Original: I am Ai Gongzi’s favorite history.
They were dressed in official uniforms of the Qing Dynasty, with long nails and bloody skin. Cheeks sunken, hands raised horizontally, jumping forward.
He also likes to bite people’s necks with fangs.
Presumably this is the childhood shadow of many people.
But no matter how horrible zombies are, as long as a man appears, it will bring incomparable security.
A word eyebrow, moustache, tall and straight posture, cassock, Taoist hat, peach wooden sword …
He is serious and funny, with a serious face, and he is both wise and brave when dealing with zombies. People can laugh when they are scared.
Ching-Ying Lam, the zombie leader, is affectionately called "Uncle Jiu" and "Uncle Ying" by fans.
▲ The most secure man-Jiu Shu. Source: film and television stills
In Hong Kong movies, when it comes to comedy, it means Stephen Chow, when it comes to kung fu, it means Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung, and when it comes to zombies, it is impossible to avoid Ching-Ying Lam.
In the middle and late 1980s, a series of "Maoshan Zombie Films" created box office legends one after another, followed suit and rushed to shoot, successfully leading the arrival of the "Zombie Age" and becoming the memory and witness of an era.
It can be said that Ching-Ying Lam, on his own, brought the zombie film to fire.
Now, that era has long passed, and Ching-Ying Lam has become the last "Taoist" in Jianghu. After his death in 1997, good zombie movies were almost gone, and the next "Uncle Ying" never appeared.
Dragon and tiger warrior
Ching-Ying Lam, formerly known as Lin Genbao, was born in Hongkong in 1952. There are six brothers and sisters in the family, and he ranks third. When he was a child, his family was poor, and he dropped out of school after only two years of primary school.
As a child of a poor family, he joined a Peking Opera Troupe in Hong Kong early, and took Ju-hua Fen, a famous Peking Opera Wudan actor, as his teacher.
In the first half of last century, a large number of mainlanders came to Hong Kong, including many drama masters and martial arts masters. For example, Yu Zhanyuan (the master of Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung), a famous Peking Opera actress, and Yuan Xiaotian (the father of Yuan Heping).
At that time, movies were not popular, and there was still a market for traditional Chinese operas. Most of the masters who came to Hong Kong were engaged in the old line of pear garden and martial arts teaching boxing. The four most famous schools are China Drama School in Yu Zhanyuan, Chunqiu Drama School in Ju-hua Fen, Oriental Drama School in Tangdi and Chinese Drama School in Ma Chengzhi.
▲ Ju-hua Fen, the master of pear garden in Ching-Ying Lam. Source: Network
Ching-Ying Lam and John Lone, Hui Tianci, Wai Tung are fellow disciples, and Sammo Hung, Yuan Wah, Jackie Chan and others under Yu Zhanyuan are different teachers.
Life in the Liyuan is very hard. Every day is leg press, practicing kungfu and singing opera, waiting for a chance to get ahead. Ching-Ying Lam’s career in Peking Opera lasted only three or four years, and then he was introduced by a friend and switched to the film industry.
In the 1960s, martial arts movies rose, and Hu Jinquan and Zhang Che’s come drink with me and One-armed Knife were very popular. These martial arts films pursue gorgeous movements and images of fists and fists reaching to the flesh. They can’t move a person to hit 200 people, tumble from heaven to earth, and climb over the cliff, which requires practitioners to have considerable fist and fist skills.
As a result, many children of Liyuan entered the film industry and became the first batch of dragon and tiger martial artists. Dragon and Tiger Martial Arts Master is not body double as people usually think. The supporting actor who was beaten, body double, the protagonist who beat people, and the group performance behind the actors all have their figures wherever action scenes are needed.
After entering the film circle, Ching-Ying Lam’s first job was as a martial artist in Shaw Film Company, but because of her thin figure, she worked as a body double for an actress. Among these actresses, there is Pei-Pei Cheng who plays the role of "Mrs. Hua" in "Tong Pak Hu Dian Qiu Xiang".
It was a good time for the Dragon and Tiger Martial Arts. After fishing for body double, there was work every day. In the era when the average monthly income was 100 yuan, the income of the Dragon and Tiger Martial Masters was as high as 2,000 to 3,000 yuan, and they bought cars a month and houses a year.
But these are all spelled out with their lives.
In that era when there was no green screen and CG, all the actions had to be made by the actors themselves. It is said that as long as there is a 50% certainty, the Dragon and Tiger Martial Master will try dangerous actions, and every day is like a war. The audience only saw the successful and surviving dragon and tiger martial artists in the movie, but they didn’t see the seriously injured, disabled, paralyzed or even sacrificed off the court.
It is this desperate spirit that brought Ching-Ying Lam and Bruce Lee together.
Before Bruce Lee, action movies in Hong Kong were fancy tricks, similar to the martial arts performances in Beijing Opera. And Bruce Lee introduced the western fighting style, which requires quick, accurate and hard moves, with a large range of fists and feet, and strives for "real" fighting.
Dragon and Tiger Martial Masters need to cooperate with the leading actor’s movements, learn to look at the camera, walk with the group play, shout when hitting people, respond accordingly after being beaten, and their movements are closer to reality, closer to fighting and modern martial arts. But this is bound to hurt the martial artist.
Only Ching-Ying Lam is not afraid. At the age of 19, he served as the martial arts director of Big Brother in Tangshan, starring Bruce Lee. On the set, he almost became a meat target, stood up and let Bruce Lee beat him up, punched him down, stood up and continued to fight.
▲ Ching-Ying Lam and Bruce Lee. Source: Network
Sammo Hung once said of Ching-Ying Lam: "He doesn’t talk at ordinary times, but you can’t let him drink. Because when he drinks, he hits everyone. Bruce Lee came to fight Bruce Lee … He is really a hard worker in filming. "
John Woo once recalled that once Ching-Ying Lam was drunk, was besieged by others, hit the lying ground, and did not ask his peers for help. He filmed as usual the next day. Once I went to the police station and was beaten by several detectives. Ching-Ying Lam said nothing, but the detectives were soft, and finally praised him for his good character.
After Big Brother in Tangshan, Ching-Ying Lam became Bruce Lee’s deputy. If Ching-Ying Lam is not on the set, Bruce Lee would rather stop filming. Later, Ching-Ying Lam and Bruce Lee collaborated on films such as The Raptor Crossing the River, Jingwumen, enter the dragon and The Game of Death.
In July 1973, Bruce Lee died unexpectedly while filming The Game of Death.
At that time, Bruce Lee was the hope of Hong Kong action movies and the spiritual eldest brother of all martial artists. The death of a superstar, like an earthquake, was enough to silence the dragon and tiger martial artists for many years-in the following years, the output of kung fu films dropped sharply, and cinemas were full of literary films. Unemployed martial artists turned to driving black cars, carrying clean linen for hotels, and even had to live by selling blood.
Ching-Ying Lam finally gained a foothold and was forced to usher in a turning point in his life.
Screen superstar
In the late 1970s, Ching-Ying Lam joined Hongjiaban. Gradually shift from behind the scenes to in front of the curtain.
At that time, kung fu films were also looking for breakthroughs.
Sammo Hung and Ching-Ying Lam co-starred in Ghost, which is a fantasy kung fu film that combines the elements of kung fu comedy and ghosts, and it has a good box office.
▲ "Ghost" movie poster. Source: Network
After the low-cost production of Ghosts and Ghosts was a great success, Sammo Hung successively produced Scary People and Scary Ghosts. It can be seen that Sammo Hung began to try to integrate the zombie theme into the "fantasy kung fu film". However, at that time, Sammo Hung and others obviously had no confidence in the zombies in local folk legends, but planned to attract the attention of Hong Kong audiences by using the "vampire zombies" in Europe and America. It turns out that the effect is not good.
Later, Sammo Hung, Ching-Ying Lam and others, after some research, found that the idea of western vampire could not be integrated with their spiritual magic, so they gave up this practice and turned to local folk legends.
A lot of money can make a little money. In 1985, a landmark "Mr. Zombie" was born.
The film was a great success. Originally, Jiahe thought that it had invested 6 million yuan, but it was expected to lose 2 million yuan. Who knows that the box office soared to 20 million in the end, and it was also nominated for the best film in the Fifth Academy Awards. Originality is the peak, and then no zombie movie can surpass this box office record.
The story mode of Mr. Zombie is almost completely copied from Hong Kong Kung Fu movies, the background of the early Republic of China, the relationship between master and apprentice, etc., but a lot of details about "Zombie" and "Maoshan Art" are added. The image of zombies comes from the legend of corpse driving in western Hunan. The legendary technique of using sticky rice, ink lines, peach swords and yellow paper symbols to subdue zombies in Maoshan Art was put into practice by Ching-Ying Lam, the "Ninth Uncle", with extremely professional performances.
This has created the most classic image in the history of zombie movies-"Uncle Jiu".
▲ Uncle Jiu. Source: film and television stills
By today’s standards, it is almost impossible for Ching-Ying Lam to become famous.
His appearance is not pleasing-his brow is high, his cheekbones are high and his eyes are sharp. But it is this appearance, with thick eyebrows and moustache, which shows the inner integrity and justice of Jiu Shu, and there is no lack of joy at the same time.
His kung fu skills have also come in handy, with agile skills, clear moves and flowing water. With his cold expression, he has formed a style different from Jackie Chan’s laughing and fighting.
When "Mr. Zombie" came out, it ushered in countless followers. From 1986 to 1991, there were more than 100 zombie films produced in Hong Kong, with an average of more than 20 films a year.
Ching-Ying Lam has not been idle, shooting several sequels of Mr. Zombie, and constantly exploring the boundaries of zombie films:
The little zombies in Zombie Family have feelings and become friends with the children.
▲ The little zombie in Zombie Family. Source: film and television stills
"Mr. Ghost" plays kung fu magic, but it has nothing to do with zombies, but involves another kind of so-called "walking corpse" in folklore where the living are controlled by warlocks.
The Exorcist Police combines zombie movies with gangster movies …
As zombie movies continue to stir up cold rice, the market is gradually depressed. In 1989, with the heart of saving the market, Ching-Ying Lam spent two years directing and acting a movie "One Eyebrow Road flyover". The whole movie was funny and exciting, and western vampires were integrated into it. Taoist Mao Shan and Christians’ "chickens talk with ducks" and Maoshan Shu fought with western zombies, which had a unique flavor.
▲ Movie poster of "One Eyebrow Road flyover". Source: film and television stills
The film has a box office of over 10 million, but it is not profitable because of its high cost. However, this novel model has also been borrowed by many zombie films, which is regarded as a continuation of this theme, otherwise the zombie empire will come to an end in the late 1980 s.
Zombie universe
In fact, Ching-Ying Lam is not the first person to push zombies to the big screen.
In 1974, Shaw Film Company and British company co-produced a western vampire and the legendary "Seven Golden Corpses", which can be regarded as the first zombie film combining local and foreign cultures. Due to the weird style and mixed content of the film, the audience could not accept it, and the box office finally failed miserably. In the next ten years, few people in Hong Kong dared to touch zombie movies again!
Therefore, the most valuable thing about Ching-Ying Lam is that it has built a zombie world by using local elements in China. After him, the image of "Chinese zombie" was completely shaped.
There are two kinds of zombies in the west. One is a zombie born of biochemical infection, which has no mind and depends on bloodthirsty instinct to survive. One is a vampire, who lives by sucking blood, conscious, but afraid of the sun and the cross.
▲ Common zombies in the West. Source: film and television stills
Chinese zombies are completely different. They are powerful and not afraid of physical attacks. Some of them are indestructible and invulnerable.
In Mr. Zombie, Ching-Ying Lam made a "popular science": "People are divided into good people and bad people, and corpses are divided into zombies and dead bodies. Man becomes a bad guy because he doesn’t live up to expectations, and a corpse becomes a zombie because it breathes more. Before a person dies, he is angry, holding his breath, and sulking. After he dies, he will have a breath in his throat. "
People bitten by zombies will be poisoned by ptomaine and become zombies, but they will not die immediately and may even be saved. For example, Xu Guanying’s apprentice Wen Cai, after being bitten, has a long finger and a dead spot on his face. Later, master saved him.
Zombies are jumping. Zombies refer not only to the stiffness of the body, but also to the stiffness of the joints, so they can’t walk normally.
▲ The zombies in Mr. Zombie are groundbreaking. Source: film and television stills
The only effective way to deal with zombies is "Maoshan" Daoism. According to folklore, Ching-Ying Lam created a system of subduing zombies, including theory, props, gestures and postures.
Mr. Zombie is simply a guide to Chinese zombies. Rune paper can be invisible, can also be used to hold zombies, and can also drive away ptomaine. A writing brush stained with chicken blood and cinnabar has a miraculous effect in exorcising ghosts, and it can also be painted. Peach wooden sword is the most commonly used weapon of Taoist priest, and it is the most effective to kill zombies. Spilling sticky rice can scare off zombies. Xu Guanying’s Wen Cai was bitten by a zombie. In order to prevent him from becoming a zombie, Jiu Shu asked Wen Cai to jump around on sticky rice. Because zombies know their bearings by breathing, holding their breath is a good way to save themselves.
▲ Another name of "Mr. Zombie" is "Stop Breathing for a while". Source: film and television stills
There are also various wonderful techniques (electric shock, fire, bombs, etc.), which are very grounded and have to make people sigh the genius-like creativity of Uncle Ying. So that later people found that they couldn’t surpass it when shooting zombie movies, so they had to follow suit.
It can be said that zombies can walk such a long way in the history of movies without this master figure.
It is a tradition of Hong Kong action movies that a calm and capable master is accompanied by a naughty and troublesome apprentice. Ching-Ying Lam’s films also integrate the mentoring relationship into the zombie world.
In "Mr. Zombie", Siu-ho Chin, the great disciple, is agile and is Master’s right-hand man in the fight against zombies, but he is unexpectedly tempted by the female ghost in red and yearns for the deserted house. This episode has won the essence of the legend of the female ghost among the people, and the taste of serial is very strong. Xu Guanying, the second disciple, was naughty and unlucky, but he still had the heart of justice and courage in his bones. As a result, he was bitten by a zombie and was poisoned, which brought a lot of trouble to Master.
▲ Two disciples of the Taoist priest. Source: film and television stills
Siu-ho Chin and Xu Guanying cooperated with Ching-Ying Lam in several films, all of which were of excellent quality. Later, Xu Guanying was nominated for Best Supporting Actor in the Academy Awards, but he felt that he should be the leading actor based on his acting skills and scenes, so he refused the nomination.
It is worth mentioning that on November 8, 2011, Xu Guanying passed away on the 14th anniversary of the death of "Master" Ching-Ying Lam, which made people feel deeply moved.
Love and parting
Every popular thing has its day, and Hong Kong zombie movies finally die of its only virtue-excesses.
Because of too much shoddy work, the audience is tired of this kind of theme. In addition, Jing Wong’s gambling films and Tsui Hark’s martial arts films have become popular, and the once very popular zombie theme is rarely touched.
Zombie movies almost died, but similar themes blossomed on the TV screen, which is attributed to Ching-Ying Lam’s persistence in this type of works. In 1995, he signed a contract with ATV and starred in "Zombie Master" for millions of dollars, with excellent ratings.
While filming this TV series, Ching-Ying Lam met King-Tan Yuen.
At that time, King-Tan Yuen won the title of "The First Ugly Woman in Hong Kong" from the pomegranate elder sister in Tong Pak Hu Dian Qiu Xiang to the pimp in Jiupin Sesame Official. However, under the fame, it is a crisis of transformation, and King-Tan Yuen is also looking for a way out.
So, love happened to these two people.
Ching-Ying Lam was divorced once and had two children, so she felt that she was not worthy of King-Tan Yuen, who was eleven years younger than herself. King-Tan Yuen is fearless. When filming this drama, Yuan specially borrowed a car from a friend in advance to send Uncle Ying off work and create a chance to be alone, but Uncle Ying said with a straight face, "I can walk on my own if I have feet."
King-Tan Yuen, who was ruthlessly rejected, bit Uncle Ying’s arm when filming the next day.
Facing the strong feelings of the other party, Ching-Ying Lam hesitated. He was withdrawn by nature and was not good at expressing himself. I don’t know if he could give people happiness.
There was a scene in which two people kissed. body double was supposed to be used, and Uncle Ying did it in person, but he couldn’t shoot the natural state. Or King-Tan Yuen came forward to hug Uncle Ying and kissed him fiercely, and finally passed the test.
▲ King-Tan Yuen who boldly pursues love. Source: film and television stills
In early 1996, they got together, and King-Tan Yuen moved from Happy Valley to Saigon to live with Ching-Ying Lam.
Unfortunately, the good times did not last long.
Later, Ching-Ying Lam received a TV series, which was called "A Flower Monk" in Hong Kong and "Biography of the Flower Monk" when it was broadcast on the mainland.
Ching-Ying Lam plays Marshal Bai Yingqi. This is probably Uncle Ying’s most handsome costume. However, at that time, many people didn’t know that he was suffering from liver cancer because of his long-term hard work and his love of drinking …
▲ Uncle Ying’s last TV series. Source: film and television stills
King-Tan Yuen and I had already reached the point of talking about marriage. Uncle Ying, who got the final diagnosis of liver cancer, came across as a bolt from the blue and offered to break up, but King-Tan Yuen still stuck with him.
At this moment, King-Tan Yuen just jumped ship from ATV to TVB, and he was so busy filming that he ran from studio to hospital every day, trying to take care of Uncle Ying until the end.
In order to avoid dragging down his lover, Uncle Ying, who has always been strong, immediately broke up with his lover. He moved out of their love nest and hid in a quiet place, which was taken care of by his sister. Because he didn’t want to be seen haggard before his death, Uncle Ying refused all visits, including King-Tan Yuen.
During that time, King-Tan Yuen slouches all day and always dreams of Uncle Ying at night. One day at noon, I was going to see the house, but suddenly I felt sleepy. After a short nap, she dreamed that a BB was ringing. When she picked it up, it was said that Uncle Ying had passed away. After waking up, the hospital called her and said that Uncle Ying had passed away.
On November 8, 1997, Ching-Ying Lam passed away at the age of 45.
According to his wishes, his funeral was only attended by relatives and friends, and it was extremely low-key.
Buddhist ceremonies were adopted in the funeral, with ten people, including Sammo Hung, Qian Jiale and Wuma, supporting the spirits. His body was cremated and buried in the United States, along with his favorite robes, shoes, hats and sunglasses.
After Uncle Ying left, the fans wrote a poem in memory of him:
How many zombie movies can there be? One eyebrow road flyover is unparalleled!
Half a bowl of clear water shines on Kun, and one Zhang Ling lives ghosts and gods.
Foot yin and yang gossip step, holding wood blade cut demon soul.
The yellow sermon clothes cast a heroic spirit, and the whole life will be clear and upright.
Hold the turbid wine above your head, and shed tears to respect the Taoist priest.
Tears shed wine and spirits, and the spirit of Tao endures forever.
Red rope glutinous rice is still there today, but I didn’t see the ghost catcher in those days!
Now, Ching-Ying Lam has been away for 27 years, and the zombie film has become a dusty memory. Fortunately, we have met Uncle Ying. Unfortunately, we have only met Uncle Ying.
After Uncle Ying left, there was no Taoist priest.
References:
Wei Junzi: Hong Kong Movie Romance, Culture and Art Publishing House, 2010.
– END –
The author was a recluse when he was in Qin Dynasty.
Editor Ai Gongzi
