# Happy Ghost (开心鬼)
**Happy Ghost** (开心鬼) is a 1984 Hong Kong comedy-fantasy film directed by Clifton Ko (高志森), produced by [Cinema City](https://www.edgepedia.org/cinema-city) (新艺城影业), and starring Raymond Wong (黄百鸣) as the ghost of a Qing-dynasty scholar whose soul inhabits a length of rope brought back to a 1980s girls' school by three students.[1](https://www.filmarchive.gov.hk/sc/web/hkfa/pe-event-2016-9-1-18.html) Made for about HK$2 million, it earned over HK$17 million at the Hong Kong box office and grew into a five-film series released between 1984 and 1991, which Wong described as the most successful comedy of the 1980s.[2](https://www.nbd.com.cn/articles/2016-04-24/1000404.html) • [3](https://bkso.baidu.com/item/%E5%BC%80%E5%BF%83%E9%AC%BC%E7%B3%BB%E5%88%97/12507890?fromModule=lemma_inlink)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Release | 14 July 1984, Hong Kong; Cantonese, color, 35 mm[4](https://bkso.baidu.com/item/%E5%BC%80%E5%BF%83%E9%AC%BC/7689645?fromModule=lemma_inlink) • [1](https://www.filmarchive.gov.hk/sc/web/hkfa/pe-event-2016-9-1-18.html) |
| Running time | 94 minutes per the Hong Kong Film Archive; 96 minutes per other databases[1](https://www.filmarchive.gov.hk/sc/web/hkfa/pe-event-2016-9-1-18.html) • [5](https://app2.atmovies.com.tw/film/fHkr30087528) |
| Director and producer | Directed by Clifton Ko (高志森); produced by Raymond Wong (黄百鸣) for Cinema City[1](https://www.filmarchive.gov.hk/sc/web/hkfa/pe-event-2016-9-1-18.html) |
| Cast | Raymond Wong, Lo Ming-chu (罗明珠), Loletta Lee (李丽珍), May Law (林珊珊), Teresa Carpio (杜丽莎), Clifton Ko[1](https://www.filmarchive.gov.hk/sc/web/hkfa/pe-event-2016-9-1-18.html) |
| Budget and return | About HK$2 million to make; Wong recalled the company earned HK$12 million from the first film[2](https://www.nbd.com.cn/articles/2016-04-24/1000404.html) |
| Box office | Over HK$17 million in Hong Kong, per Clifton Ko's filmography profile[6](https://www.filmarchive.gov.hk/documents/6.-Research-and-Publication/06-02-Filmmakers-Search/Chinese/Clifton-KO-Chi-sum_c.pdf) |
| Series | Five films, 1984–1991: 开心鬼, 开心鬼放暑假, 开心鬼撞鬼, 开心鬼救开心鬼, 开心鬼上错身[3](https://bkso.baidu.com/item/%E5%BC%80%E5%BF%83%E9%AC%BC%E7%B3%BB%E5%88%97/12507890?fromModule=lemma_inlink) |
## Spoilers
### Plot
Zhu Xiucai, a Qing-dynasty scholar, failed the imperial examination more than ten times; his father died of anger and his wife left him, and he hanged himself in a temple. Because he died with a grievance, he could not reincarnate, and his soul remained attached to the rope.[5](https://app2.atmovies.com.tw/film/fHkr30087528) In the 1980s, three secondary-school girls, Lin Ching-ching (林青青, Lo Ming-chu), Lin Hua-hua (林小花, Loletta Lee), and Yan Ru-yu (颜如玉, May Law), shelter from a storm in the ruined temple during a school trip and carry the old rope back to their dormitory, bringing the ghost with them.[7](https://tv.apple.com/sg/movie/%E5%BC%80%E5%BF%83%E9%AC%BC/umc.cmc.3s3oawe8h2hft8t4e4ppx1ava?l=zh)
The ghost's presence produces comic situations, but the film's center is the friendship that develops: Zhu and the girls become confidants, and he urges them to build their futures through their own abilities. Once his grievance is resolved, he is freed to reincarnate.[5](https://app2.atmovies.com.tw/film/fHkr30087528) The Hong Kong Film Archive's synopsis gives the ghost's name as Zhu Jinchun (朱锦春) and describes him as a *bangyan*, the second-place graduate of the Xianfeng era, while other synopses describe a scholar who repeatedly failed the examinations; the sources differ on this detail.[1](https://www.filmarchive.gov.hk/sc/web/hkfa/pe-event-2016-9-1-18.html) • [5](https://app2.atmovies.com.tw/film/fHkr30087528)
## Origin
The story began as a school production. Ma Wai-ho (马伟豪), then a secondary-school student preparing for the Hong Kong school certificate examination, wrote a stage play called *Zhu Xiucai* (朱秀才) for an inter-school drama competition. It won an award and brought him to the attention of Cinema City, which bought the rights; Wong acquired the property and adapted it into a youth campus comedy, hiring the first-time director Clifton Ko and casting new young performers.[1](https://www.filmarchive.gov.hk/sc/web/hkfa/pe-event-2016-9-1-18.html) • [4](https://bkso.baidu.com/item/%E5%BC%80%E5%BF%83%E9%AC%BC/7689645?fromModule=lemma_inlink)
Wong later explained the production logic. By 1984 Cinema City's *Aces Go Places* series had reached three entries with rising costs, and he wanted a low-budget campus comedy instead: a new director, student-age actresses rather than expensive stars, and himself as the male lead. The finished film cost HK$2 million.[2](https://www.nbd.com.cn/articles/2016-04-24/1000404.html)
## The series
The first film's success led directly to sequels. The series comprises five films: *Happy Ghost* (1984), *Happy Ghost's Summer Vacation* (开心鬼放暑假, 1985), *Happy Ghost, Happy Ghost* (开心鬼撞鬼, 1986), *Happy Ghost Saves Happy Ghost* (开心鬼救开心鬼, 1990), and *The Happy Ghost Wanders into the Wrong Body* (开心鬼上错身, 1991), directed variously by Clifton Ko, Johnnie To (杜琪峰), and Raymond Wong.[3](https://bkso.baidu.com/item/%E5%BC%80%E5%BF%83%E9%AC%BC%E7%B3%BB%E5%88%97/12507890?fromModule=lemma_inlink) • [8](https://www.jendow.com.tw/wiki/%E9%96%8B%E5%BF%83%E9%AC%BC%E7%B3%BB%E5%88%97)
Because the first film ends with Zhu Xiucai reincarnating, the sequels follow his next life: he returns as Kang Sen-gui (康森贵), a kind-hearted teacher at a girls' school, a name chosen as a [Cantonese](https://www.edgepedia.org/cantonese) homophone of "happy ghost".[9](https://ent.sina.com.cn/r/i/2011-12-07/11413501354.shtml?from=wap) The second installment is credited with opening the era of Hong Kong campus youth comedy.[10](https://bkso.baidu.com/item/%E5%BC%80%E5%BF%83%E9%AC%BC%E6%94%BE%E6%9A%91%E5%81%87/0?fromModule=lemma_inlink) The series also made names of its young cast, whom the press called the "Happy Girls" (开心少女).[1](https://www.filmarchive.gov.hk/sc/web/hkfa/pe-event-2016-9-1-18.html)
## Reception and legacy
The first film was described by the Hong Kong Film Archive as a low-cost, high-return production, and Wong recalled that its HK$12 million profit for the company was large enough, at a time when a good Hong Kong apartment cost about HK$200,000, that he framed the series as the most successful comedy of the 1980s.[1](https://www.filmarchive.gov.hk/sc/web/hkfa/pe-event-2016-9-1-18.html) • [2](https://www.nbd.com.cn/articles/2016-04-24/1000404.html) Clifton Ko's profile records the first film's Hong Kong box office at more than HK$17 million and notes that he followed it with *Happy Ghost's Summer Vacation* the next year.[6](https://www.filmarchive.gov.hk/documents/6.-Research-and-Publication/06-02-Filmmakers-Search/Chinese/Clifton-KO-Chi-sum_c.pdf)
The series remained a reference point in Chinese-language cinema. Director Cheng Wei-hao named the *Happy Ghost* films and the Lam Ching-ying jiangshi films among his influences.[11](https://36kr.com/p/3184879171542912) In the 2011 film *The Sorcerer and the White Snake* production *Happy Magic* (开心魔法), Wong played a righteous teacher again named Kang Sen-gui, an explicit nod to the series.[9](https://ent.sina.com.cn/r/i/2011-12-07/11413501354.shtml?from=wap) A 2016 mainland Chinese web film, *Huan Tian Xi Di Kai Xin Gui* (欢天喜地开心鬼), reused the happy-ghost premise with a different story and cast.[12](https://hkcinema.cn/film/25225) The final series entry, *开心鬼上错身*, was the subject of a 2021 Beijing Internet Court copyright case in which [ByteDance](https://www.edgepedia.org/bytedance), holding the exclusive information-network dissemination rights, sued iQiyi over unauthorized streaming.[13](https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/%E5%8C%97%E4%BA%AC%E4%BA%92%E8%81%94%E7%BD%91%E6%B3%95%E9%99%A2%EF%BC%882021%EF%BC%89%E4%BA%AC0491%E6%B0%91%E5%88%9D22480%E5%8F%B7%E6%B0%91%E4%BA%8B%E5%88%A4%E5%86%B3%E4%B9%A6)
## References
1. [开心鬼, Hong Kong Film Archive programme note](https://www.filmarchive.gov.hk/sc/web/hkfa/pe-event-2016-9-1-18.html)
2. [喜剧大师黄百鸣谈"发达秘笈"：当年《开心鬼》票房能在香港买房60套, 每日经济新闻 (2016)](https://www.nbd.com.cn/articles/2016-04-24/1000404.html)
3. [开心鬼系列, 百度百科](https://bkso.baidu.com/item/%E5%BC%80%E5%BF%83%E9%AC%BC%E7%B3%BB%E5%88%97/12507890?fromModule=lemma_inlink)
4. [开心鬼（1984年高志森执导的喜剧电影）, 百度百科](https://bkso.baidu.com/item/%E5%BC%80%E5%BF%83%E9%AC%BC/7689645?fromModule=lemma_inlink)
5. [開心鬼 Happy Ghost (1984), 開眼電影網](https://app2.atmovies.com.tw/film/fHkr30087528)
6. [香港影人小傳檢索：高志森, Hong Kong Film Archive](https://www.filmarchive.gov.hk/documents/6.-Research-and-Publication/06-02-Filmmakers-Search/Chinese/Clifton-KO-Chi-sum_c.pdf)
7. [開心鬼, Apple TV](https://tv.apple.com/sg/movie/%E5%BC%80%E5%BF%83%E9%AC%BC/umc.cmc.3s3oawe8h2hft8t4e4ppx1ava?l=zh)
8. [開心鬼系列, 百科知識中文網](https://www.jendow.com.tw/wiki/%E9%96%8B%E5%BF%83%E9%AC%BC%E7%B3%BB%E5%88%97)
9. [《开心魔法》：玻璃罩里的青春, 新浪娱乐 (2011)](https://ent.sina.com.cn/r/i/2011-12-07/11413501354.shtml?from=wap)
10. [开心鬼放暑假, 百度百科](https://bkso.baidu.com/item/%E5%BC%80%E5%BF%83%E9%AC%BC%E6%94%BE%E6%9A%91%E5%81%87/0?fromModule=lemma_inlink)
11. [谁说电影院不能有"鬼"?, 36氪](https://36kr.com/p/3184879171542912)
12. [欢天喜地开心鬼 (2016), HKCinema](https://hkcinema.cn/film/25225)
13. [北京互联网法院（2021）京0491民初22480号民事判决书, 维基文库](https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/%E5%8C%97%E4%BA%AC%E4%BA%92%E8%81%94%E7%BD%91%E6%B3%95%E9%99%A2%EF%BC%882021%EF%BC%89%E4%BA%AC0491%E6%B0%91%E5%88%9D22480%E5%8F%B7%E6%B0%91%E4%BA%8B%E5%88%A4%E5%86%B3%E4%B9%A6)
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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 › Teen and coming-of-age comedies 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*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license