Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jul 4, 2026

Wuershan

Wuershan (乌尔善) is a Chinese film director of Mongol descent. His first feature film was Soap Opera (2004), for which he was awarded the FIPRESCI Award at the Pusan International Film Festival. He went on to direct blockbusters The Butcher, the Chef and the Swordsman (2010), Painted Skin: The Resurrection (2012), and Mojin: The Lost Legend (2015), for which he was awarded the Hundred Flowers Award for Best Director at the 33rd Hundred Flowers Awards. In 2019, he began production of the Creation of the Gods trilogy. The trilogy was a massive success in China and internationally. As of June 2026, Creation of the Gods I is 31st of the highest-grossing films ever in China.

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Wuershan
Wuershan at the 2011 Golden Horse Awards
Born (1972-06-10) June 10, 1972
Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, China
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese烏爾善
Simplified Chinese乌尔善
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinWūěrshàn

Wuershan (乌尔善) is a Chinese film director of Mongol descent. His first feature film was Soap Opera (2004), for which he was awarded the FIPRESCI Award at the Pusan International Film Festival. He went on to direct blockbusters The Butcher, the Chef and the Swordsman (2010), Painted Skin: The Resurrection (2012), and Mojin: The Lost Legend (2015), for which he was awarded the Hundred Flowers Award for Best Director at the 33rd Hundred Flowers Awards. In 2019, he began production of the Creation of the Gods trilogy. The trilogy was a massive success in China and internationally. As of June 2026, Creation of the Gods I is 31st of the highest-grossing films ever in China.

Early life

Wuershan was born in Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, China, on 10 June 1972.12 At the age of sixteen, he enrolled to a high school affiliated to China's Central Academy of Fine Arts, and in 1992, he was admitted to the oil painting department of the latter. He dropped out the following year. In 1994, he began studying film directing at the Beijing Film Academy. After graduating in 1998,3 he worked as a TV commercials director, video artist, and avant-garde artist.14

Career

Wuershan's film debut came with Soap Opera (2004). This movie achieved success in the Chinese film circuit, winning the FIPRESCI Award at the 2004 Pusan International Film Festival.14

Wuershan's second feature film, The Butcher, the Chef and the Swordsman, debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). The film premiered in TIFF's Midnight Madness section, the first time a film from China has been shown at this sidebar.56 It received mixed reviews from critics.78 The film was also screened at the Pusan Film Festival.9 It was presented by Doug Liman at the festival.10 It was released theatrically on 17 March 2011 in Southeast Asia, North America, Australia and New Zealand simultaneously.11 Described as an avant-garde martial arts comedy,3 the film is split into three stories titled "Desire", "Vengeance" and "Greed," and it follows the "journey of a mystical blade as it passes through the hands of three ambitious men."12

Wuershan's third feature film, Painted Skin: The Resurrection, was released on 28 June 2012. The film has an 83% approval rating on aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes,13 and is described as a "deliciously nutty love story".14 In the film, Xiaowei is a malevolent fox spirit who consumes men's hearts to preserve her beauty. She is searching for a freely-given heart in order to become human, while lovesick Princess Jing (who wears a mask to conceal her scarred face) searches for true love.14 With a total box office gross of $115.07 million,15 the film became the highest grossing domestic film in China, beating the previous record holder Let the Bullets Fly.16

His fourth feature film was Mojin: The Lost Legend, an action adventure fantasy thriller film based on the novel Ghost Blows Out the Light.17 It was released on December 18, 2015.1819 The film won several awards, including Best Visual Effects at the Beijing College Student Film Festival and the Golden Horse Awards, and Wuershan was named Best Director at the 33rd Hundred Flowers Awards. The movie however received mixed reviews from western critics.20 The film was a huge box-office success, grossing over USD $278 million21 on a budget of USD $37 million.22

In 2019, he began on the production on the Creation of the Gods trilogy. Sometimes dubbed as "China's Lord of the Rings",23 it is the "most ambitious and expensive production in Chinese history."232 The production has a crew of over two thousands employees.23 The movie is a retelling of Investiture of the Gods, a 16th-century Chinese novel and one of the major vernacular Chinese works in the gods-and-demons (shenmo) genre written during the Ming dynasty (1368–1644).24

The novel combines elements of history, folklore, mythology, legends and fantasy,25 with a story set in the era of the decline of the Shang dynasty (1600–1046 BC) and the rise of the Zhou dynasty (1046–256 BC). It tells about the downfall of King Zhou, the Shang Dynasty's last ruler. He becomes a tyrant after having been "bewitched by a fox spirit posing as his concubine." An epic battle "rages to defeat him, involving gods, demons and other supernatural beings."23 Barrie M. Osborne, producer of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, was involved in the production.23

The first film of the trilogy, Creation of the Gods I: Kingdom of Storms, was released in 2023, and a sequel, Creation of the Gods II: Demon Force, was released in 2025.

Filmography

Director

Producer

  • Creation of the Gods I: Kingdom of Storms, 2023
  • The Traveller, 2024

Awards and nominations

Year Award Category Project Result Ref.
2016 Hundred Flowers Awards Best Director Mojin: The Lost Legend Won 27
2011 Golden Horse Awards Best New Director The Butcher, the Chef and the Swordsman Won 28
2004 Pusan International Film Festival FIPRESCI Award Soap Opera Won 4
References

References

  1. Tong, Wang. "乌尔善执导《封神三部曲》蓄势待发". inews.nmgnews.com. Retrieved 11 April 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  2. Grogan, Bryan. ""Jiang Ziya," "Ne Zha" and How Not to Make an Expanded Cinematic Universe". radiichina.com. Retrieved 11 April 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  3. "Wuershan Biography". IMDb. Retrieved 11 April 2021.
  4. Yingjin Zhang (2012). A Companion to Chinese Cinema. Wiley. p. 253. ISBN 978-1-444-33029-8.
  5. Elley, Derek (September 17, 2010). "The Butcher, the Chef and the Swordsman (刀見笑)". Film Business Asia. Archived from the original on February 22, 2011. Retrieved September 21, 2010.
  6. "Toronto unleashes Butcher in madness". Film Business Asia. August 18, 2010. Archived from the original on August 20, 2010. Retrieved September 21, 2010.
  7. Anderson, John (September 19, 2010). "The Butcher, the Chef and the Swordsman". Variety. Retrieved September 21, 2010.
  8. Bilton, Chris (September 14, 2010). "The Butcher, the Chef and the Swordsman". Eye Weekly. Retrieved September 21, 2010.
  9. "Fox to release Chinese martial arts film The Butcher, the Chef and the Swordsman". Asia Pacific Arts. February 23, 2011.
  10. Fleming, Mike (August 26, 2010). "Doug Liman Carries Torch For China Film". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved September 21, 2010.
  11. "《刀見笑》敲定春季檔上映 3月17日全球公映".
  12. "The Butcher, the Chef, and the Swordsman". Fox International Productions. Retrieved 11 April 2021.
  13. "Painted Skin: The Resurrection". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved November 6, 2012.
  14. Catsoulis, Jeanette. "The Butcher, the Chef, and the Swordsman". The New York Times. Retrieved 11 April 2021.
  15. "Mainland Box Office Chart for Week 31, 2012". EntGroup Consulting. Retrieved 2012-09-02.
  16. Cremin, Stephen (July 24, 2012). "Resurrection takes China BO record". Film Business Asia. Archived from the original on July 30, 2012. Retrieved July 24, 2012.
  17. "Movie giants to make blockbuster tomb raider story". China Internet Information Center. 2014-08-08. Retrieved 2015-04-12.
  18. "China releasing schedule revealed at seminar". Film Business Asia. 2015-04-10. Retrieved 2015-04-12.
  19. "寻龙诀 (2015)". movie.douban.com (in Chinese). douban.com. Retrieved March 5, 2015.
  20. "Mojin – The Lost Legend (2015)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved December 19, 2015.
  21. "BOX OFFICE DATA FOR TUESDAY, 9TH FEBRUARY 2016 (ESTIMATES AS OF 21:30 CST)". Box Office China. Archived from the original on 2017-08-08. Retrieved February 9, 2016.
  22. "Mojin: The Lost Legend (2015)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved December 17, 2015.
  23. Davis, Rebecca. "Director Wuershan Wants to Make China's 'Lord of the Rings' With 'Fengshen Trilogy'". Variety. Retrieved 11 April 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  24. Haase, Donald (2008). The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Folktales and Fairy Tales: A-F. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 340. ISBN 978-0-313-33442-9.
  25. Chew, Katherine Liang (2002). Tales of the Teahouse Retold: Investiture of the Gods. Page XI. ISBN 0-595-65161-5.
  26. "寻龙诀 (2015)". movie.douban.com (in Chinese). douban.com. Retrieved February 7, 2015.
  27. "Winners revealed at Chinese famous film awards". China Radio International. 2016-09-25. Archived from the original on September 26, 2016.
  28. "台北金馬影展 Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival". www.goldenhorse.org.tw. Retrieved 5 October 2017.
External links