The film "A Chinese Ghost Story" is a story in "Strange Tales from Liaozhai", which tells the story of a human-ghost love between scholar Ning Caichen and female ghost Nie Xiaoqian. In 1960, Hong Kong's Shaw Brothers made this film, which was not famous, until the release of "A Chinese Ghost Story" starring Leslie Cheung in 1987, which made this ancient ghost love story plump, and the image of an ancient Chinese scholar wearing a scarf hat and a long shirt became famous all over the world.
In 1983, when the filming of "A Chinese Ghost Story" began, producer Tsui Hark wanted Leslie Cheung to play the actor Ning Caichen, but Leslie Cheung did not agree, because he didn't want to wear strange clothes to play weird ghost stories, and he was worried that it would not match his avant-garde image. Tsui Hark took a fancy to some of Leslie Cheung's personality traits that fit the protagonist very well, so he showed Leslie Cheung the costumes designed by the crew for Ning Caichen, and explained the plot to him, so that Leslie Cheung understood the very features of this old story and the new film. Ancient costumes and ghosts are just the outside, the core still has to fit the values of contemporary people, and the film must be shown to modern people after all. Ning Caichen, a weak scholar, had a pure heart, and this bravery finally touched Leslie Cheung's heart.
In the entertainment industry where appearance gives priority, "A Chinese Ghost Story" starring Leslie Cheung and Wang Zuxian, relying on their temperament alone, it is difficult for future generations to surpass, let alone a combination of beautiful women and handsome men. The theme song at the beginning of the film is the movie song of the same name sung by Leslie Cheung "A Chinese Ghost Story", accompanied by a melodious prelude, a scholar in a plain robe walks from the mountains with a bamboo suitcase. Leslie Cheung's singing voice sounded, "The road of life is like a long road, the wind and frost in the road are dry, and the beautiful dreams in the red dust have many directions, looking for the love of the crazy dream center, and the road is boundless."
In the film, Ning Caichen is a powerless scholar, which is different from Leslie Cheung's image that has always shown people, but Leslie Cheung has played the scholar's characteristics of coexistence of single-cuteness, weakness and perseverance. When the scholar saw the robber robbing, he was powerless to stop it and could only shrink aside; the robber's killer gave him steamed buns, and he was forced to eat them aggrievedly, but as soon as the people left, he threw them away, hugged his luggage and ran away.
The film has won the Special Jury Award at the 16th French Science Fiction Film Festival, the Best Film Award at the Portuguese Science Fiction Film Festival, and the Best Adapted Screenplay at the 24th Taiwan Film Golden Horse Awards
Leslie Cheung's title of "brother" comes from "A Chinese Ghost Story". Because Nie Xiaoqian used the word "brother" when calling Ning Caichen, the crew followed suit. The infatuated scholar Ning Caichen played by "Brother" in the film has become a classic image on the screen, which has made the "scholar fever" continue for a while. The film episode "A Chinese Ghost Story" sung has also become a popular hit.