Wong Fei-hung Films and Vernacular Modernism in 1950s Hong Kong

This paper explores the rise of the Wong Fei-hung film franchise, which has produced more than 100 films since 1949, and its role in articulating and mediating modern experiences for audiences in 1950s Hong Kong and the Chinese diaspora in Southeast Asia and beyond. Utilising rare sources and the theoretical framework of vernacular modernism, the paper situates the franchise within the Cold War context. It highlights how these Cantonese-language films about the heroic deeds of a late-Qing martial artist provided nuanced interpretations of modernism that contrasted with modernist narratives of ideologically driven films produced by pro-CCP and KMT studios in Hong Kong. Set in Guangdong, the hometown of many Overseas Chinese, the Wong Fei-hung films employed cinematic elements that resonated with the rise of mass consumerism and modernism in diasporic Chinese communities during the 1950s. Although early Wong Fei-hung films were viewed as outdated by the 1970s, they expressed a modern sensibility from a vernacular perspective that transcended Cold War ideological binaries.