Editing Action film (section)

===Hong Kong action films===
{{Main|Hong Kong action cinema}}
The first Chinese-language martial arts films can be traced to Shanghai cinema of the late 1920s. These films were popular during the period, which comprised almost 60% of the total Chinese films. Man-Fung Yip stated that these film were "rather tame" by contemporary standards.{{sfn|Yip|2017|p=4}} He wrote that they lacked the kind of dazzling action choreography as expected today and had crude and rudimentary special effects.{{sfn|Yip|2017|p=4}} These films came under increasing attack by both government officials and cultural elites for their allegedly superstitious and anarchistic tendencies, leading them to be banned in 1932. It was not until the base of Chinese commercial filmmaking was relocated from Shanghai to Hong Kong in the late 1940s that martial arts cinema was revived. These films contained much of the characteristics of the previous era. During this period, over 100 films were based on the adventures of real life Cantonese folk hero [[Wong Fei-hung]] who first appeared in film in 1949. These films primarily on circuited within Hong Kong and Cantonese-speaking areas with Chinese [[diaspora]].{{sfn|Yip|2017|p=5}} Yip continued that these Hong Kong films were still lagging behind in aesthetic and technical standards that films from the United States, Europe and Japan had during this period.{{sfn|Yip|2017|p=157}}

Yip described Japanese cinema as the most advanced in Asia at the time. This was showcased by the international breakthrough of [[Akira Kurosawa]]'s films like ''[[Rashomon]]'' (1950).{{sfn|Yip|2017|p=157}} The film genre known as the ''[[Samurai cinema|chanbara]]'' was at its height in Japan. The style was a sub-genre to the ''[[Jidaigeki|jidai-geki]]'', or [[Historical drama|period drama]] with an emphasis on sword fighting and action.{{sfn|Sharpe|2011|p=43}} It had a similar level of popularity to that of the [[Western film|Western]] in the United States. The most internationally known films of this era were the films Kurosawa with ''[[Seven Samurai]]'' (1954), ''[[The Hidden Fortress]]'' (1958), and ''[[Yojimbo]]'' (1961).{{sfn|Sharpe|2011|p=44}} By at least the 1950s, Japanese films were looked upon as a model to be emulated by Hong Kong film production, and Hong Kong film companies began actively enlisting professionals from Japan, such as cinematographer Tadashi Nishimoto to contribute to color and widescreen cinematography.{{sfn|Yip|2017|p=157}} New literary sources also developed in martial arts films of this period, with the ''xinpai wuxia xiaoshuo'' (or "new school martial arts fiction") coming into prominence with the success of [[Liang Yusheng]]'s ''Longhu Dou Jinghua'' (1954) and [[Jin Yong]]'s ''Shujian enchou lu'' (1956) which showed influence of the Shanghai martial arts films but also circulated from Hong Kong to Taiwan and Chinese communities overseas. This led to a growing demand in both local and regional markets in the early 1960s and saw a surge in production of Hong Kong martial arts films that went beyond the stories about Wong Fei-hung which were declining in popularity.{{sfn|Yip|2017|pp=6}} These new martial arts films featured magical swordplay and higher production values and more sophisticated special effects than the previous films with [[Shaw Brothers Studio|Shaw Brothers]] a campaign of "new school" (''xinpai'') martial arts swordplay films such as Xu Zenghong's ''Temple of the Red Lotus'' (1965) and [[King Hu]]'s ''[[Come Drink with Me]]'' (1966).{{sfn|Yip|2017|pp=6-7}}
[[File:Bruce Lee 1973 (cropped).jpg|thumb|right|The popularity of [[Bruce Lee]] (pictured) attracted a global audience for [[kung fu films]], however his career was cut short following his untimely death in 1973, which lead to a decline in popularity for the artform.{{sfn|Yip|2017|pp=8}}]]
In the 1970s, the Hong Kong martial arts films began to grow under the format of ''yanggang'' ("staunch masculinity") mostly through the films of [[Chang Cheh]] which were popular. This transition led to the [[kung fu film]] sub-genre at beginning of the decade and moved beyond the swordplay films with contemporary settings of late Qing or early Republican periods and had more hand-to-hand combat over supernatural swordplay and special effects.{{sfn|Yip|2017|pp=7}} A new studio, [[Orange Sky Golden Harvest|Golden Harvest]] quickly became one of independent filmmakers to grant creative freedom and pay and attracted new directors and actors, including [[Bruce Lee]].{{sfn|Yip|2017|pp=7-8}} The popularity of kung fu films and Bruce Lee led to attract a global audience of these films in the United States and Europe, but was cut short on Lee's death in 1973 leading the phases popularity to decline.{{sfn|Yip|2017|pp=8}} Following a period of stagnation, Chang Cheh and [[Lau Kar-leung]] revitalized the genre with shaolin kung fu films and [[Chor Yuen]]'s series of darker swordplay films based on the novels of [[Gu Long]].{{sfn|Yip|2017|pp=8}} Kung Fu comedies appeared featuring [[Jackie Chan]] as martial arts films flourished into the 1980s. Other films again modernized the form with [[gangster film]]s of [[John Woo]] (''[[A Better Tomorrow]]'' (1986), ''[[The Killer (1989 film)|The Killer]]'' (1989)) and the Wong Fei Hung saga returning in [[Tsui Hark]]'s ''[[Once Upon a Time in China]]'' featuring [[Jet Li]] which again revitalized the swordplay styled films.{{sfn|Yip|2017|pp=8}} By the turn of the century Hollywood action films would look towards Hong Kong cinema and bringing some of their major actors and directors over to apply their style to their films, such as Chan, Woo, Li, [[Michelle Yeoh]] and [[Yuen Woo-Ping]].{{sfn|Yip|2017|pp=8-9}} The release of [[Ang Lee]]'s ''[[Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon]]'' (2000) led to a Global release status of Chinese-language martial arts films, most notably [[Zhang Yimou]]'s ''[[Hero (2002 film)|Hero]]'' (2002) and ''[[House of Flying Daggers]]'' (2004), [[Stephen Chow]]'s ''[[Kung Fu Hustle]]'' (2004) and [[Chen Kaige]]'s ''[[The Promise (2005 film)|The Promise]]'' (2005).{{sfn|Yip|2017|pp=9}} Most Hong Kong action films in the first quarter of the 21st century, such as those in ''[[Cold War (2012 film)|Cold War]]'' (2012), ''[[Cold War 2 (film)|Cold War 2]]'' (2016) and [[The White Storm (film series)|''The White Storm'' film series]] have their violence toned down, especially compared to the earlier work of directors like Woo and [[Johnnie To]].{{sfn|Chen|2022|p=118}} Antong Chen, in his study on the Hong Kong action film, wrote that the influence of China and the amount of Chinese co-productions made with Hong Kong created a shift in these films, particularly following the release of ''[[Infernal Affairs]]'' (2002).{{sfn|Chen|2022|p=120}}