KwanTeo Film Archive · Topic
The Tale of Heroes from Chaoshan
潮汕英豪传The Tale of Heroes from Chaoshan brings together Chaoshan-language shorts made by young people in Tangpu, Jieyang. Filmed around their village, the works found a second life online, where viewers studied and remixed them into a fan culture called Chaoxue (Chao Studies, TBC).
About the Topic
The filmmakers used the places and people around them: friends became actors, and a village bridge, streets and an ice shop became settings for playful crime stories and absurd comedy. They called themselves Huangguan Yingshi (Crown Film Studio, TBC), though they were not a professional studio. The early videos drew criticism for their rough images and performances, but the group kept filming. Shorts including Chaoshan Young and Dangerous: The Battle of Tangpu Bridge, Chaoshan Young and Dangerous: The Incident at Beach No.3 and Fall in Love with You Just Like That preserve the voices and everyday surroundings of that moment.
The videos first circulated on platforms such as Youku before viewers gathered and reposted them on Bilibili. Some fans began tracing performers, recurring characters and lines across the films; others cut the footage into music edits, comic remixes and new narratives. This mixture of close viewing and reinvention gave Chaoxue its character.
Huang Lanjia's character Datou (Big Head, TBC) is one of the faces viewers return to, alongside figures nicknamed Shuiya (Water Duck, TBC) and Zhizhuxia (Spider Pig, TBC). A conversation at Bingxin Bingshi (Bingxin Ice Shop, TBC), featured in Chaoshan Young and Dangerous: The Incident at Beach No.3, became a scene for repeated remixes, including a cyberpunk reimagining. Viewers have also sought out the films' locations in Tangpu, connecting the online culture back to the streets where the shorts were made.