Origins & Early Life

Hou Hsiao-hsien (Chinese: 侯孝賢; pinyin: Hóu Xiàoxián; born 8 April 1947) is a retired Taiwanese film director, screenwriter, producer and actor. He is a leading figure in world cinema and in Taiwan's New Wave cinema movement. He won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival in 1989 for his film A City of Sadness (1989), and the Best Director award at the Cannes Film Festival in 2015 for The Assassin (2015). Other highly regarded works of his include The Puppetmaster (1993) and Flowers of Shanghai (1998).

Pivotal Works & Achievements

Hou was voted "Director of the Decade" for the 1990s in a poll of American and international critics by The Village Voice and Film Comment. In a 1998 New York Film Festival worldwide critics' poll, Hou was named "one of the three directors most crucial to the future of cinema." A City of Sadness ranked 117th in the British Film Institute's 2012 Sight & Sound critics' poll of the greatest films ever made. In 2017, Metacritic ranked Hsiao-hsien 16th on its list of the 25 best film directors of the 21st century. Hou Hsiao-hsien was born in Meixian District, Guangdong in 1947 to a Hakka family. Later that same year, Hou's father took a job as Head Secretary for the...

Enduring Legacy & Impact

The historical impact and works continue to influence the modern world.

Contemporary Figures & Related Historical Timelines

• Al Capone — Contemporary (Died in 1947) (1947): Notorious American gangster and businessman during the Prohibition era.
• Alan Guth — Contemporary (Born in 1947) (1947): Pioneering cosmologist known for developing the theory of cosmic inflation.
• Alan Sugar — Contemporary (Born in 1947) (1947): Pioneering British entrepreneur, founder of Amstrad, and TV personality.
• Andrew Irvine (mountaineer) — Shared historical date (04-08 · Born) (1902): British mountaineer famous for the 1924 Everest expedition and disappearance.
• Antony Flew — Shared historical date (04-08 · Died) (2010): English analytic and evidentialist philosopher known for his critique of religion.
• Albert Brooks — Historical peer (Born in 1947) (1947): Versatile American actor, comedian, director, and screenwriter.
• Aleister Crowley — Historical peer (Died in 1947) (1947): Founder of Thelema, a major occultist, poet, and ceremonial magician.
• A. J. Ayer — Historical peer (Died in 1989) (1989): Influential English philosopher known for logical positivism and emotivism.
• Adnan Khayr Allah — Historical peer (Died in 1989) (1989): Iraqi military officer and Minister of Defense, closely associated with the Ba'ath regime.
• A. P. J. Abdul Kalam — Historical peer (Died in 2015) (2015): Visionary aerospace engineer, scientist, and former President of India.
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