Wang Ying-hsiang (born 1938) is a Taiwanese cinema operator and distributor whose Ya Tai and Long Shong Pictures companies handled both Chinese and Western films. Long Shong Pictures was founded in 1971 by Wang and Yu Shu and later contracted with Chen Ching-yi's China Theatre for the supply and scheduling of films, growing into one of Taiwan's leading distributors. In the early 1980s he brought Cinema City films to Taiwanese screens, including Send in the Clowns (1980) and All the Wrong Clues (1981), and the two sides later set up a Taiwan branch to make films that he distributed, its head office being held in turn by the Taiwanese filmmakers Yu Kan-ping and Sylvia Chang and by the Hong Kong director John Woo. He also took part in production, producing Tai Shang Tai Xia (1983) and serving as a co-producer on Can't Stop the War (1982), Kidnapped (1983), That Day, on the Beach (1983), Papa, Can You Hear Me Sing? (1983), Xiao Jiang (1985) and Super Citizen (1985). He ran cinemas and cinema circuits in Taiwan, including the Hsinsheng and Today circuits, and at the end of 1984 formed the New World circuit, on which D & B films were also scheduled from 1986; the two also co-produced Yi Xiang Gu Shi (1987). In the 1980s and 90s Long Shong took part in many Hong Kong productions as producer or co-producer, among them Magic Crystal (1986), People's Hero (1987), Swordsman (1990), Swordsman II (1992) and Dong Fang Bu Bai Feng Yun Zai Qi (1993).
Wang Ying-hsiang was a major Taiwanese exhibitor and distributor who handled Cinema City, D & B and other Hong Kong films in Taiwan. Through Long Shong Pictures he co-produced titles including That Day, on the Beach and Swordsman, acting as a key intermediary between the Hong Kong and Taiwanese film industries in the 1980s and 90s.
Achievements
- 1971 · Founded Long Shong Pictures Ltd
- 1981 · Partnered with Cinema City to set up a Taiwan branch for film production
- 1984 · Formed the New World cinema circuit