The star of “Tiger and Dragon” was 78 years old

Cheng Pei Pei.

Larry Busacca/Getty Images

Cheng Pei-pei, the groundbreaking Chinese actress dubbed the “Queen of Swords” and one of the first female action stars to make a name for herself in the Shaw Brothers classic Come drink with me and later had a memorable role as the villain Jade Fox in Ang Lee’s Tiger and Dragon – The Hidden Dragonhas died. She was 78.

“It is with a heavy heart that we announce that the rumors are true. Our mother, Cheng Pei-pei, passed away peacefully at home surrounded by her loved ones on July 17,” Cheng’s family said in a statement posted on Facebook. “In 2019, our mother was diagnosed with neurodegenerative atypical Parkinson’s syndrome – unofficially known as corticobasal degeneration (CBD). It is a rare disease with symptoms similar to Parkinson’s disease. However, current treatments cannot slow the progression of the disease. She has chosen not to make this news public so that she can deal with her illness privately and spend her remaining time with her children and grandchildren.”

The statement continued: “Our mother wanted to be remembered as she was: the legendary queen of martial arts.”

In a career spanning six decades, Cheng made a splash in the 1960s and became the star of Shaw Brothers Studios, a Hong Kong production company modeled on Hollywood studios that became internationally famous for their action films and historical martial arts epics, a genre known as wuxia. In total, she made 20 films for Shaw Brothers, including the aforementioned Come drink with me as well as Princess Iron Fan And Golden Swallow. Cheng gained international fame through her role in Tiger and Dragonand her prolific output continued until recently, with her last major role being in Disney’s live-action remake of Mulan (2020).

Cheng was born in Shanghai, China in 1946 and moved to Hong Kong in 1962, where she joined the Shaw Brothers Studios as a contract actress. The young Cheng had some dance training and the studio originally wanted to position her as a star in Chinese opera films, in the style of Ivy Ling Po, a popular Hong Kong singer at the time.

She made her film debut in 1964 and released two films that year, including the melodrama The Stone of LoveBut the following year, just as Shaw Brothers was moving into the action genre, they pushed many of their young talents into making martial arts films. As part of a studio training program, the likes of Cheng, Lo Mang, Lu Feng, Sun Chien, Chiang Sheng and Kuo Chui were trained in martial arts, sword and knife skills and horse riding, all key elements of the wuxia epics that Shaw Brothers would now produce.

Cheng’s breakthrough came in 1966 with the Wuxia film Come drink with mewhich was both the 19-year-old’s first action film and the first in this genre for director King Hu. The film, along with Chang Cheh’s One-armed swordsmanis considered one of the seminal wuxia films and greatly popularized the genre both in Hong Kong and abroad. In the period film, Cheng plays the role of Golden Swallow, a skilled swordswoman who must defeat bandits to save her brother. The film is notable for introducing the gripping and dramatic fight choreography that wuxia is known for, something Cheng excelled at due to her dance background.

In 1968, the Shaw Brothers wanted to capitalize on the huge success of Come Drink With Me and released the sequel, Golden SwallowDirected by Chang Cheh. The collaboration between Cheng, now a major star, and Chang, the filmmaker behind the phenomenally successful One-armed swordsmanwas a box office hit for Shaw Brothers, but the production was problematic because the character of the Golden Swallow was changed beyond recognition by Come drink with meIn addition, the collaboration between Cheng and Chang was difficult due to the latter’s conservative views towards women.

“Chang Cheh didn’t like women, he liked men,” South China Morning Post Cheng reported as part of the Hong Kong Film Archive’s oral history series. “When I Golden Swallow He asked Jimmy Wang Yu and Lo Lieh to jump out of a window and me to go through a door. I refused – I said I wanted to do the same as them because I was a swordswoman. But he said, “You are a lady and ladies should be more sophisticated.”

Other Shaw Brothers films in which Cheng appeared include The Jade Raksha (1968), Dragon Swamp (1969), The Hermit (1971) and The Shadow Whip (1971).

After a prolific ten-year film career beginning in 1964, Cheng’s career stalled when she and her family moved to the United States. She worked sporadically and in cameo appearances throughout the 1980s and 1990s before returning to prominence in Ang Lee’s wuxia classic in 2000. Tiger and Dragon – The Hidden Dragon. The film, which was nominated for ten Oscars and won four, was a huge success at the box office and with critics, and Cheng was praised for her portrayal of the villainous Jade Fox.

After the success of Tiger and Dragon – The Hidden DragonCheng’s film career experienced a kind of renaissance and she worked continuously throughout the 2000s and 2010s. Her notable films include the action film Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li (2009), together with Ben Whishaw in the British drama Excited (2014), the Canadian drama Meditation Park (2017) and played The Matchmaker in Disney’s live-action remake of Mulan.