News

2008.0605

Remarkable Alumnus Shares His Secret of Becoming a Renowned Director from a Naughty Boy

By Sabrina Lin Campus Reporter Renowned director Li Hsing (李行) encouraged National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) students by saying that a successful man may not necessarily start from a good student when he was sharing his old days at NTNU during his speech at the speech hall of the College of Education today. "I was never a good student when I was studying at NTNU.  I did not spend enough time on my lessons although I graduated from the Department of Education,” Li said. Li said that Ma Chi-shen (馬驥伸), a graduate of Class 1950 from the Department of History, was his mentor and inspired his interests in drama, which also led him to the film business years later. "Ma was the leader of the Drama Club.  Because of him, I also participated in the club and became totally addicted to it,” Li said.  “If it was not Ma, not the club, I would have become nobody.  Not an artist and not a teacher, either.” In return, Ma, the retired NTNU professor for the Department of Adult and Continuing Education , described Li a “picky man" in arts.  He also showed an old diary of his which recorded his relationship and long-term friendship with Li and said that he was always dreaming of working with Li for filmmaking, only not. "He always paid attention to lots of details that other people would not notice,” Ma said.  “When he was with us, the club never really had to hire a director because Li was already a good one.” Li, whose legal name is Li Tzu-ta (李子達), was elected as one of the “most remarkable alumni” in 2004.  He won the “Best Feature Film” of the Golden Horse Award in 1978, 1979 and 1980 with three films of his -- “He Never Gives Up” (汪洋中的一條船), “Story of a Small Town” (小城故事) and “Good Morning Taipei” (早安台北).