Chinese

Chinese lion dancing is a beautiful and vibrant artform that has gradually been fading from existence. In this wonderful short documentary by Law Chen, we meet Sara Lai, a dancer who has trained to become the head of the lion in the traditionally male-dominated performance.

Musician Michell Kwan plays a brilliant cover of Guns N’ Roses classic Sweet Child o’ Mine on her Guzheng – a traditional Chinese string instrument that dates back to the 5th century BC. We can almost hear Axl’s singing along.

Headed stateside this March, this lighthearted Chinese action film follows a kitchen cleaver made from the most deadly swords in the history of martial arts, and the tales behind the blade.

This brilliantly illustrated, thoroughly entertaining tale of a hungry mutt’s trip through Chinatown combines hand-drawn animation from Shanghai with 3D effects and backgrounds from Australia.

In an attempt to keep up with Japan’s giant Gundam, China has built a 32-foot tall version of Transformer’s big bot, using 10,108 junk car parts. Check it out the next time you’re in Beijing.

Daniel Lee’s weapon-filled martial arts spectacular was nominated for best action choreography and sound design at the Hong Kong film awards. Now own it in all its blood-splattered 1080p, 7.1 glory.

2 different videos here for Chinese farmer Wu Yulu, who has created an army of homemade scrap metal robots. Some of his self-described “sons” will be at the Shanghai Expo in person later this year.

There’s no release date, but we’re liking this first trailer for Shaolin; starring Andy Lau with a special appearance by Jackie Chan, it pits the Shaolin masters against feuding warlords.

You needn’t be a history buff to get the gist of The Warlords (in theaters 4/2/10); this featurette with director Peter Chan reveals that it’s essentially a story about three blood brothers.

NSFW trailer: John Woo’s bullets and blood masterpiece, The Killer, arrives on Blu-ray 3/30/10; starring a much younger Chow Yun-Fat, the 1989 classic is a must for HK cinema fans.

John Woo’s war epic Red Cliff arrives on Blu-ray 3/23/2010 in two forms: the theatrical version runs 2h 28m, but it’s the two-part international version that’s truly epic at nearly 5 hours.

Trust us, you won’t need to know a lick of Chinese to understand this Future X-Cops trailer; it packs in bullet-proof angels, multi-headed dragon arms, and robotic police armor suits.

NSFW: this trailer for Donnie Yen’s 14 Blades is largely wordless, which is fine as it lets its weapons do the talking: it features crossbows, the occasional vase, and oh so many blades.

Warlords stars Jet Li, Andy Lau, Takeshi Kaneshiro in an epic dramatization of the 19th century Taiping Rebellion in China; released in 2007 in Asia, it arrives in US theaters 4/2/2010.

Partly fictional, partly historical, and purely epic, Bodyguards & Assassins gets a trailer as epic as its cast (nearly every major Hong Kong star) and set (full-scale replica of old Hong Kong).

To promote Red Cliff, we’re giving away two posters signed by John Woo plus three other movie DVDs. Update: this contest has concluded. Congrats to the winners and thanks to all who participated!

Available on VOD, Xbox Live and Amazon on 10/22 and in theaters 11/20, Red Cliff is John Woo at his best: the most expensive Asian movie ever, it’s an epic film set in ancient China.

There’s no dialog in this trailer for Confucius, but the visuals look absolutely epic; the biopic about the famed Chinese philosopher stars Chow Yun-Fat and hits theaters Spring 2010.

Celebrating three years in Hong Kong, Maison Martin Margiela’s ultra-clean Mahjong Set is only available to big shoppers: you’ll need to spend over $8,999 HKD (~$1,160) to get one.

On His Majesty’s Secret Service is exactly why we love HK cinema: few places have so thoroughly embraced slapstick humor that your comprehension of Cantonese purely optional.

Take the wicked visuals of 300, place them in ancient China and you’ll get The Storm Warriors, a martial arts/fantasy flick that should be pure heaven for fans of Hong Kong cinema.

Mixing urban fashion with Chinese culture, Akunfuncture’s t-shirt line takes ancient symbols and legends and gives them a fresh coat of ink; above: Monkey King Urban rocks.