Best Taiwanese history movies

Eight Hundred Heroes (1975)

As battle rages in Shanghai, a single battalion of soldiers led by Xie Jinyuan is ordered to hold back the Japanese forces at the Sihang warehouse. Girl scouts risk their lives to deliver food and medicine to the defenders.

March of Happiness (1999)

1945-1947, Taiwan. A teenage couple were deeply in love despite objections from the girl’s family. Their tragic story is played out in travelling troupes, tea-houses and western-style cafes, with the backdrop of Japanese occupation and the 28 February Incident.

Beauty of Beauties (1965)

Hsi Shih: The Beauty of Beauties was one of the most ambitious films made in the Taiwan film industry in the 1960s. After leaving The Shaw Brothers studio in Hong Kong and moving to Taiwan, filmmaker Li Han-hsiang mounted this historical epic. Told through the story of Xishi (Hsi Shih), one of the 'Four Great Beauties' of Chinese history, the film portrays the war between two Chinese Kingdoms during the Warring States Period (475-221 B.C). After the kingdom of Yue is defeated by the kingdom of Wu, King Goujian of Yue takes pains to prepare for his revenge and rebuild his country. Knowing that King Fucha of Wu is lewd and lustful, he offers Xisi to the court of Wu to serve as Fucha’s concubine, with Fucha unaware that she is also a spy. She uses her charm to draw Fucha away from his office and governance, while King Goujian rallies his forces together to attempt to reclaim his lands.

A Man of Immortality (1981)

After the cession of Taiwan to Japan in 1895 by the Manchu government, people on the island staged a series of anti-Japanese revolts to oppose the tyrannical rule of the Japanese militarists.

Operation Inchon (1981)

Recounts the so-called 'Battle of Inchon', an episode at the end of World War II during the amphibious invasion of Korea, resulting in a decisive victory and a strategic reversal in favor of the Allied forces.

The Best Secret Agent (1964)

During the Sino-Japanese War, Tsui-Ying flees with her father from the Japanese occupation. She meets a young man, Ling-Yun, and falls in love. Yet Tsui-Ying chooses to leave Ling-Yun and marries his uncle, a traitor who serves the Japanese. Out of heartbreak, Ling-Yun leaves the country to study abroad. In the meantime, Special Agent 001 leads the resistance against the Japanese. After Ling-Yun returns to Shanghai from the UK, he is surprised to find out his ex-lover has become the wife of his uncle Chao-Chun. Special Agent 001 continues their sabotage and the identify of the agent finally is revealed. The first Taiwanese-language spy film produced in Taiwan, The Best Secret Agent is a remake of the 1945 movie of the same name that caused a sensation in Shanghai.

No Greater Love (1962)

The first color widescreen film from Taiwan.

Such a life (1997)

'Such a Life' is quite a sad film. It is set in the sixties, in a village on the west coast of Taiwan, where many are succumbing to 'black foot', a disease caused by drinking contaminated well water. The only 'cure' is to amputate the afflicted limb, and to avoid drinking the contaminated water. Many in the village were already sick, and few could afford to have tap-water installed. At the center of the story is Ah Chung, who lives with his grandfather, who has already lost one leg to 'black foot'. In the same village also live an opera family, who are finding things increasingly difficult there, an oyster farmer, who complains that his oysters are being poisoned by a nearby pharmaceutical plant, and an assortment of children who enjoy swimming in the sea, and who bully Ah Chung. A significant portion of the action also takes place in the village school, where Ah Chung is having trouble keeping up with the fees.

March: the Southern South (2021)

The elderly photographer, Chie, told a childhood story about her sister Iòng-Hâ and the sister's admiration Kong-Suī, in a time when Taiwan's cultural and linguistic identity have undergone dramatic changes after the Pacific war.

Six Kung Fu Heroes (1979)

Six crippled kung fu students are each given an Imperial Decree starting an anti-Ching rebellion, and are instructed to deliver them to the Commander-in-Chief.

The Battle for the Republic of China (1981)

Patriotic extravanganza concerning early 20th century political events in Taiwan (i.e. the Republic of China), told in an ensemble format

Flat Tyre (1999)

As the director and the cameraman of a documentary project, Meng and Jianxian are travelling around Taiwan filming statues of religious and historical figures. Their conversations and debates on the statues often touch the political reality of Taiwan. Meng's girlfriend, Ning, is involved in a mediocre commercial feature film (initially as location scout and subsequently as an actress). Instead of realizing her ambition, she finds herself being exploited by the filmmakers. On the other hand, Meng and Ning's relationship is gradually faded.

Master Hui Neng (1987)

Taiwanese historical drama about the Buddhist monk Huineng.

The Winter of 1905 (1982)

Tsui Hark stars as Chinese artist and Buddhist monk Li Shutong, a.k.a. Master Hong Yi. Li travels to Japan to study Western artistic practices, and revolutionizes the teaching of art in China upon his return. Set during the turbulent era of the Russo-Japanese War circa 1905.

The Warning of Taiwan Strait War (1995)

Forbidden Imperial Tales (1990)

Forbidden Imperial Tales is a Taiwan History movie

Jiu mei tu (1987)

Tang Bohu for a generation of flamboyant characters, concubines eight, but also everywhere in love. Once on the way to meet the pretty girl Qiu Xiang was her beauty absolutely produced face attraction, surprised by the heavenly beings. After the temple to meet the gods, Qiu Xiang looked back with a smile, the Tang Bohu to see the soul of the crazy; Bohu determined, vowed to win the return of the beauty. In order to get close to the beauty, Bohu does not sell himself in the House of Tai Shi as a servant.

Magnificent 72 (1980)

The Trios of the Peach Garden (1968)

A film based on the Oath of the Peach Garden which is a fictional event in the 14th-century Chinese historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms by Luo Guanzhong.