Cecile Tang Shu-shuen was born in 1941 and grew up in Hong Kong. After graduating from the film department at the University of Southern California, she returned to Hong Kong and directed her first feature, The Arch, in 1969. The film won numerous awards, including the Special Award for Creativity at the 9th Golden Horse Awards in 1971 as well as the Best Actress Award for lead actress Lisa Lu. The film subsequently participated in the Director’s Fortnight at Cannes International Film Festival and the Locarno International Film Festival in Switzerland and was highly lauded at these events, which was unheralded for Chinese-language films.