When Hong Kong martial arts stars Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan first started out, they both worked with producer Raymond Chow.
Chow, a diminutive, soft-spoken 78-year-old, said he knew he had a potential star on his hands when he saw Lee perform kung fu on a Hong Kong television variety show.
He signed him up in 1971.
"Facing you on the screen, you feel his presence is very strong, very powerful," Chow said in an interview at his Golden Harvest film studios.
Chow's second big star is much different.
While Lee showed the world that Chinese kung fu masters are lean, mean fighting machines, Jackie Chan turned martial arts into a dance-like comedy routine. Chan signed with Golden Harvest in 1979.
Chow said the perennial question of which star would win in a duel was unfair.
"Jackie Chan won't fight you. He thinks if we're making a movie together, we should do it in a friendly way," he said.
"He is a very kind, happy person. He likes to spend happy times with everyone all the time," Chow said.
Savvy, sensitivity
Chow, a bespectacled former journalist and sports fan, doesn't have the big presence of a movie mogul. But what he doesn't radiate in star power, he makes up for with cultural savvy and sensitivity that has helped a stable of actors on the way to global stardom.
He's a unique product of the times, a bilingual and bicultural intellectual born in British-ruled Hong Kong in 1927, educated in Shanghai, and eager to introduce Chinese culture to the West.
Chow was born to a nationalistic father wary of British colonial influences. Following his father's wishes, Chow completed his secondary and university studies in Shanghai.
The producer said he shared Lee's nationalistic feelings, which found their way into their movies.
In The Chinese Connection, set during a period when Shanghai was occupied by foreign countries, Lee plays a character who tries to avenge the killing of his kung fu instructor by a Japanese gang.
The character also smashes a sign that says "No Chinese or dogs allowed" with a kick.
Lee felt "every Chinese should know about these things," Chow said.
Chow said Lee, who died of an edema, or swelling of the brain, at age 32 in 1973, was just being himself.
Patriotism also proved to be good business as Lee's films made him a box-office wonder and a national hero at the same time.
Before moving to films, Chow worked at the full spectrum of English-language news outlets -- including United Press, which later became United Press International, the New York Times and Voice of America.
He entered the movie business as a publicist for the famed Shaw Brothers studios. After more than a decade in the industry, when his employer shifted to television, Chow set up his own company, Golden Harvest.
Thirty-five years after its founding, Golden Harvest has risen from startup to a movie powerhouse that counts among its stars the biggest Chinese names in the business.
Chow introduced Chan to the Western world by leveraging the fame of top Hollywood names.
He gave Western audiences their first glimpse of Chan in the Hollywood film, The Big Brawl. In The Cannonball Run, 1981, Chow stacked the cast with big stars like Burt Reynolds, Roger Moore and Dean Martin and inserted Chan.
At 78, Chow walks at a slackened pace, but still puts in a full-day's work and remains mentally sharp, speaking slowly but articulately.
The conference room where he was speaking is decorated with Golden Horse awards -- the Chinese-speaking world's equivalent of Oscars.
Success in his own right
Chow hasn't just banked on his two biggest stars but has achieved commercial success in his own right.
Among Golden Harvest's biggest successes is the cartoon-inspired Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, which became one of the top-grossing films in North America in 1990, making over US$130 million.
But these days Golden Harvest has shifted its focus to the cinema operation business.
Chow says he has doubts about the staying power of Chinese-themed movies like martial arts extravaganzas, suggesting that the future of Hong Kong movies lies in tapping the huge potential of the vast China market.
He argued that Western audiences may have trouble accepting the gravity-defying, wall-scaling abilities of Chinese kung fu characters.
"In the end there are cultural differences ... [but] they may find it refreshing to watch one [a Chinese movie] occasionally," he said.
RETHINK? The defense ministry and Navy Command Headquarters could take over the indigenous submarine project and change its production timeline, a source said Admiral Huang Shu-kuang’s (黃曙光) resignation as head of the Indigenous Submarine Program and as a member of the National Security Council could affect the production of submarines, a source said yesterday. Huang in a statement last night said he had decided to resign due to national security concerns while expressing the hope that it would put a stop to political wrangling that only undermines the advancement of the nation’s defense capabilities. Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) yesterday said that the admiral, her older brother, felt it was time for him to step down and that he had completed what he
Taiwan has experienced its most significant improvement in the QS World University Rankings by Subject, data provided on Sunday by international higher education analyst Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) showed. Compared with last year’s edition of the rankings, which measure academic excellence and influence, Taiwanese universities made great improvements in the H Index metric, which evaluates research productivity and its impact, with a notable 30 percent increase overall, QS said. Taiwanese universities also made notable progress in the Citations per Paper metric, which measures the impact of research, achieving a 13 percent increase. Taiwanese universities gained 10 percent in Academic Reputation, but declined 18 percent
UNDER DISCUSSION: The combatant command would integrate fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups to defend waters closest to the coastline, a source said The military could establish a new combatant command as early as 2026, which would be tasked with defending Taiwan’s territorial waters 24 nautical miles (44.4km) from the nation’s coastline, a source familiar with the matter said yesterday. The new command, which would fall under the Naval Command Headquarters, would be led by a vice admiral and integrate existing fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups, along with the Naval Maritime Surveillance and Reconnaissance Command, said the source, who asked to remain anonymous. It could be launched by 2026, but details are being discussed and no final timetable has been announced, the source
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft