{ "id": "eppdr0zhgv", "slug": "an-empress-and-the-warriors", "title": "An Empress and the Warriors (江山美人)", "updated": "2026-11-01", "topic_path": [ { "id": "culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture" }, { "id": "culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical", "label": "Drama and biographical films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical.drama-films-2000s", "label": "Drama films 2000s", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical.drama-films-2000s" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical.drama-films-2000s.romantic-drama-films-2000s", "label": "Romantic drama films 2000s", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical.drama-films-2000s.romantic-drama-films-2000s" } ], "geo": [ { "id": "geo.chn.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical", "label": "China · 2001 to 2020: Drama and biographical films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical", "path": [ { "id": "geo.chn", "label": "China", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t2001", "label": "China · 2001 to 2020", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t2001" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t2001.culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t2001.culture" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t2001.culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t2001.culture.performance" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t2001.culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t2001.culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical", "label": "Drama and biographical films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical" } ] } ], "excerpt": "An Empress and the Warriors (江山美人) is a 2008 Hong Kong wuxia romance directed by Ching Siu-tung, starring Kelly Chen, Donnie Yen, and Leon Lai; a princess reclaims her Yan kingdom throne with a hermit's help, distinct from the 1959 film of the same Chinese title.", "snippet": "An Empress and the Warriors (江山美人) is a 2008 Hong Kong wuxia romance directed by Ching Siu-tung, starring Kelly Chen, Donnie Yen, and Leon Lai; a princess reclaims her Yan kingdom throne with a hermit's help, distinct from the 1959 film of the same Chinese title.", "node": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical.drama-films-2000s.romantic-drama-films-2000s", "markdown": "# An Empress and the Warriors (江山美人)\n\n**An Empress and the Warriors** (江山美人) is a 2008 Hong Kong action-romance film directed by Ching Siu-tung (程小东), starring [Kelly Chen](https://www.edgepedia.org/kelly-chen) as a princess who must reclaim her throne, with [Donnie Yen](https://www.edgepedia.org/donnie-yen) and [Leon Lai](https://www.edgepedia.org/leon-lai) as the two men who fight for and beside her. It was produced by Eric Tsang (曾志伟) and released in mainland China on March 7, 2008 and in Hong Kong on March 21, 2008.[1](https://m.atmovies.com.tw/app2/film.cfm?action=filmdata&filmid=fach49701091) • [2](https://yule.sohu.com/20080320/n255812892.shtml) The Chinese title, which translates roughly as \"kingdom and beauty,\" is shared with a celebrated 1959 Huangmei opera (Chinese folk-opera singing genre popular in 1950s–60s films) film by Li Han-hsiang, to which the 2008 picture is otherwise unrelated.[3](https://www.filmarchive.gov.hk/sc/web/hkfa/pe-event-2015-15-1-2.html)\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Chinese title | 江山美人 (Jiang Shan Mei Ren)[4](https://asianwiki.com/An_Empress_and_the_Warriors) |\n| Director | Ching Siu-tung, veteran action choreographer of *Hero* and *House of Flying Daggers*[5](https://www.scmp.com/article/631441/martial-arts-drama-fails-deliver-punch) |\n| Cast | Kelly Chen (Princess Feier), Donnie Yen (General Xuehu), Leon Lai (the hermit Duan Lanquan), Guo Xiaodong (the treacherous minister)[1](https://m.atmovies.com.tw/app2/film.cfm?action=filmdata&filmid=fach49701091) |\n| Release | Mainland China March 7, 2008; Hong Kong March 21, 2008[2](https://yule.sohu.com/20080320/n255812892.shtml) • [1](https://m.atmovies.com.tw/app2/film.cfm?action=filmdata&filmid=fach49701091) |\n| Running time | 96 minutes[6](https://www.ifccenter.com/films/an-empress-and-the-warriors/) |\n| Budget | Reported at US$16 million at the 2007 production launch; a 2008 account put it at US$15 million[7](https://news.sohu.com/20070810/n251518418.shtml) • [2](https://yule.sohu.com/20080320/n255812892.shtml) |\n| Setting | A fictionalized Warring States era of contending kingdoms, with the Yan and Zhao armies at war[1](https://m.atmovies.com.tw/app2/film.cfm?action=filmdata&filmid=fach49701091) • [8](https://fareastfilms.com/review/an-empress-and-the-warriors/) |\n\n## Spoilers\n\n### Plot\n\nThe story is set in an age of warring feudal states. General Xuehu of the Yan kingdom (Donnie Yen) is charged with training Princess Feier (Kelly Chen) in the martial arts. After her father the king is murdered by the treacherous minister Hu Ba (Guo Xiaodong), the princess flees the palace and is rescued on the road by Duan Lanquan (Leon Lai), a hermit of formidable martial skill.[1](https://m.atmovies.com.tw/app2/film.cfm?action=filmdata&filmid=fach49701091)\n\nDuring their shared exile the princess and the hermit fall in love. With his help she eliminates her father's killer and retakes the throne. The general remains loyal to her, but he and the hermit carry an old grudge, and the two men who matter most to her life are set against each other.[1](https://m.atmovies.com.tw/app2/film.cfm?action=filmdata&filmid=fach49701091) The South China Morning Post's review describes the same triangle from the antagonist's angle: the princess's father is secretly murdered by his own nephew during battle, and the loyal general will do anything to help her rule.[5](https://www.scmp.com/article/631441/martial-arts-drama-fails-deliver-punch)\n\n## Production\n\nThe film was announced at a press open day in August 2007 as an action epic jointly invested by Hong Kong's Universe (天下影画), Filmko, and Polybona Film Distribution, with [Eric Tsang](https://www.edgepedia.org/eric-tsang), Li Guoxing, and Yu Dong as producers.[7](https://news.sohu.com/20070810/n251518418.shtml) The crew drew heavily on Ching Siu-tung's longtime collaborators: art director Yee Chung-man and cinematographer Zhao Xiaoding had worked with him since *Hero*, and only Leon Lai was a first-time collaborator.[7](https://news.sohu.com/20070810/n251518418.shtml) Yee Chung-man was credited as production designer, though the Sohu report says he was in practice the film's true screenwriter and that the story was built around Kelly Chen, whose adoptive mother is his wife.[7](https://news.sohu.com/20070810/n251518418.shtml)\n\n**Training and stunts.** It was Kelly Chen's first costume epic. She suspended her other work half a year before shooting to train in riding, swordplay, unarmed combat, and staff techniques under Ching's personal instruction, and fell from her horse five times during riding practice, leaving multiple scars. Leon Lai also carried a long scar on his arm from an incident in which he moved to protect her.[7](https://news.sohu.com/20070810/n251518418.shtml)\n\n**Weapons and design.** Because the film is set in a Warring States-like period, its bronze swords differ from the blades common in wuxia cinema: they resemble elongated spearheads, with short hilts, broad edges, and widened pommels to keep the weapon from slipping, suited to chopping in battle rather than the thrust-and-slash style of later double-edged iron swords.[9](https://www.hkmemory.hk/sc/collections-weaponry-spirits-bronze_sword.html) Ching described the film's war chariots and other props as deliberately imaginative rather than strictly historical, calling the result a love-and-war fairy tale without a fixed dynasty.[2](https://yule.sohu.com/20080320/n255812892.shtml)\n\n## Release and box office\n\nThe film opened in mainland China on March 7, 2008, timed to the [International Women's Day](https://www.edgepedia.org/international-womens-day) holiday weekend. Its first-week national gross was about 19 million yuan, topping the weekly chart, and it became the highest mainland opening to that date for a film starring Donnie Yen, exceeding *[Dragon Tiger Gate](https://www.edgepedia.org/dragon-tiger-gate)* (15.6 million) and *[Flash Point](https://www.edgepedia.org/flash-point-2007-film)* (11 million).[10](https://tokyohongkong.seesaa.net/article/200803article_34.html) It reached Hong Kong two weeks later, on March 21.[1](https://m.atmovies.com.tw/app2/film.cfm?action=filmdata&filmid=fach49701091)\n\nIn Hong Kong the opening was weak. The film placed third in its first week behind *The Spiderwick Chronicles* and *Horton Hears a Who!*, with a five-day cumulative gross of about HK$4.25 million, only HK$550,000 ahead of Donnie Yen's *Flash Point* over four days the previous year; the trade account projected a final Hong Kong total near HK$9 million.[11](https://ent.sina.com.cn/m/2008-03-25/16231960704.shtml) In Taiwan it earned NT$4,731,886 over a 22-day run.[12](https://file.moc.gov.tw/001/Upload/OldFiles/AdminUploads/contenthistory/189991760.pdf) Screen International reported that after an average mainland opening the Hong Kong haul was disappointing, with the film out of the top ten by its third week while the grittier *Three Kingdoms: Resurrection of the Dragon* stayed high in the chart.[13](https://www.screendaily.com/story.aspx?storyCode=4038517)\n\n## Reception\n\nCritical response was mixed, with praise for the production values and battle scenes and criticism of the script. The *South China Morning Post* called it a mildly entertaining period action romance, noting that at 96 minutes it was short for a historical epic, and judged that the battle scenes, though not on the scale of *[The Warlords](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-warlords)*, were a rare feat in Hong Kong cinema.[5](https://www.scmp.com/article/631441/martial-arts-drama-fails-deliver-punch) Screen International's reviewer saw the film as trying to be both an Asian star vehicle and a Western crossover title, and both battle epic and romance, and concluded it would irritate many viewers at least some of the time.[13](https://www.screendaily.com/story.aspx?storyCode=4038517)\n\nHong Kong commentary singled out the writing. A Sina box-office survey called the screenplay the film's weakest element, noting that the relationships among the three leads were left vague: Donnie Yen said the original script contained a love triangle, but in the finished film his bond with the princess fades into master-and-servant loyalty after her rescue. The same account credited Kelly Chen's performance and the war sequences, quoting critic Sek Kei's praise for the hard-style combat, chariot charges, shield formations, and Yen's fight while surrounded, and also recorded dissenting viewers who found the battle scenes limited by budget and the two male leads thinly drawn.[11](https://ent.sina.com.cn/m/2008-03-25/16231960704.shtml) A marketing-oriented retrospective in *Sales and Marketing* magazine argued the film underperformed relative to its budget and to epics such as *Hero* and *The Warlords* because it lacked a clear genre identity for audiences to attach to.[14](https://m.fx361.com/news/2008/0101/27949627.html)\n\n## The director and the title's history\n\nChing Siu-tung grew up in a film family, appeared in King Hu's *Come Drink with Me*, and directed *[Duel to the Death](https://www.edgepedia.org/duel-to-the-death)* and *[A Chinese Ghost Story](https://www.edgepedia.org/a-chinese-ghost-story-epmq3fs21g)* before becoming the action choreographer of films including *The Swordsman*, *Hero*, *Curse of the Golden Flower*, and *The Warlords*; he had won Golden Horse Awards for Best Action Design for *New Dragon Gate Inn* and *My Schoolmate the Barbarian*.[1](https://m.atmovies.com.tw/app2/film.cfm?action=filmdata&filmid=fach49701091) • [11](https://ent.sina.com.cn/m/2008-03-25/16231960704.shtml) *An Empress and the Warriors* was his return to directing a feature after years spent choreographing for other directors.[8](https://fareastfilms.com/review/an-empress-and-the-warriors/)\n\nThe Chinese title 江山美人 had already been used for Li Han-hsiang's 1959 Shaw Brothers Huangmei opera film *The Kingdom and the Beauty*, in which the Ming Zhengde emperor, played by Chao Lei, slips away to Jiangnan and falls in love with the village girl Li Feng, played by Linda Lin Dai. That film won Best Film at the 6th Asian Film Festival and was named one of the Best 200 Chinese Classics by the Hong Kong Film Critics Society in 2002.[3](https://www.filmarchive.gov.hk/sc/web/hkfa/pe-event-2015-15-1-2.html) • [15](https://www.filmarchive.gov.hk/documents/18995340/19057014/newsletter39.pdf) Other works sharing the title include a 1977 six-episode TVB costume drama starring Adam Cheng and a 2004 mainland television series about [Emperor Huizong of Song](https://www.edgepedia.org/emperor-huizong-of-song).[16](https://bkso.baidu.com/item/%E6%B1%9F%E5%B1%B1%E7%BE%8E%E4%BA%BA/11003546?fromModule=lemma_inlink) • [17](https://movie.douban.com/subject/3348752/)\n\n## References\n\n1. [江山‧美人 An Empress And The Warriors, 開眼電影網](https://m.atmovies.com.tw/app2/film.cfm?action=filmdata&filmid=fach49701091)\n2. [全球五大武术指导程小东：\"爱美人 更爱江山\", 搜狐娱乐 (2008)](https://yule.sohu.com/20080320/n255812892.shtml)\n3. [江山美人, 香港电影资料馆](https://www.filmarchive.gov.hk/sc/web/hkfa/pe-event-2015-15-1-2.html)\n4. [An Empress and the Warriors, AsianWiki](https://asianwiki.com/An_Empress_and_the_Warriors)\n5. [Martial arts drama fails to deliver punch, South China Morning Post (2008)](https://www.scmp.com/article/631441/martial-arts-drama-fails-deliver-punch)\n6. [An Empress and the Warriors, IFC Center](https://www.ifccenter.com/films/an-empress-and-the-warriors/)\n7. [《江山美人》剧情揭秘　黎明甄子丹\"争夺\"陈慧琳, 南方日报 via 搜狐新闻 (2007)](https://news.sohu.com/20070810/n251518418.shtml)\n8. [An Empress And The Warriors (2008) Review, Far East Films](https://fareastfilms.com/review/an-empress-and-the-warriors/)\n9. [五花八门──香港电影的兵器世界：青铜剑, 香港记忆](https://www.hkmemory.hk/sc/collections-weaponry-spirits-bronze_sword.html)\n10. [3.3-3.9内地電影票房榜, tokyohongkong (2008)](https://tokyohongkong.seesaa.net/article/200803article_34.html)\n11. [香港电影票房综述：《江山美人》仅夺季军, 新浪娱乐 (2008)](https://ent.sina.com.cn/m/2008-03-25/16231960704.shtml)\n12. [2008 台灣電影票房總覽, 文化部](https://file.moc.gov.tw/001/Upload/OldFiles/AdminUploads/contenthistory/189991760.pdf)\n13. [An Empress And The Warriors, Screen International (2008)](https://www.screendaily.com/story.aspx?storyCode=4038517)\n14. [江山美人：在抉择中迷失, 销售与市场·评论版 (2008)](https://m.fx361.com/news/2008/0101/27949627.html)\n15. [HKFA Newsletter 39, Hong Kong Film Archive](https://www.filmarchive.gov.hk/documents/18995340/19057014/newsletter39.pdf)\n16. [江山美人（TVB电视剧）, 百度百科](https://bkso.baidu.com/item/%E6%B1%9F%E5%B1%B1%E7%BE%8E%E4%BA%BA/11003546?fromModule=lemma_inlink)\n17. [江山美人 (2004), 豆瓣电影](https://movie.douban.com/subject/3348752/)\n\n---\n*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Drama and biographical films (individual works) › Drama films 2000s › Romantic drama films 2000s*\n\n*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n", "same_as": [], "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/an-empress-and-the-warriors", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/an-empress-and-the-warriors.md", "license": { "name": "Edgepedia Community License 1.0", "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license", "summary": "Free with credit, commercial use included. AI training is open to everyone. For other uses, organizations over USD 100M in revenue or 100M monthly users license separately.", "spdx": "LicenseRef-Edgepedia-Community-1.0" }, "credit": "\"An Empress and the Warriors (江山美人)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/an-empress-and-the-warriors. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[An Empress and the Warriors (江山美人)](https://www.edgepedia.org/an-empress-and-the-warriors)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/an-empress-and-the-warriors](https://www.edgepedia.org/an-empress-and-the-warriors). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"An Empress and the Warriors (江山美人)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/an-empress-and-the-warriors. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "An Empress and the Warriors is a 2008 Hong Kong wuxia romance directed by Ching Siu-tung, starring Kelly Chen, Donnie Yen, and Leon Lai; a princess reclaims her Yan kingdom throne with a hermit's help, distinct from the 1959 film of the same Chinese title." }