Need movies and books set in Ancient China

I recently watched Kung Fu Panda with my toddler son, and it occurred to me that there is a rather large gap in my knowledge on the subject of Ancient China. I obviously don’t know a lot about it, but would like to bone up a bit on the subject. Are there any movies or books set in this time & place that I might enjoy, or that anyone would like to recommend?

I know it’s a rather broad topic, but my google skills are coming up short here, and I’m really not that picky. Anything will do.

Thanks, in advance.

Anything by Zhang Yimou, Hero, Curse of the Golden Flower.
Jet Li’s Fearless

Basically you’re looking for the genre ‘Kung Fu Epic’ which are sort of pseudo-historical Romantic epics set on the backdrop of Chinese history and always feature a Kung Fu master hero.

Hero takes place during the Qin unification.
Curse of the Golden Flower is about a particular Imperial family but I don’t know what era.
Fearless takes place during British Colonialism in China.

I don’t know if they have much educational value but I enjoyed both Hero and House of Flying Daggers by Zhang Yimou.

They’re good introductions. Though personally I didn’t like House of Flying Daggers much. Hero, introduces you to Qin and at least atmospherically gives you an idea of what it was he did.

For novels, you want Bridge of Birds by Barry Hughart.

Perhaps not strictly accurate in its history, but an absolutely wonderful story.

Awesome, thanks for the recs. I have seen Hero, and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Lantern & Lightray, thank you both for your suggestions. I’ll check them out.

Lightray beat me to it, but let me second Bridge of Birds. A wonderful novel.

I just put a hold on it at my local library. Looking forward to reading it.

It’s a Chinese film, so you must deal with subtitles, but I saw The Emperor’s Shadow years ago and liked it. It’s about Qin Shihuang, the first emperor of China. It is not a kung fu film. It appears to be available on Netflix.

Not quite ancient, but I thought The Warlords was a pretty good movie. Rather violent and gritty, but I was quite pleasantly surprised by Jet Li’s performance. Showcases a lot of aspects of Chinese culture pretty well.

*Shogun *is a book you can read to learn about Ancient China/China during the start of British trade with them. But it’s not an easy or “fun” book- at least, I didn’t enjoy reading it. But it was interesting every now and then. Hopefully your mileage will vary.

Otherwise, I agree with Hero, and other such Kung Fu epics. (I know Jet Li has made a series of films about various heros in chinese history I just can’t recall the name…)

Bridge Of Birds

Buy yourself a copy–a terrific read!

psst… Japan =/= China

It isn’t that historically accurate, either… I kind of came away with the impression that Shogun:Edo Period::300:Battle of Thermopylae. :smiley:

In any case, I just popped in to recommend both volumes of de Bary’s Sources of Chinese Tradition. While dry, they contain a bunch of reasonably interesting historical documents in translation.

The Emperor and the Assassin

Not a Kung-fu epic, but an epic nonetheless, and while not 100% historically accurate (the concubine is fictitious, and the assassin in the movie is a professional assassin, while in history he was actually a common man who achieved renown from helping people), it’s still an amazing period piece.

Edit: quick story re: impact – the friend I went to see this with in theaters was unable to drive home immediately due to emotional impact. After the credits had finished, the theater had emptied, and the lights had come on, she told me not to wait for her (we both drove there separately) and that she needed to sit there for a while to allow the catharsis to wear off. We’d been to a lot of movies together, and this was the only time I’d ever seen her this affected by anything.

Disney: Mulan. Not totally accurate to the legend, of course (it is Disney, after all) but a reasonable adaptation. My daughters (3, 6, 7, 10) enjoy it.

Wo hu cang long (AKA: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon). Many people have enjoyed it, myself included. The ambiance is convincing.

Barry Hughart has 3 books in the Ancient China series now. They’re quite enjoyable.

:smack::smack: Dammit! I have shamed myself!
Commits JAPANESE Seppuku.:smack::smack:

The Judge Dee murder mysteries by Van Gulik(if still in print),Van Gulik was a historian I believe who specialised in chinese history.
Also they’re good reads.

I just wanted to let everyone know how much I appreciate the suggestions. I’ve written everything down & will eventually print out the thread when it looks as though it may start to die.

Thanks again.

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, of course.

Sagwa, The Chinese Siamese Cat is a nice PBS kids’ series set in China, based on a book by Amy Tan.