Yu Kan-ping, born on 28 July 1950, is a Taiwanese film director and screenwriter and a graduate of Shih Hsin University's department of broadcasting and film. He began in 1974 as a production assistant and assistant director, served as assistant director on The Lost Swordship in 1978 and was promoted to director in 1979, writing and directing his first feature, Love and the Sword. He built a working relationship with Karl Maka, acting as assistant director on The Good, the Bad and the Loser (1976), shot in Taiwan, and as screenwriter of Maka's Iron Fists (1979). Invited to head the Taiwan branch of Cinema City as production director, he directed Spooky Kookies (1981), wrote and directed Can't Stop the War (1982) and, with Li Yuan, Sylvia Chang and Johnny Tuan, associate-produced That Day, on the Beach (1983), later producing The Time You Need a Friend (1984). Quitting the production post in 1983, he concentrated on Papa, Can You Hear Me Sing?, which was re-released eight times within five months, took over NT$17 million and more than HK$12 million in Hong Kong, and in which he discovered and promoted the then-unknown singer Julie Sue for its songs; the film won best original film song and best film music at the 3rd Hong Kong Film Awards and four prizes at the 20th Golden Horse Awards. His later films include Myth of a City (1985), The Outsiders (1986) and Two Painters (1990), and he wrote and directed Kung Fu Kids Break Away (1980) and The Third Bridge (1988). From the 1990s he turned to documentaries on Taiwanese folk culture and aboriginal history, among them Theatre in the Palm of Your Hand (2001) and My Home, My Song (2006). In 2026 he received the lifetime achievement award of the 63rd Golden Horse Awards.
From Papa, Can You Hear Me Sing? onward, Yu Kan-ping fused pop songs with melodrama; the film was a huge hit and made a star of the singer Julie Sue, becoming one of the representative works of Taiwanese social-realist cinema. From the 1990s he turned to documentaries on aboriginal and local culture, adding another voice to Taiwan's screen record.
Achievements
- 1979 · Promoted to director, writing and directing his first feature, Love and the Sword
- 1983 · Directed Papa, Can You Hear Me Sing?, which ran eight times in five months and took four prizes at the 20th Golden Horse Awards
- 2026 · Received the lifetime achievement award of the 63rd Golden Horse Awards