Chiao, Peggy

(neé Chiao Hsiung-ping)

b. 1953, Taipei, Taiwan

Film critic, historian, educator, producer

A tireless advocate of ‘new cinemas’ in Taiwan, Hong Kong and mainland China, Peggy Chiao first reached prominence in international circles for her critical work on ground-breaking Taiwanese directors such as Hou Hsiao-hsien, before turning to film production. Chiao studied film and television at UT Austin (1977–81), then at UCLA (1983–5). A film critic for some of the major Taiwanese newspapers—United Daily News (Lien Ho Pao), China Times (Chung Kuo Shi Pao), China Times Express (Chung Shi Wan Pao)—she has also been teaching at the Taipei National University of Arts since 1985. She wrote a number of books, including: New Taiwan Cinema (Xin Taiwan dianying, 1987) Hong Kong New Wave (Xianggang dianying xinchao, 1987) and Aspects of New Asian Films (Xin Yachu dianying mianmian guanguan, 1991).

In 1990, she established the China Times Express Awards for young cinema, then founded the Taiwan Film Centre in 1994, to help develop an international network for local filmmakers, and, in 1997, opened Arc Light, a production company with pan-Chinese ambitions. Among the films thus produced are: in Hong Kong, the series A Personal Memoir from Hong Kong (1997), Ann Hui’s Qu Ri Ku Duo and Stanley Kwan’s Nian M Hao Xi; in Taiwan, Ts’ai Ming-liang’s The Hole (Dong, 1998), Lin Chen-sheng’s Betelnut Beauty (Ai Ni Ai Wo, 2001) and Yee Chih-Yen’s Blue Gate Crossing (Lanse damen., 2002); and in China, Wang Xiaoshuai’s Beijing Bicycle (Shiqisui de danche, 2001).

See also: cinema in Taiwan

Further reading

Chiao, Hsiung-Ping (1991). ‘The Distinct Taiwanese and Hong Kong Cinemas’. In Chris Berry (ed), Perspectives on Chinese Cinema. London: BFI, 141–54.

——(1993). ‘Reel Contacts Across the Taiwan Straits: A History of Separation and Reunion.’ In K.Eder and D.Rossell (eds), New Chinese Cinema. London: National Film Theatre, 48–57.

——(2001). ‘Academic Roundtable with Peggy Chiao: Contemporary Chinese Cinema in China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong: A Collective Force in the Global Market’. Baker Institute, Rice University: Transnational China Project (online). Available at http://www.rice.edu/tnchina/index.html

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