Yang, Edward

▪ 2008

Yang Dechang 

      Taiwanese film director

born Sept. 24, 1947, Shanghai, China

died June 29, 2007, Beverly Hills, Calif.

was in the vanguard of the Taiwanese New Wave, a 1980s movement that brought international attention to the island state with films that probed political, economic, and social issues in Taiwan's rapidly changing environment. Yang made his full-length-film debut in 1983 with Haitan de yitian (“That Day, on the Beach”), which chronicled the reunion of two women after a 13-year separation and how their reminiscences help free them from their pasts. His next two films, Qingmei Zhuma (1985; “Taipei Story”) and Kongbu fenzi (1986; “The Terrorizers”), explored social change. Yang's Guling jie shaonian sha ren shijian (1991; A Brighter Summer Day) focused on the street-gang culture of the 1960s and won numerous awards. Yang also taught at the National Institute for the Arts in Taipei and collaborated with his students and former students on such films as Duli shidai (1994; “A Confucian Confusion”) and Majiang (1996; “Mahjong”). At the 2000 Cannes Festival, Yang won the best director award for Yi yi (Yi Yi: A One and a Two …), an intricately structured family saga seen from various perspectives. At the time of his death, Yang was working with actor Jackie Chan on The Wind, an animated kung fu film.

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