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Matt Glasby

This is the latest instalment in a feature series reflecting on instances of East meets West in world cinema, including China-US co-productions.
If asked to name the first American film to be shot and co-produced in China, most film buffs would likely say Bernardo Bertolucci’s 1987 Oscar winner The Last Emperor – and they would be wrong.
The correct answer is Peter Wang Zhengfang’s modest 1986 comedy-drama A Great Wall, which was filmed in both countries and has since slipped from the public consciousness. This is a pity because, as a snapshot of two opposing cultures attempting to get along, it makes for rewarding viewing.
Born in Beijing, Wang left for Taiwan in 1949, emigrating to the United States in the 1970s to pursue a PhD in electro-optics.


Instead, he went into film, acting in the 1982 indie Chan Is Missing, a key work of Asian-American cinema, and the 1983 film Ah Ying, a neo-realistic classic in the Hong Kong New Wave movement.
In that same year, Wang also partnered with producer/co-writer Shirley Sun and the Chinese production company Nanhai to make his debut as a writer, director and star. The resulting work, A Great Wall, proved a genial tale of the misunderstandings that emerge when East meets West.
In the film, middle-aged Chinese-American émigré Leo Fang (Wang) works for a computing company in San Francisco. When he is passed over for a promotion, he quits his job and takes his wife, Grace (Sharon Iwai), and son, Paul (Kelvin Han Yee), on holiday to Beijing, his hometown, for the summer.
Upon arrival, they stay with Leo’s sister, Mrs Chao (Shen Guanglan), her traditionalist husband (Hu Xiaoguang) and their teenage daughter, Lili (Li Qinqin).

As the families get to know each other, Paul finds himself competing for Lili’s affections with local boy Yida (Wang Xiao), soon to become his rival at the local table tennis club.
At one point, we watch the teenagers playing American football on the Great Wall, but the title actually refers to the city’s Ming dynasty fortifications, which, Leo notes, were intended to keep the inhabitants in as much as invaders out.
As a first-time writer-director, Wang drew heavily on his own background.
“This is not by choice,” he told journalist Randy Parker. “If I want to make independent films and write my own scripts, I have to base [them] on the experiences that I am familiar with. And I happen to be Chinese-American.”
Although there is a big disconnect between the Fangs and the Chaos, it is mostly explored with wry amusement. We see Leo limbering up for a jog, while Mr Chao practises tai chi. Grace and Mrs Chao swap fashion and make-up tips, and Paul queues to get on a packed bus, which drives off without him.

Mostly, we are left with the sense of two families – and two cultures – trying each other on for size. The best moments are the sweetest ones, such as Yida and his friend Yu (Xiu Jian) strutting about pretending to be American models.
But there are occasional hints of darkness. Mrs Chao reads Lili’s letters – in China, we are told, there is no such thing as privacy – and Yida and Yu cannot afford to drink Coca-Cola because it costs half a day’s wages.
Both Paul and Mr Chao have revealing – if offensive – outbursts. “The American society is corrupt,” says the usually jolly Mr Chao. “It’s full of crime and also sexually promiscuous. And the streets are full of homosexuals.”
Perhaps Paul hews closer to the film’s viewpoint when he tells Leo, “All Chinese parents are racists. You use the tradition and the culture to cover the racism.”


Ultimately, though, this is a film about what connects people, rather than what divides them. After a low-stakes table tennis match, the Paul-Lili-Yida love triangle is resolved. Back home in America, Grace wears a Chinese garment made for her by Mrs Chao, while Leo practises tai chi.
In China, meanwhile, Lili learns to stick up for herself, telling her mother, “Privacy is privacy, you can’t translate it!” and Yida earns a celebratory bottle of cola for passing his exams.
Wang, it seems, was aiming for the subtle generational dramas of Yasujiro Ozu’s 1953 classic Tokyo Story – hence the Chinese title, which translates as Beijing Story. But the film’s spirit of gentle revolution might have stopped it from being widely shown in China.
It was more warmly received in America, with critic Roger Ebert writing, “A Great Wall is about the sort of visit I imagine most of us would like to make, back to the people and the ways of life where we, or our ancestors, came from. We would likely discover what the Fangs discover, that you can’t go home again.”
The same was true for Wang. After two more modest co-productions, he disappeared into obscurity.
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American cinema

A Great Wall, the first American film shot in China, told a genial East meets West tale

(From left) Xiu Jian, Li Qinqin and Kelvin Han Yee in a still from A Great Wall (1986), the first American film to be shot and co-produced in China. Photo Nanhai

Peter Wang (left) and Hu Xiaoguang in a still from A Great Wall (1986). Photo Nanhai

Shirley Sun and Peter Wang, the Chinese-American producer and director, respectively, of the film A Great Wall, during an interview with the Post in 1986. Photo: SCMP

What happened to 1986’s Ping Pong, pioneering first film shot in London’s Chinatown?

David Yip (left) and Lucy Sheen in a still from Ping Pong (1986), directed by Leong Po-chih and filmed in London’s Chinatown.

Victor Kan in a still from Ping Pong.

A still from Ping Pong.

Lucy Sheen (left) and David Yip in a still from Ping Pong.

Why Jet Li’s Kiss of the Dragon was banned in China despite being a global hit

Jet Li carries Bridget Fonda in a still from Kiss of the Dragon (2001), a popular film around the world that was banned in China. Photo: SCMP

Jet Li in a still from Kiss of the Dragon. Photo: SCMP

Li and filmmaker Luc Besson at a news conference for Kiss of the Dragon at the Island Shangri-la Hotel, in Hong Kong, in July 2001. Photo: SCMP

Li in a still from Kiss of the Dragon. Photo: SCMP

Li (left) in a still from Kiss of the Dragon. Photo: SCMP

How Wong Kar-wai’s short The Hand made the 2004 anthology film Eros worth watching

Chang Chen (left) and Gong Li in a still from The Hand, Wong Kar-wai’s segment in the anthology film Eros (2004). Photo: SCMPost

Chang Chen (left) and Gong Li in a still from The Hand, Wong Kar-wai’s segment in the anthology film Eros (2004). Photo: SCMP

Chang Chen (left) and Gong Li in a still from The Hand. Photo: SCMP

Robert Downey Jnr (front) and Alan Arkin in a still from Steven Soderbergh’s Eros segment Equilibrium. Photo: SCMP

Christopher Buchholz and Luisa Ranieri in a still from Michelangelo Antonioni’s Eros segment The Dangerous Thread of Things. Photo: SCMP

Cecilia Cheung: Hong Kong actress, sex scandal victim and Chinese social media star

Cecilia Cheung at the 23rd Hong Kong Film Awards in 2004. The actress’ personal life garnered a lot of attention in the 2000s, with tabloids covering scandals and her high-profile romantic life. Photo: SCMP

Cheung in 1999. Photo: Oliver Tsang

Cheung speaks after receiving the award for best new performer, as veteran actors Liza Wang and Danny Lee look on, at the 19th Hong Kong Film Awards in 2000. Photo: Martin Chan

Cheung and Nicholas Tse in 2001. Photo: Reuters

Cheung in a still from Lost in Time (2003), for which she won best actress at the 23rd Hong Kong Film Awards. Photo: China Star Entertainment Group

Cheung and Tse at the 30th Hong Kong Film Awards in 2011, the year they filed for divorce. Photo: K. Y. Cheng

Cheung and Stephen Chow in a still from King of Comedy (1999). Her feature-film debut remains one of her most memorable roles. Photo: The Star Overseas

Cheung and her three sons. Photo: Weibo

Cheung in a photo she posted on her Weibo account in 2023. Photo: Weibo

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Film & TV

Peter Wang’s 1986 comedy-drama A Great Wall, which was filmed in San Francisco and Beijing, was better received in the US than in China


Peter Wang’s 1986 comedy-drama A Great Wall, which was filmed in San Francisco and Beijing, was better received in the US than in China.


A Great Wall, the first American film shot in China, told a genial East meets West tale

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Peter Wang’s 1986 comedy-drama A Great Wall, which was filmed in San Francisco and Beijing, was better received in the US than in China

Peter Wang’s 1986 comedy-drama A Great Wall, which was filmed in San Francisco and Beijing, was better received in the US than in China