So I was watching an episode of this show about Hong Kong Cinema on Showtime at about 1 AM Sunday morning and the entire episode was dedicated to the swordplay of kung fu cinema. This is the genre known as "wu xia" or "martial chivalry", specifically wu xia pian or martial chivalry films. In this they showed clips from very old, lost, films such as Attack at Red Lotus Temple and a more recent production from the early 50s called the Buddha's Palm.

One thing prominent in these films is an ability of the xia called "palm power." This was usually realized by painting an arcing line from the palms of the heroes' hands to whatever the target was. They would also paint swords flying around the sky of the film. In recent years this has been realized with digital effects... if you ever seen Zu Warriors or The Storm Riders you will know exactly what I'm speaking of. Even in the late 70s and early 80s there were such films with the special effects of the era involved... such as the original Zu: Warriors from Magic Mountain.

At any rate, the "palm power" is paralleled in our beloved Jedi and Sith characters. The most direct relation is the lightning Dooku and Sidious throw from their fingertips. There's also the Force push that Jedi heroes do.

Maybe you're wondering why I'm writing about this... Hong Kong cinema and Star Wars are my film loves. This has translated into a love for Star Wars novels and the translations of wu xia novels that I can find online.

Here's some good online resources for wu xia:

http://www.thedragongateinn.com - Website of an American writer who is a scholar of Tang dynasty China and whose first novel is about to be published, a wu xia story titled Dream at the Dragon Pool.

http://www.kungfucinema.com
http://www.jaman.com - website you can join and whose player you can download where you can find 50 Shaw Brothers Studios kung fu classics, many of which are wu xia pian. My suggestion is The Sentimental Swordsman

http://www.wuxiapedia.com