Hong Kong director Pang Ho-cheung has not been seen since October 2019 when it was rumored that the preparation for the filming of “The Legend of Lu Ding” was not approved by the mainland. It was not until May 19 that a post from veteran media personality Lai Zefen on his social media platform was posted online, mentioning that Pang Ho-cheung had moved to Vancouver, Canada, and quoting him as lamenting at a dinner party that it was difficult for outsiders to film in the mainland.
According to Hong Kong’s Apple Daily, Hong Kong director Pang Ho-cheung, who became famous for his Hong Kong films, made a high-profile statement on his Weibo account that he was willing to be a “flag guard” for the Chinese Communist Party after the “anti-China” campaign in Hong Kong in 2019, which was suspected to pave the way for him to direct “The Legend of Lu Ding”. The first time, it was a very good idea to start filming. After that, he has been very low-key, no more public appearances. It was only recently that there was news that he had left Hong Kong.
The news originated from a posting on a social networking site by senior media personality Lai Ze-fen, which said that Pang Ho-cheung and his wife had immigrated to Vancouver, Canada, in a low-profile manner, and had dinner with Albert Cheng (Tai Pan), who had returned to settle there.
The post quotes a conversation at a dinner party, saying that Pang Ho-cheung lamented: “Now it is difficult for outsiders to open a play in mainland China, because most can not pass the censorship, the guidelines are unclear. Unless there is great power behind the scenes, otherwise the relevant departments would rather be in vain, will not be approved.”
In fact, in recent years, it is indeed increasingly difficult to open a play in the mainland. Last year, a document entitled “20 types of subjects for review and avoidance” was circulated in the mainland’s WeChat circles, in which the General Administration of Radio, Film and Television of the Communist Party of China restricted the scope of future filming by major film and television companies, including “romantic dramas cannot be too sweet” and “prohibiting the promotion of The document contains restrictions on the scope of future filming by major film and television companies, including “romance dramas cannot be too sweet”, “prohibit the promotion of demons and monsters, reincarnation superstition”, “prohibit the filming of tomb raiding stories”, “prohibit the glorification of the Republic of China, the Northern Warlords”, “remake of classic dramas to show positive energy”, etc. and other bans, triggering a large number of netizens trolling.
Pang Ho-cheung had announced on Facebook in early 2019 that he would start filming the adaptation of Jin Yong’s novel work “The Legend of Lu Ding” and intended to make a trilogy. Then during the Berlinale, he also officially announced that the film would start shooting in the middle of that year and the first part would be released in 2021, and also revealed that the production cost of the whole series would be as high as HK$1.95 billion, his own first big production.
However, after most of the year had passed, the crew still had not started filming. “Hong Kong 01” reported on October 30, 2019, “the film as early as half a year ago has written the script and applied for approval, but has not heard back until today received news that the script after several revisions, or failed to pass, there are rumors that because the story involves the attack on foreigners, more sensitive. The investor, ‘Sunrise Media’, had to stop all the preparatory work.
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