| Lai Shi, China's Last Eunuch | |||||||||||
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| Director: | Jacob Cheung | ||||||||||
| Producer: | Sammo Hung | ||||||||||
| Screenplay: | Eddie Fong | ||||||||||
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| Cinematography: | Tom Lau | ||||||||||
| Editing: | Peter Cheung | ||||||||||
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| Distributor: | Golden Harvest | ||||||||||
| Runtime: | 90 minutes | ||||||||||
| Country: | Hong Kong | ||||||||||
| Language: | Cantonese | ||||||||||
| Gross: | HK$15,624,171 | ||||||||||
Lai Shi, China's Last Eunuch, also known as Last Eunuch in China is a 1988 Hong Kong historical drama film directed by Jacob Cheung in his directorial debut and starring Max Mok in the title role of Liu Lai-shi. The film is based on Ni Kuang's novel about eunuch Sun Yaoting.
During the chaos of the late Qing Dynasty, Liu Lai-shi (Max Mok) envies the glory of his fellow townsman and eunuch Siu-tak-cheung and asks his parents for purification. Soon, the Qing dynasty collapses, Liu failed to become an imperial eunuch and was sent to Beijing to study opera. Subsequently, he meets his childhood friend Chiu Tai (Irene Wan). Liu intends to lead a normal family life, but unable to do so after his identity of a eunuch was exposed. The opera troupe leader (Sammo Hung) sympathizes Liu's life experiences and tried to arrange him to the palace to be China's last eunuch. In 1924, Xuantong Emperor was expelled from the Forbidden City and Liu also began his wandering career.
The film grossed HK$15,624,171 at the Hong Kong box office during its theatrical run from 4 March to 31 March 1988 in Hong Kong.
| Accolades | |||
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| Ceremony | Category | Recipient | Outcome |
| 8th Hong Kong Film Awards | Jacob Cheung | ||
| Max Mok | |||
| Wu Ma | |||
| 24th Golden Horse Awards | Best Actor | Max Mok | |