With no mission or set formula, Tsui Hark takes an unorthodox approach to filmmaking. Through many failures, he has finally distinguished himself as one of China's finest directors.

Hong Kong film director Tsui Hark shed tears in Shanghai last Wednesday when he came for his latest film "Xanda," which has screened since January 1 in town.

It began all of a sudden when someone mentioned Anita Mui, renowned Hong Kong pop star and actress who died of lung failure while battling cervical cancer on December 30. "The legendary Mui was honest and straight-forward," says Tsui, wiping his eyes. "She may have had a bad habit of sleeping and being late, which caused headaches for many directors, but she was really a friend you could trust with anything. Mui was so unique in the entertainment world."

Born in Guangdong Province, raised in Vietnam and educated in the United States, the 52-year-old Tsui is still just a big kid. In his new film "Xanda," he displays his youth. The movie features a conventional -- even childish -- plot but lifelike kung fu scenes. Tsui lavishly shows the violent xanda style of fighting, a form of sparring similar to kick boxing and Thai boxing. Missing no detail, from the flexing muscles to the oozing sweat, the movie is rife with good beatings, hard kicking and startling blood. Kung fu fans may get addicted. The lively sound effects suck the audience into the world of a fighting xanda man.

Tsui made this film anticipating little box office support simply because he has become obsessed with this sport recently. Courageously Tsui used all professional Chinese xanda champions who actually have no acting experience. A cast without any stars is rare in his kung fu films.

"I have conflicting ambitions," Tsui says. "I'm both an audience and a producer. Sometimes I desire to see one kind of film very much. If it's not available, I will produce such a film myself. Xanda' is contrary to the present romantic, legendary kung fu film. It's actually quite practical. I don't care. In my career there are many hit films and many failures as well. For me, failure can be a lesson,'' he adds.

Tsui took filmmaking education in the United States and has merged it with the beautiful energy of Chinese cinema, setting a new standard with each of his releases. In China Tsui is often mentioned in the same breath as suspense master Alfred Hitchcock and Hollywood director Steven Spielberg. Starting from his first feature film "The Butterfly Murders" in 1979, Tsui has built a "wuxia" (knight-errant) kingdom.

"Chinese people have romantic minds and therefore create a world of 'wuxia' stories through novels," says Tsui. "It's a bit like 'The Lord of the Rings' for Westerners. It's actually very spiritual." "Once Upon a Time in China" (1991) and "Swordsman" (1992) are two of Tsui's biggest hits. The former won him the Best Director award at the Hong Kong Film Award in 1992 and led Jet Li to superstar status. Tsui is also at the forefront of computer technology with his rather extreme use of special effects and has brought a paradigm to Hong Kong's film industry. But his curiosity and enterprising spirit have also granted him quite a few lessons of box office failures. "Legend of Zu," which cost nearly 100 million yuan (US$12 million) to produce and was packed with computer stunts, failed in the box office in 2001. Tsui's two Hollywood movies -- "Double Team" (1997) which featured action star Jean-Claude Van Damme and former NBA player Dennis Rodman and "Knock Off" (1998) -- received criticism for their departures from his style.

"He is a very creative director," says Ng See-yuen, famous Hong Kong director and chairman of Hong Kong Filmmakers Association, a man whom Hark called "master." "The most successful Chinese films in overseas market so far are kung fu movies," Ng adds. "Tsui is a talent and has a broad understanding of film. He never stops trying new things; ideas endlessly bump out."

Ironically, as a director, Tsui seldom attends public activities. "I'm afraid of meeting people, afraid of speaking publicly, and afraid of talking about big theories," Tsui says, sitting cross-legged, with one foot in the air. "My happiest moment is thinking wildly and freely alone. I enjoy the process of creation a lot. I'm a man of ever-changing ideas. If my spoken words are put into written ones, I will feel unsatisfied with what I'd said before."

He says he is an introvert much like the well-known actress Maggie Cheung, heroine of both Wong Kar-wai's "In the Mood for Love" and Zhang Yimou's "Hero", who also prefers being alone. "With this habit, I derive more from life," Tsui says. "I found (Maggie's) eyes loaded with complex feelings in the scene when she walks from the window to the table in my film 'Ashes of Time.' I asked her what she was thinking then. She said she was thinking about something very personal."

Lucrative or not, Tsui's movies are familiar to Chinese audiences.

"I like his kung fu movies, especially 'Once Upon a Time in China' series," says Wu Ting, a graduate student majoring in film and TV at the East China Normal University. "His movies are aesthetically pleasing and very entertaining as well. 'Xanda' is a good example, real boxing scenes are expressed by a skillful hand. "I was fully engaged in the film but when it was over, nothing remained in my heart," she adds. "His movie is like a pop song -- it is not meaningful and inspiring, unlike art movies. But it's really very entertaining and relaxing." It seems that Tsui cares nothing about meanings in his film.

"With a sense of mission when shooting a film is terrible," says Tsui. "Film is neither a religion nor a party. There should be no policy. In my view film is to record the special mood, feeling and emotion of a time. When people see it, they will feel to their heart's content. Never analyze a film with a too sensible mind. I'm like a musician who regards musical notes as irrelevant marks."

Tsui's next plan is to produce a script left by famous Japanese director Akira Kurosawa and create a film to memorialize the 100-year anniversary of the director's birth. "I have also asked Brigitte Lin Ching-hsia (famous Taiwanese actress) to write down her first love story for me," says Tsui. "She used to be and still is the ideal lover for many Chinese men. I think a film based on her first love will be very interesting."

For director Tsui Hark, there is no fixed policy for filmmaking.