# A Chinese Ghost Story II (倩女幽魂II：人间道)
**A Chinese Ghost Story II** (倩女幽魂II：人間道), also released as *Sien lui yau wan II: Yan gaan dou*, is a 1990 Hong Kong film directed by Ching Siu-tung and produced by [Tsui Hark](https://www.edgepedia.org/tsui-hark).[17](https://history.sffs.org/films/film_details.php?id=901&searchfield=) A sequel to *A Chinese Ghost Story* (1987), it stars [Leslie Cheung](https://www.edgepedia.org/leslie-cheung), who reprises Ling Choi-san, and [Joey Wong](https://www.edgepedia.org/joey-wong), who plays Windy (Ching Fung), a different character from the ghost lover she played in the first film, alongside Jacky Cheung, Michelle Reis, Wu Ma, and Waise Lee.[1](https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/9050-ii) • [18](https://wetv.vip/en/play/4gvg519mvwa0shi-A_Chinese_Ghost_Story_II) It opened in Hong Kong on 13 July 1990 and grossed HK$20,784,824, the sixth-highest of that year's Hong Kong releases.[2](https://kungfutube.info/22223) • [3](https://www.newton.com.tw/wiki/%E9%A6%99%E6%B8%AF%E7%A5%A8%E6%88%BF%E6%8E%92%E8%A1%8C%E6%A6%9C) It was followed by *A Chinese Ghost Story III* in 1991.[5](https://cinegraph.org/movies/a-chinese-ghost-story-ii-1990)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Original title | 倩女幽魂II人間道 (Cantonese: *Sien lui yau wan II: Yan gaan dou*)[4](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0100625/) |
| Director / producer | Ching Siu-tung (director and action director); Tsui Hark (producer)[17](https://history.sffs.org/films/film_details.php?id=901&searchfield=) |
| Release | 13 July 1990 (Hong Kong); 3 November 1990 (Japan)[2](https://kungfutube.info/22223) |
| Hong Kong box office | HK$20,784,824, ranked 6th for 1990[3](https://www.newton.com.tw/wiki/%E9%A6%99%E6%B8%AF%E7%A5%A8%E6%88%BF%E6%8E%92%E8%A1%8C%E6%A6%9C) |
| Principal cast | Leslie Cheung, Joey Wong, Jacky Cheung, Michelle Reis, Wu Ma, Waise Lee[1](https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/9050-ii) |
| Series position | Sequel to *A Chinese Ghost Story* (1987), followed by *A Chinese Ghost Story III* (1991)[5](https://cinegraph.org/movies/a-chinese-ghost-story-ii-1990) |
## Spoilers
### Plot and cast
The story picks up after the first film. The scholar Ling Choi-san (Leslie Cheung), having lost his ghost lover Sian, returns to a home village fallen on hard times and is wrongfully imprisoned; after escaping, he falls in with a young Taoist monk, Autumn ([Jacky Cheung](https://www.edgepedia.org/jacky-cheung)), and then with a band of rebels led by Windy (Joey Wong), a woman who looks exactly like his lost love, and her sister Moon ([Michelle Reis](https://www.edgepedia.org/michelle-reis)).[8](https://www.lovehkfilm.com/reviews_2/chinese_ghost_story_2.htm) Windy's father, an official (Lau Siu-Ming), has been sentenced to death for a crime he did not commit, and the group sets out to free him while contending with an Imperial High Priest (Lau Shun) and a corrupt general (Waise Lee).[1](https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/9050-ii) • [8](https://www.lovehkfilm.com/reviews_2/chinese_ghost_story_2.htm)
The demonic opposition is varied: a decomposing giant's corpse, a lord of hell who poses as the Buddha, and a climactic shape-changing monster.[9](https://www.timeout.com/movies/a-chinese-ghost-story-ii) Unlike the first film, Joey Wong's character is a living woman rather than a ghost, and the film trades some of the original's ghostly atmosphere for comedy and action.[7](https://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/200707/19/P200707190114.htm) • [8](https://www.lovehkfilm.com/reviews_2/chinese_ghost_story_2.htm)
## Production background
The film was made by Film Workshop, the production company Tsui Hark founded in 1984 with Nansun Shi, which had released the first *A Chinese Ghost Story* in 1987 among a run of hits including *A Better Tomorrow* and its sequel, *The Killer*, and *[The Big Heat](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-big-heat-1988-film)* between 1986 and 1989.[5](https://cinegraph.org/movies/a-chinese-ghost-story-ii-1990) • [6](https://ent.sina.com.cn/r/2009-03-27/ba2441287.shtml) The Hong Kong Film Archive credits the 1987 film, and by extension its 1990 and 1991 sequels, with injecting Western special-effects technology into a Chinese period-fantasy setting.[7](https://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/200707/19/P200707190114.htm)
James Wong composed the music and Jacky Cheung performed the theme song.[5](https://cinegraph.org/movies/a-chinese-ghost-story-ii-1990)
## Reception and box office
In Hong Kong the film ran from 13 July to 10 August 1990 and grossed HK$20,784,824, placing sixth for the year behind *All for the Winner*, *God of Gamblers II*, and other comedies.[3](https://www.newton.com.tw/wiki/%E9%A6%99%E6%B8%AF%E7%A5%A8%E6%88%BF%E6%8E%92%E8%A1%8C%E6%A6%9C) At the 10th Hong Kong Film Awards it received nominations for Best Supporting Actor (Jacky Cheung), Best Editing (Marco Mak Chi-sin), and Best Action Design (Ching Siu-tung, Lau Chi-ho, and Wu Chi-lung).[8](https://www.lovehkfilm.com/reviews_2/chinese_ghost_story_2.htm)
Critics generally treated it as an entertaining but lesser follow-up. Time Out judged that the international success of the first film gave the team new confidence, calling the sequel, "sheerly as a ride on a ghost train," superior to the original.[9](https://www.timeout.com/movies/a-chinese-ghost-story-ii) The Melbourne International Film Festival program agreed that the sequel outpaces the original while noting only "vague hints of political allegory" beneath the genre filmmaking.[10](https://miff.com.au/festival-archive/films/20025/a-chinese-ghost-story-2) Other reviewers found the plot less compelling than the first film's, lacking a dramatic drive equivalent to the original's quest, with the emphasis shifted toward comedy.[11](https://moriareviews.com/fantasy/chinese-ghost-story-2-1990.htm) On IMDb the film holds a weighted rating of 6.8/10 from about 4,700 votes.[12](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0100625/ratings/)
## Political reading
The film's title, "Human Way" (人間道), and its story of a corrupt court, wrongful imprisonment, and an evil priest masquerading as the Buddha have been read against the Hong Kong politics of 1990. A Taiwanese cultural-studies commentary describes the film as Tsui Hark's allegorical response to the June Fourth crackdown of 1989, with its lyrics and imagery lamenting a world without moral order.[13](https://www.civilmedia.tw/archives/83745) An audience review on Rotten Tomatoes makes the same reading, calling the film Tsui Hark's "thinly disguised response to Tiananmen Square" that criticizes authority while reflecting on hope.[14](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/a_chinese_ghost_story_ii)
Scholarship on the series places the 1987, 1990, and 1991 films against the emotional politics of Hong Kong's pre-1997 transition, with the sequel's darkened world of corrupt officials and hidden loyalists extending the first film's vision of a disordered age.[15](https://www.thenewslens.com/feature/film/32005) The Hong Kong Film Archive notes that the sequel reduces the ghostly romance of the original while continuing to express classical Confucian, Daoist, and Buddhist themes through Western-style effects, opening a new chapter for the wuxia fantasy genre.[7](https://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/200707/19/P200707190114.htm)
## Legacy
The film was followed by *A Chinese Ghost Story III: Dao Dao Dao* in 1991, again directed by Ching Siu-tung with Tsui Hark producing, which replaced Cheung's and Wong's characters with a new pair of leads.[7](https://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/200707/19/P200707190114.htm) A 2011 remake of the original 1987 film, directed by Wilson Yip, extended the franchise under the same family title.[16](https://www.berghahnbooks.com/downloads/intros/CheungNew_intro.pdf) The 1990 film remains available on streaming services and continues to draw a modest audience rating of 6.8/10 on IMDb.[12](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0100625/ratings/)
## References
1. [A Chinese Ghost Story II (1990), The Movie Database](https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/9050-ii)
2. [チャイニーズ・ゴースト・ストーリー2／倩女幽魂II人間道（1990）, Kungfu Tube](https://kungfutube.info/22223)
3. [香港票房排行榜, 中文百科全書](https://www.newton.com.tw/wiki/%E9%A6%99%E6%B8%AF%E7%A5%A8%E6%88%BF%E6%8E%92%E8%A1%8C%E6%A6%9C)
4. [A Chinese Ghost Story II (1990), IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0100625/)
5. [A Chinese Ghost Story II, Cinegraph](https://cinegraph.org/movies/a-chinese-ghost-story-ii-1990)
6. [徐克电影工作室的初创与发展, 新浪娱乐](https://ent.sina.com.cn/r/2009-03-27/ba2441287.shtml)
7. [「幽微靈秀聶小倩」展現不同年代「小倩電影」的攝人魔力, 香港政府新聞公報](https://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/200707/19/P200707190114.htm)
8. [A Chinese Ghost Story 2 review, LoveHKFilm](https://www.lovehkfilm.com/reviews_2/chinese_ghost_story_2.htm)
9. [A Chinese Ghost Story II review, Time Out](https://www.timeout.com/movies/a-chinese-ghost-story-ii)
10. [A Chinese Ghost Story 2, Melbourne International Film Festival archive](https://miff.com.au/festival-archive/films/20025/a-chinese-ghost-story-2)
11. [A Chinese Ghost Story II (1990), Moria review](https://moriareviews.com/fantasy/chinese-ghost-story-2-1990.htm)
12. [A Chinese Ghost Story II (1990) ratings, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0100625/ratings/)
13. [《人間道》喻六四 港人身份情意結, 公民行動影音紀錄資料庫](https://www.civilmedia.tw/archives/83745)
14. [A Chinese Ghost Story II, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/a_chinese_ghost_story_ii)
15. [一縷反抗的幽魂，隱喻「九七大限」黑暗世道？, The News Lens](https://www.thenewslens.com/feature/film/32005)
16. [New Hong Kong Cinema, Berghahn Books](https://www.berghahnbooks.com/downloads/intros/CheungNew_intro.pdf)
17. [A Chinese Ghost Story II | San Francisco Film Festival, history.sffs.org](https://history.sffs.org/films/film_details.php?id=901&searchfield=)
18. [A Chinese Ghost Story II - Watch HD Video Online - WeTV](https://wetv.vip/en/play/4gvg519mvwa0shi-A_Chinese_Ghost_Story_II)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Franchise and series entries as standalone works › Horror and slasher series film entries › 1990s releases*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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