臺灣文學虛擬博物館

In July 1963, Chiung Yao’s semi-autobiographical novel Outside the Window began serialization in Crown Culture, provoking widespread enthusiasm. In August, theater worker Tsui Hsiao-ping adapted Chiung Yao’s "Seek" into the radio drama Wan-chun, launching the half-century-long “Chiung Yao Phenomenon.” This phenomenon went beyond romantic fairy tales, offering a psychological outlet for Taiwan’s populace during a time of social restraint.

The leading actors of Chiung Yao films - Chin Han, Charlie Chin, Brigitte Lin, Joan Lin - known as “Two Chins and Two Lins” - became icons of youthful romantic aspiration. Singers of the theme songs, such as Fong Fei-fei and Teresa Teng, enhanced the films’ emotional impact. Moreover, the Chiung Yao Phenomenon spurred the development of Taiwan’s “Three-Hall Films,” as many romantic settings took place in living rooms, restaurants, and cafés. Beyond Chiung Yao, numerous popular romance novels were adapted for film and television. Romance writer Hsuan Hsiao-fo ranked second in adaptations after Chiung Yao; her first novel Romance in a White House, published in 1969, was directed by Pai Ching-jui into a film of the same name in 1972, creating a celebrated on-screen couple in Chen Chen and Alan Tang.

Other literary adaptations from the same period include At Dawn, released in 1968, directed by Richard Li and Sung Tsun-shou, and adapted from Chu Hsi-ning’s novel of the same name, published in 1963, and Story of Mother, released in 1972, directed by Sung Tsun-shou, and adapted from Yu Li-hua’s Mother and Son, published in 1966, which won the Taiwan Film Critics Society Best Film award the following year. Kuo Liang-hui’s Heart Lock, published in 1962, faced harsh criticism in literary circles for its daring depiction of sexuality, which exceeded the moral boundaries of Taiwanese society at the time. The novel was banned by the government in 1963, and Kuo was expelled from the Chinese Writer's & Artist's Association. It was not republished until 1986, when it was adapted into a film by Fan Ho, but the novel was again censored, remaining banned until 1988.

British engineer John Logie Baird invented the black-and-white cathode ray tube television in the 1920s. After World War II, this new medium rapidly spread, and paired with radio technology, households with a TV could receive sights and sounds from afar in real time.

In Taiwan, wireless television only became widespread after Taiwan Television Enterprise, or TTV, officially began broadcasting in October 1962, producing Hokkien-language serials such as Returning to Embrace and historical dramas like Cheng Cheng-kung, Wu Feng, and Chou Cheng Crosses Taiwan. In October 1969, China Television Company, or CTV, began broadcasting, breaking TTV’s monopoly. CTV was the first to launch color programming, introducing the daily serialized drama Jingjing and, the following year, Hokkien serial Jade Orchid directed by Ho Chi-ming, which achieved a record 95% viewership.

TV ownership gradually increased: by 1969, urban households had a penetration rate of 61.23%, while rural areas reached 18.28%.In October 1971, Chinese Television System, or CTS, officially launched, completing the familiar “three old channels” of Taiwanese broadcast TV. Intense competition among programs began reshaping leisure habits.

To compete with CTV’s Jingjing, TTV launched the more literary Mandarin TV Novels, each 30 minutes and aired daily for a month. The first adaptation was Hsu Hsu’s anti-Japanese novel The Wind Blows, relesed in 1943 while the author was based in Hong Kong. TTV subsequently produced additional adaptations, including Chiung Yao’s River of Stars, Hsu Su’s Sun, Moon and Star, released in 1953 with the author based in Hong Kong, Wang Lan’s The Blue and the Black, and Yang Nien-tzu’s Old Tales of a Wasted Garden, released in 1962.

Martial arts novels became hugely popular in Taiwan and Hong Kong after the 1950s, spurring the rise of martial arts films. In 1959, Hong Kong director Liang Che-fu directed the Hokkien-language martial arts film Lo Hsiao-hu and Yu Chiao-lung, starring Hsiao Yen-chiu. The film was adapted from Wang Tu-lu’s novel  Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. The 1960s marked the peak of Hokkien martial arts films, with roughly 87 productions.

In 1967, King Hu directed Dragon Inn in Taiwan, blending Peking Opera stage action, historical accuracy of the Ming Dynasty, and personalized chivalric plots, creating a strong classical aesthetic. Its success ushered in the golden era of Taiwanese martial arts cinema in the 1970s and 1980s. King Hu then adapted Strange Tales from a Studio of Leisure into A Touch of Zen, released between 1970 and 1971. Although it did not meet commercial expectations, it earned the Cannes Technical Prize. He later directed Legend of the Mountain in 1979, adapted from the Song Dynasty collection Jingben Popular Stories’s tale Ghosts in the Western Hills. This film won King Hu the Golden Horse Award for Best Director at the 16th Golden Horse Awards.

Starting in 1971, Hong Kong’s Shaw Brothers began adapting Gu Long’s martial arts novels. Notably, Hsu Tseng-hung’s 1971 film The Eleventh Son preceded publication of Gu Long’s novel in 1973. In 1976, Chu Yuan followed with Meteor, Butterfly and a Sword, released in 1973, and The Magic Blade, released in 1974, sparking a Gu Long craze in Taiwan and Hong Kong. From 1971 to 1984, a total of 30 Gu Long adaptations were produced, creating numerous martial arts classics.

On television, Hong Kong’s Television Broadcasts Limited, or TVB, adapted Gu Long’s Clans of Intrigue in 1979, starring Hong Kong actor Adam Cheng. The series was first well received in Hong Kong and Singapore, and was later introduced by CTV into Taiwan in 1982, sparking a fervent response. Ratings once soared to 70%, with everyone at home on Sunday evenings waiting to watch Clans of Intrigue. In every household, televisions simultaneously played the opening theme sung by Wang Chiang: “Let fame float by, lightly cast aside the sword, I walk alone through a thousand mountains, no need for farewells…”