This little-known period piece stars legendary Hong Kong action director Tsui Hark (Peking Opera Blues) as the great Chinese artist and Buddhist monk Li Shutong, a.k.a. Master Hong Yi. In 1905, Li traveled to Japan to study Western painting and music, and upon his return revolutionized the teaching of art in China, influencing an entire generation of artists. Set during the turbulent era of the Russo-Japanese War, director Yu Wei-cheng's film reveals the human dimension of this celebrated figure, while writer (and soon-to-be famous director) Edward Yang's sensitive script depicts Li as a young intellectual hewing to his artistic ideals in the face of great political turmoil.