Wang graduated from the National Taiwan Academy of Arts in 1965 with a degree in fine arts and later joined the costume design department at Central Motion Picture because of his love for film. He worked his way up from the lowest level, observing and learning from everything that went on around him.

"Wang T'ung not only did his own job well," recalls Lo Hui-ming, his former boss at the studio, "he was eager to take on others' work, too. He saw and learned many things. That naturally helped him later in becoming a director."

In 1981, 17 years after he joined the company, Wang's hard work paid off when Chiang Jih-sheng took a chance and selected him to direct a remake of the mainland play "If I Were True," a scathing indictment of corruption in the Communist system. In Wang's hands, the film was no hackneyed propaganda tract, but a believable and gripping movie with a message.

"If I Were True" won a Golden Horse Award in 1981 for best picture and started off Wang's career as a director with a bang. It also displayed the essentials of his style. Like "If I Were True," his later films, such as "Bitter Love," "A Flower in the Rainy Night," and "Running Away," as well as this year's "Strawman," have been praised by critics as "honest," "free from stereotype," and "analytical of human nature and full of concern and tolerance."

Wang is hard pressed to enunciate a theory behind his work. "I like stories that describe the hardships of life and reveal human dignity," he says. "Then I just do my best to express them in film objectively and straightforwardly."

Like the man himself, Wang's films are very Chinese in spirit, filled with strong filial piety, loyalty, and forgiveness. Wang T'ung's younger brother, Wang Chung-ch'iang, who also works in film, ascribes this strong Chinese spirit to family upbringing. Their maternal grandfather was a member of the imperial academy during the late Ching dynasty. Their mother was college educated and encouraged them in art and literature. And their father was a military commander who made strict moral demands on his twelve children.

Family feelings and doing what is right are important to Wang T'ung. When his wife, Ku Chao-shih, discovered that she had cancer three years ago, Wang dropped his work and looked after her until she died the next year. He damaged his vision from lack of sleep and lost nine kilograms. He lost not only a spouse and an artistic companion but the very love that sustained his life.

Wang and his wife were classmates in college and shared hard times together. He recalls that they were separated when he went to study in Hawaii in 1971 at the recommendation of the painter Liu Kuo-sung and she had an opportunity to study in Spain. When they were reunited in New York over a year later, they had no money to make the trip home and sold ink wash drawings on the streets of Greenwich Village until they came up with a pair of boat tickets back to Taiwan. Seven years later they had a baby boy and named it Lei-lei. . . .

Those days are now only painful and precious memories. After two years of withdrawal, Wang pulled himself together and complied with his wife's exhortations before she died not to abandon film. "Strawman" was the result.

The concept for the film originated five years ago when Wang glimpsed an old miner in Keelung wearing what looked like a Japanese hat in the rain. The background of the story was to be the Japanese Occupation, when the people of Taiwan were caught between loyalty to their ancestral homeland and obedience to their colonial rulers, between falling bombs and military conscription. He researched historical material in Japan and at the ROC Central Library and read a number of works by local writers of the time in preparation for making the film, but he couldn't find investors. Then his wife became ill, and five years passed. Until filming got under way this summer, neither of the investors, Central Motion Pictures nor Wang T'ung himself, harbored high expectations.

To their surprise, the film took just over two months to shoot and cost only NT$9 million (around US$300,000). Besides winning awards and receiving rave reviews, it has done well at the box office, earning over NT$32 million in ticket sales in just three weeks.

Wang T'ung has now won his first award as best director, but as he said at the awards ceremony, he feels that it has come two years too late. After the first excitement, the honor has only left him with a deeper sense of pain and loss.

After winning the award, Wang is in no hurry to take on new films. What he wants to do right now is to go to the U.S. to see his son, who is being raised by his wife's sister, and try to call back again some of the love and happiness he misses.

[Picture Caption]

Wang T'ung at home. His awards are displayed in the cabinet at left. (photo by Chung Yung-ho)

Wang is voluble and animated when talking about film, much different from his usual taciturn self. (photo by Ch'en Su-chen)

Wang T'ung designed these scenes and props for "Running Away" himself. (photo from Sinorama files)

Unfortunately the award came two years too late. . . . Wang addresses the audience after receiving a Golden Horse Award for best director. (photo by Li Li-yen)

"A bomb--every body down!" A scene from "Straw man." (photo courtesy of Wang T'ung)

Wang's paintings, like his personality, are quiet and subdued. (photo by Ch'en Su-chen)

Wang is voluble and animated when talking about film, much different from his usual taciturn self. （photo by Ch'en Su-chen）

Wang T'ung designed these scenes and props for "Running Away" himself. （photo from Sinorama files）

Unfortunately the award came two years too late. . . . Wang addresses the audience after receiving a Golden Horse Award for best director. （photo by Li Li-yen）

"A bomb--every body down!" A scene from "Straw man." （photo courtesy of Wang T'ung）

Wang's paintings, like his personality, are quiet and subdued. （photo by Ch'en Su-chen）