Category III: The Old School

Deejay over at The Chinese Mirror has been posting recently about some of the earliest Chinese feature films, and it's quite interesting to see that they are not so different from contemporary Hong Kong films. Take for example Women Skeletons (1922), the first Chinese detective film. It features a gang of prostitutes called the Ten Sisters who prowl Shanghai and lure unsuspecting men with easy sex before robbing them. More than seventy years later, a film like Six Devil Women (1996) proves that movie prostitutes are still as sexy and dangerous as they were back in the old days.



Or how about Yan Ruisheng (1921), the first Chinese true-crime film. It was based on a sensational case from the previous year, involving one of Shanghai's top courtesans who was murdered by her client, a respectable and prominent man about town. Fast forward to the 90s, and audiences are still fascinated by the exploits of real-life murderers, such as Dr. Lamb (1992).



Another early true-crime film, Zhang Xinsheng (1922), reputedly featured autopsy scenes so graphic that audiences left the theater. Take that, Dr. Lamb! Long before there was even a Category III rating, Chinese filmmakers were already catering to the "vulgar" tastes of the public and pushing the boundaries of acceptability.

Further Reading
Categorize Me: A History of Hong Kong’s Category III Genre