# Cheerful Wind (风儿踢踏踩)
**Cheerful Wind** (風兒踢踏踩, also released internationally as *Play While You Play*) is a 1981 Taiwanese romantic comedy directed by Hou Hsiao-hsien, his second feature film. It reunites the stars of his debut *[Cute Girl](https://www.edgepedia.org/cute-girl)* (1980), the Taiwanese pop singer Feng Fei-fei and the Hong Kong singer and actor Kenny Bee, in a love triangle set against a television commercial shoot on the island of Penghu.[1](https://www.wowow.co.jp/detail/206929/-/01) • [2](https://cinema.ucla.edu/events/cute-girl-cheerful-wind-04-20-15/) Although made within the commercial star-romance genre of early 1980s Taiwan, the film shows the director beginning to assert the realist style that would later define the New Taiwanese Cinema.[3](https://china.usc.edu/event/cheerful-wind-hou-hsiao-hsien-taiwan-1981)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Original title | 風兒踢踏踩 (Feng er ti ta cai); international titles *Cheerful Wind* and *Play While You Play*[4](https://www.3continents.com/en/film/cheerful-wind-aka-play-while-you-play/) |
| Director and writers | Directed by Hou Hsiao-hsien; written by Yao Chiung and Hou Hsiao-hsien[5](https://queensfilmtheatre.com/Whats-On/Cheerful-Wind) |
| Year | 1981 per most festival and archive listings; 1982 per the Taiwan Film and Audiovisual Institute and the Taiwan Cinema catalog[2](https://cinema.ucla.edu/events/cute-girl-cheerful-wind-04-20-15/) • [6](https://taiwancinema.bamid.gov.tw/ImageData/306/2020/85324/9412.pdf) |
| Cast | Feng Fei-fei (Hsing-hui), Kenny Bee (Chin-tai), Anthony Chan (Lo-zai), Mei Fang[1](https://www.wowow.co.jp/detail/206929/-/01) • [7](https://reeltoreel.org/en/cheerfulwind1982en/) |
| Technical | 91–92 minutes, color, Mandarin and Taiwanese, produced by Kam Sai (H.K.) Company[6](https://taiwancinema.bamid.gov.tw/ImageData/306/2020/85324/9412.pdf) • [7](https://reeltoreel.org/en/cheerfulwind1982en/) |
| Crew | Cinematography Chen Kun-hou, editing Liao Ching-sung, music Tso Hung-yuan[7](https://reeltoreel.org/en/cheerfulwind1982en/) |
| Restoration | Digitally restored in 2018 by the Taiwan Film and Audiovisual Institute and IMAGICA Lab from the 35mm original camera negative[5](https://queensfilmtheatre.com/Whats-On/Cheerful-Wind) • [7](https://reeltoreel.org/en/cheerfulwind1982en/) |
## Spoilers
### Story
Hsing-hui (Feng Fei-fei) works as an assistant cameraperson for the advertisement director Lo-zai (Anthony Chan), who has been pursuing her romantically. A commercial shoot takes the crew to Penghu, where she meets Chin-tai (Kenny Bee), a doctor who is losing his sight. The two grow close and agree to meet again in Taipei after Chin-tai undergoes a corneal transplant. After the surgery restores his vision, Chin-tai proposes, and Hsing-hui must choose between him and Lo-zai, who still hopes to win her by fulfilling her dream of traveling to Europe.[8](https://www.tfai.org.tw/program/movieDetail/2c9580827e58477e017e6c0ba51f000e) • [1](https://www.wowow.co.jp/detail/206929/-/01)
The film spends much of its running time on its characters' middle-class aspirations, often marked by Western consumer goods; in one scene Hsing-hui's father, visiting from the countryside, is taken for pizza and Coca Cola and finds the meal unappealing.[9](https://philipbrasor.com/2021/04/16/review-cheerful-wind/) The ending resolves the triangle happily, though one reviewer describes it as perhaps too fantastic to take at face value.[9](https://philipbrasor.com/2021/04/16/review-cheerful-wind/)
## Place in Hou Hsiao-hsien's career
Hou Hsiao-hsien entered the film industry in 1973 and rose within the production teams of the established directors Li Hsing and Lai Cheng-ying, working with the cinematographer [Chen Kun](https://www.edgepedia.org/chen-kun)-hou; the two alternated as director and cinematographer on a string of commercially successful romantic films of the early 1980s.[7](https://reeltoreel.org/en/cheerfulwind1982en/) • [10](https://funscreen.tfai.org.tw/node/2442) *Cheerful Wind* followed his debut *Cute Girl* (1980) and, like it, was a [Lunar New Year](https://www.edgepedia.org/lunar-new-year) box office hit built around its two stars.[7](https://reeltoreel.org/en/cheerfulwind1982en/)
**A departure within the genre.** The film is an adaptation of a romance by the popular writer Chiung Yao, who produced it herself, but it departs from the literary romances of the 1970s: its characters are unpretentious, independent, and focused on career as much as romance, and the film's humor is casual rather than melodramatic.[4](https://www.3continents.com/en/film/cheerful-wind-aka-play-while-you-play/) • [7](https://reeltoreel.org/en/cheerfulwind1982en/) Hou subverts the usual dynamic of the idol movie by making the female lead an assertive career woman and the male lead, blind, an introvert by necessity.[9](https://philipbrasor.com/2021/04/16/review-cheerful-wind/) The Festival des 3 Continents notes that the film hints at Hou's growing determination to address how gender relations were changing in Taiwanese society.[4](https://www.3continents.com/en/film/cheerful-wind-aka-play-while-you-play/)
The film also contains the stylistic seeds of Hou's later work. A Taiwanese study of his early films records an average shot length of 12.7 seconds, well above the prevailing rhythm of the period, with one field scene lasting a full two minutes; the same period is seen as a source of the later Taiwan New Cinema.[11](https://www.shangbao.com.ph/pdf/2023/11-19/U205P5038T1D149247F103DT20231119231427.pdf) Observers point to the long shots and wide compositions, the use of the Taiwanese language alongside Mandarin, naturalistic performance, and attention to children, nonprofessional actors, and the rural-urban divide as elements that would blossom in his later films.[7](https://reeltoreel.org/en/cheerfulwind1982en/) • [3](https://china.usc.edu/event/cheerful-wind-hou-hsiao-hsien-taiwan-1981) The USC screening notes describe the film as Hou "learning to write the slogans" of the commercial genre while coloring in his own portraits.[3](https://china.usc.edu/event/cheerful-wind-hou-hsiao-hsien-taiwan-1981)
## Release and restoration
The film was produced by Kam Sai (H.K.) Company and shot on 35mm color stock.[6](https://taiwancinema.bamid.gov.tw/ImageData/306/2020/85324/9412.pdf) Dating varies across catalogs: the WOWOW listing, UCLA Film & Television Archive, and Festival des 3 Continents place it in 1981, while the Taiwan Film and Audiovisual Institute and the official Taiwan Cinema catalog date it 1982.[1](https://www.wowow.co.jp/detail/206929/-/01) • [2](https://cinema.ucla.edu/events/cute-girl-cheerful-wind-04-20-15/) • [6](https://taiwancinema.bamid.gov.tw/ImageData/306/2020/85324/9412.pdf) A promotional poster held by the National Museum of Taiwan History, a vertical color lithograph of 54.7 by 79.1 cm, advertises the film as the 1982 new work of the "original cast" of Hou's first film.[12](https://collections.nmth.gov.tw/CollectionContent.aspx?RNO=2006.002.0307&a=132)
The Taiwan Film and Audiovisual Institute restored the film in 2018, scanning the image from the 35mm original camera negative and the audio from a 35mm print. The restoration screened at the 2018 Festival des 3 Continents in Nantes, the 2019 Golden Horse Fantastic Film Festival, and other retrospectives of Hou's early work.[5](https://queensfilmtheatre.com/Whats-On/Cheerful-Wind) • [6](https://taiwancinema.bamid.gov.tw/ImageData/306/2020/85324/9412.pdf) • [4](https://www.3continents.com/en/film/cheerful-wind-aka-play-while-you-play/)
## References
1. [風が踊る (Cheerful Wind), WOWOW Online](https://www.wowow.co.jp/detail/206929/-/01)
2. [Cute Girl / Cheerful Wind, UCLA Film & Television Archive](https://cinema.ucla.edu/events/cute-girl-cheerful-wind-04-20-15/)
3. [Cheerful Wind (Hou Hsiao-hsien; Taiwan, 1981), USC U.S.-China Institute](https://china.usc.edu/event/cheerful-wind-hou-hsiao-hsien-taiwan-1981)
4. [Cheerful Wind, Festival des 3 Continents](https://www.3continents.com/en/film/cheerful-wind-aka-play-while-you-play/)
5. [Cheerful Wind, Queen's Film Theatre, Belfast](https://queensfilmtheatre.com/Whats-On/Cheerful-Wind)
6. [Cheerful Wind 風兒踢踏踩 (Digital Restoration), Taiwan Cinema catalog](https://taiwancinema.bamid.gov.tw/ImageData/306/2020/85324/9412.pdf)
7. [Cheerful Wind (aka Play While You Play), Reel to Reel Institute](https://reeltoreel.org/en/cheerfulwind1982en/)
8. [Cheerful Wind (Digital Restoration), Taiwan Film and Audiovisual Institute](https://www.tfai.org.tw/program/movieDetail/2c9580827e58477e017e6c0ba51f000e)
9. [Review: Cheerful Wind, philipbrasor.com](https://philipbrasor.com/2021/04/16/review-cheerful-wind/)
10. [國片喜劇鬧過年：侯孝賢《就是溜溜的她》與《風兒踢踏踩》, 放映週報](https://funscreen.tfai.org.tw/node/2442)
11. [Hou Hsiao-hsien retrospective program notes, Shangbao (Philippines)](https://www.shangbao.com.ph/pdf/2023/11-19/U205P5038T1D149247F103DT20231119231427.pdf)
12. [《風兒踢踏踩》電影宣傳海報, National Museum of Taiwan History collections](https://collections.nmth.gov.tw/CollectionContent.aspx?RNO=2006.002.0307&a=132)
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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 › Comedy and romantic films (individual works) › Comedies of the 1980s › Comedy-dramas of the 1980s*
*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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