Seven Swords (Qijian Xia Tianshan), acclaimed Hong Kong director Tsui Hark's long-awaited kung fu flick, was unveiled on Monday in Changsha, the capital city of Central China's Hunan Province.

The director, together with Hong Kong super star Leon Lai, martial arts veteran Donnie Yen, mainland actress Zhang Jingchu and mainland actor Sun Honglei and Lu Yi, took part in a ceremony held earlier Monday night to celebrate the movie's premiere.

One of the most important features of Tsui Hark films, such as the Once Upon A Time In China series (Wong Fei Hung) and Dragon Inn (Xin Longmen Kezhan), are the dazzling martial arts effects.

Seven Swords, which is the director's first work after a four-year lay off, is different from his previous works in that few special effects are employed.

Instead, Tsui said he put much emphasis on the telling of the story in a more realistic way. "Kung fu movies are often full of supernatural powers. This time I am trying to adopt a realistic angle in Seven Swords, to allow the heroes to get back to the earthly world," Tsui Hark said at an informal press conference held by the Movie Channel of the China Central Television last week in Beijing.

The Movie Channel has documented the shooting of Seven Swords. The documentary is scheduled to air on July 28.

Between July 25 and 30, the Movie Channel will also broadcast five of the most classic Tsui Hark Movies, including Once Upon A Time in China III and IV, Green Snake (Qing She), Master of Broken Sword (Duandao Ke) and Dragon Inn.

Trying to distance his latest work from Hero (Yingxiong) and House of Flying Daggers (Shimian Maifu), which are the two best-selling Chinese movies but are widely criticized for failing to touch the hearts of audiences, Tsui Hark said he hoped that Seven Swords would renovate the kung fu genre.

The film also differs from his previous works in the manner of storytelling, and the way the mechanics of relationships and emotions are handled, he said.

The movie was adapted from a household novel of the same title by one of the most renowned writers of martial arts novels Liang Yusheng.

The story takes place in the early Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), when the royal court imposes a ban on studying any forms of fighting, forbidding the practice of martial arts altogether in order to prevent any possible uprising and rebellion.

Fenghuo (wind and fire), a surrendered military official from the previous Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), sees this as an opportunity to make a fortune for himself by helping to enforce the new law. After endless massacres, his next goal is to attack the final frontier, the village of Bowei Fortress.

Trying to save the villagers, seven kung fu practitioners unite together, and begin their heroic journey.

The film was shot on location in the mountains in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

(China Daily July 20, 2005)