and directing, he frequently appeared on screen and took the lead in his own Ordinance 17 (1981). Later works include Killing Beyond the Line (1983), Teenage Trap (1984) and 9 to 3 (1986), and he remained active in the industry into the early 1990s with a dozen or so directing credits. Both his sons, Chung Siu-hung and Chung Siu-tong, also worked in film, and he served as supervising director on the latter's Blood Street (1991).
Chung Kwok-yan titled his films with numbers and, through the late 1970s and 1980s, turned out a run of triad and crime pictures that made him what the Hong Kong and Taiwan trades called the 'number director'. Films such as Ordinance 17, in which he also starred, bear his personal stamp, and both of his sons later entered the film industry.
Achievements
- 1977 · Served as producer and supplied the story for Golden Harvest's The 426, directed by Lam Kwok-cheung, which took more than HK$1.7 million.
- 1978 · Formed the Overseas Film Company with Cheng Kei-ying and turned director, his first film being The Lion's Head, Glass Belly.
- 1981 · Directed and starred in the crime film Ordinance 17.
- 1982 · Directed The Avenger in Taiwan.