Po Fung

Po Fung is a Hong Kong film historian and critic. He began his career as a film critic in 1993 writing for Sing Tao Wan Po, and became a co-founder and chairperson of the Hong Kong Film Critics Society. He also served as a research officer at the Hong Kong Film Archive and currently works as an independent researcher in Taiwan.

Early life and education Po was born in the 1960s. He developed an interest in literature and history from a young age, especially in reading and watching wuxia novels and films. He studied history at university and remained passionate about reading, He befriended film critic and media executive , whose influence sparked his interest in cinema.

Career Early ventures in Hong Kong (1993–2018) After Dora Liu, deputy editor of Sing Tao Wan Po, resigned, Lam Chiu-wing was appointed to substitute her, and he invited Po to contribute film reviews. Po became a full-time film critic from 1993 to 1994 but struggled to make a living. where he mainly conducted field research or examined historical and literary materials to assist screenwriters in creating television dramas. In 1997, he co-founded POV Bookstore, a film bookstore with branches in Yau Ma Tei and Wan Chai, with Lam and fellow critic Shu Kei, but the bookstore closed in 1999. He served as chairperson of the Society from 2001 to 2002, He spent 15 months on research and the book traced the entire history of wuxia cinema in the 20th century. while of praised the book for "showing lesser-known breakthroughs by Bruce Lee" and "deepening readers' appreciation of his contributions and significance". In 2012, Po published Mastering Virtue: The Cinematic Legend of a Martial Artist, an essay collection based on 20 years of research into Wong Fei-hung films.

Po left the Hong Kong Film Archive in 2014 to focus on writing Hong Kong film history. Kwong Hiu-yan of HK01 praised Po's use of her experience at the Hong Kong Film Archive to document and archive the actresses from multiple perspectives; while Trista Luo of Orange News described the book as "painting a personal portrait of Hong Kong actresses and showcasing a vibrant collective cinema scene".

Research in Taiwan (2018–present) In June 2018, Po migrated to Taiwan through the immigrant investor program. He and his wife had considered emigrating after the Umbrella Movement in 2014, citing loss of confidence in Hong Kong's future and political divide of the city as the reasons. In November, he opened Sword of Light and Shadows Bookstore in Ximending, Taipei, Po continued to write reviews for Hong Kong media after migrating to Taiwan,

In March 2022, Po published Searching for Old Traces: A Genealogy of Chinese Melodramatic Films, a film history book on Sinophone melodramas. Building on his research from the Hong Kong Film Archive, he expanded the scope to include Shanghainese and Taiwanese films he studied while in Taiwan. That year, he also published No Evil Goes Unpunished: The Texture and Context of Hong Kong Gangster Films, another book on Hong Kong triad films expanding his research from Always in the Dark. 2014 Always in the Dark: A Study of Hong Kong Gangster Films 江湖路冷—香港黑幫電影研究 2017 Qun Fang Pu: Contemporary Hong Kong Film Actresses 群芳譜：當代香港電影女星 Hong Kong Film Critics Society

Searching for Old Traces: A Genealogy of Chinese Melodramatic Films 閒尋舊蹤跡—華語文藝電影源流考 Bookman Bookstore No Evil Goes Unpunished: The Texture and Context of Hong Kong Gangster Films 無惡不作—香港黑幫電影的肌理脈絡 Hong Kong Film Critics Society 2023 Irresistible Hong Kong Cinema 2021 禁不了的香港電影2021 Sword of Light and Shadows Bookstore