Tsui Hark’s 1986 rambunctious, fast-moving film Peking Opera Blues gets the Arrow Video limited edition treatment. With a host of extras, the 4K UHD and Blu-ray release drops on 16th February, and is worth your time for Brigitte Lin alone.
Peking Opera Blues isa glorious explosion of colour, dance, some mad cap humour and action sequences. But the most remarkable thing about it is that the three main characters are women – women who, in their own individual ways, are trying to take control of their lives in an extremely patriarchal society. It’s Beijing in 1913, and the last Emperor of China has abdicated following revolution. Across the country, belligerent regional generals are vying to take control of wider areas of the country. Meanwhile, in the Peking Opera House, the lives of Tsao Wan (Brigitte Lin), Pat Neil (Sally Yeh) and Sheung Hung (Cherie Chung) cross, and they all become involved in a plot to stop the monarchy from being reinstated.
Pat Neil is the daughter of the leader of the troupe playing at the theatre, who longs to be an actress. But in 1913, all of the female roles are played by men so Pat is stuck hiding backstage. Sheung is an itinerant musician who steals jewellery at an opportune moment and finds herself searching for it again in the theatre. And Tsao is the daughter of the local general who has recently returned from studying in England, but who is secretly part of an underground group aiming to stop her own father’s tyranny. As circumstances converge, the three women find themselves working together to fight for a democratic republic.
Both Sally Yeh and Cherie Chung are enchantingly brilliant in their roles but it is Brigitte Lin whose performance is the most striking and whose character is the most pivotal. With her short, masculine hairstyle and gentlemen’s suits, Tsao is portrayed more or less as a non-binary person, personifying a duality of being which reaches much wider than simply Tsao. Tsao is acknowledged as the General’s daughter, but it is accepted that she does not wear the customary feminine dresses of the era and prefers a more traditionally masculine form of attire. She has experience that the other women do not in that she has travelled and studied abroad so she feels comfortable in both Western and Eastern culture. And being both the daughter of a General and also part of an underground revolutionary group, she is intricately caught between both sides of the political divide in China. Not only is Lin visually stunning on-screen, but she imbues her character with a nonchalance and command that is magnetic.
This release of Peking Opera Blues is a riot of colour and fun, set in unstable political times and with some excellent work from the three female leads.
The 4K UHD limited edition contains:
4K (2160p) UHD Blu-ray presentation in Dolby Vision
Original lossless Cantonese mono audio
Optional lossless English mono audio
Optional English subtitles for the Cantonese audio and hard of hearing subtitles for the English audio
Brand new audio commentary by film critic James Mudge
An Opus for Peking: Starring in a Tsui Hark Classic, a brand new interview with actor Mark Cheng
An Operatic Achievement, a brand new interview with cinematographer Ray Wong
Hong Kong Confidential: Inside Peking Opera Blues, a brand new interview with author and Hong Kong cinema expert Grady Hendrix
Peking Provocations, a brand new interview with film critic David West
Peking History Blues, a brand new interview with historian and academic Dr Lars Laamann
Archival interview with star Sally Yeh
Archival interview with composer James Wong
Original theatrical trailer
Image gallery
Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Xinmei Liu
Collectors’ booklet featuring new writing on the film by critic Camille Zaurin and Professor Jamie Zhao
Arrow Video releases Peking Opera Blues on limited edition 4K UHD and Blu-ray on 16th February 2026.
Tsui Hark’s 1986 rambunctious, fast-moving film Peking Opera Blues gets the Arrow Video limited edition treatment. With a host of extras, the 4K UHD and Blu-ray release drops on 16th February, and is worth your time for Brigitte Lin alone.
Peking Opera Blues is a glorious explosion of colour, dance, some mad cap humour and action sequences. But the most remarkable thing about it is that the three main characters are women – women who, in their own individual ways, are trying to take control of their lives in an extremely patriarchal society.
It’s Beijing in 1913, and the last Emperor of China has abdicated following revolution. Across the country, belligerent regional generals are vying to take control of wider areas of the country. Meanwhile, in the Peking Opera House, the lives of Tsao Wan (Brigitte Lin), Pat Neil (Sally Yeh) and Sheung Hung (Cherie Chung) cross, and they all become involved in a plot to stop the monarchy from being reinstated.
Pat Neil is the daughter of the leader of the troupe playing at the theatre, who longs to be an actress. But in 1913, all of the female roles are played by men so Pat is stuck hiding backstage. Sheung is an itinerant musician who steals jewellery at an opportune moment and finds herself searching for it again in the theatre. And Tsao is the daughter of the local general who has recently returned from studying in England, but who is secretly part of an underground group aiming to stop her own father’s tyranny. As circumstances converge, the three women find themselves working together to fight for a democratic republic.
Both Sally Yeh and Cherie Chung are enchantingly brilliant in their roles but it is Brigitte Lin whose performance is the most striking and whose character is the most pivotal. With her short, masculine hairstyle and gentlemen’s suits, Tsao is portrayed more or less as a non-binary person, personifying a duality of being which reaches much wider than simply Tsao. Tsao is acknowledged as the General’s daughter, but it is accepted that she does not wear the customary feminine dresses of the era and prefers a more traditionally masculine form of attire. She has experience that the other women do not in that she has travelled and studied abroad so she feels comfortable in both Western and Eastern culture. And being both the daughter of a General and also part of an underground revolutionary group, she is intricately caught between both sides of the political divide in China. Not only is Lin visually stunning on-screen, but she imbues her character with a nonchalance and command that is magnetic.
This release of Peking Opera Blues is a riot of colour and fun, set in unstable political times and with some excellent work from the three female leads.
The 4K UHD limited edition contains:
Arrow Video releases Peking Opera Blues on limited edition 4K UHD and Blu-ray on 16th February 2026.
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