Ching Li started acting in Taiwan at the age of 6. In 1967, she joined Shaw Brothers and quickly became one of Shaw's bright new darlings of films with a large male following. Ching did such an outstanding job in her first film "My Dream Boat", a film based on a novel by Qiong Yao, that she landed a lead role in "When the Clouds Roll By" which launched her into superstardom. Her father, Ching Miao, famous actor, was a good friend of legendary director Chang Cheh. She also had a long list of movies like "The Anonymous Heroes", "Duel of Fists", "Boxer From Shantung" and "Blood Brothers" all supported Chang's observation that she had the natural good looks suitable for period and contemporary films, a rare asset for Hong Kong actresses. Besides Chang Cheh, she was also director Chu Yuan's favorite leading lady. Chu cast her in over 20 films in a wide variety of roles like in the comedy "The House of 72 Tenants" (1973's highest grossing film in Hong Kong outdoing Bruce Lee's "Enter the Dragon"), the hit dramas "Sex Love And Hate" and "Sorrow of the Gentry", and a series of martial art affairs like "Killer Clans", "The Magic Blade" and the ground breaking swordsman film "Return of the Sentimental Swordsman".
