Golden Horse Awards: From Mandarin-Only Films to Nationality-Neutrality—Even When Local Films Lose, the Doors Stay Open

30-Second Overview: Founded by the Government Information Office in 1962, the Golden Horse Awards takes its name from the first characters of Kinmen and Matsu. Initially, it only accepted Mandarin-language films, and the first ceremony was held on the President's birthday. Over sixty years, it has progressively expanded eligibility: first allowing films where Tâi-gí (Taiwanese) dialogue did not exceed half, then accepting films from Mainland China; in 1997, it was repositioned as a global competition for Chinese-language cinema; and since 2007, films not primarily in Chinese can apply as long as the director and at least half of the main creative team are ethnic Chinese. Despite these open doors, Taiwanese films frequently lose Best Feature Film at their own awards, yet the Golden Horse has never closed its gates. After Chinese authorities suspended the participation of Chinese films and personnel in 2019, the winners' list continued to include filmmakers from Singapore, Malaysia, and Hong Kong, as well as Chinese directors applying as foreign entries. The nominees for the 63rd Golden Horse Awards in 2026 have been announced; the winners will be revealed on November 22.

In 1963, Hong Kong actress Ling Po came to Taipei to receive her second Golden Horse Award. In Shaw Brothers' Huangmei opera film The Butterfly Lovers, she played the male role of Liang Shanbo in drag. The judges could not decide between Best Actor and Best Actress, so they ultimately presented her with a special "Best Acting Award" ¹. During the days she came to collect the award, tens of thousands of people flooded the streets of Taipei, and Hong Kong newspapers jokingly called Taipei the "City of Madmen" ¹.

The regulations announced by the Government Information Office the previous year had drawn clear boundaries for this award: films had to possess a valid screening permit, use Mandarin pronunciation or dubbing, and contain content that could "comply with national policies or possess profound ethical educational significance" ². The regulations also left room for overseas participants; applicants could be domestic production companies or overseas Chinese enterprises that had participated in local free associations or were recognized by embassies and consulates ². The Best Feature Film of the first year, Stars, Moon and Sun, came from Hong Kong's Motion Picture Company, while the second year's The Butterfly Lovers came from Hong Kong's Shaw Brothers ³⁴⁵.

A 2018 commentary in the American magazine Foreign Policy argued that the Golden Horse has never been separated from politics since its inception; when it was founded in 1962, it was originally part of the Kuomintang government's efforts to garner support from overseas Chinese ⁶. The regulations could control language and content, but they could not control an actress playing a man on screen. That year, because the rules could not accommodate Ling Po, the judges created an additional award.

In the sixty-plus years since, the Golden Horse has repeatedly encountered people and films that the rules could not contain, and the rules have repeatedly expanded outward. Moving to the present day, regardless of where a film is produced, it can apply as long as more than half of the dialogue is in a Chinese language, or more than half of the main creative team is ethnic Chinese ⁷. Because of this, Taiwan's own films often lose their biggest prize at home, yet the Golden Horse has never closed its doors again.

A retrospective short film produced by the official Golden Horse Film Festival channel on the eve of the 50th Golden Horse Awards, 〈Fifty Years Ago, Taipei Became the "City of Madmen"〉, returns to the days in 1963 when Ling Po came to Taiwan to receive her award.

The First Characters of Kinmen and Matsu Were Given to Taiwanese-Language Films

The two characters "Jinma" (Golden Horse) have nothing to do with a golden horse. According to the official explanation from the Golden Horse Awards Executive Committee, the name was derived from the first characters of Kinmen and Matsu, while also following the international film festival trend of using "gold" as a prestigious brand⁸. The Ministry of Culture later clarified the reasoning behind the naming on Facebook: Shen Chien-hung, who was then the Director of the Government Information Office, hoped to use the spirit of the national troops stationed on the outlying islands' front lines to inspire filmmakers⁹.

When young men draw lots for military service and get assigned to Kinmen or Matsu, people call it "winning a Golden Horse Award" ¹⁰. The award that filmmakers spend their whole lives dreaming of and the draft lot that young men fear most share the same name, both originating from those two groups of outlying islands situated off the coast of China.

The three characters "Golden Horse Award" were attached to film awards five years before the official Golden Horse Awards, and they were first attached to Taiwanese-language films. In 1957, Zhengxin News, the predecessor of China Times, organized the first Taiwanese-language film exhibition. It opened on November 1 at the National Taiwan Arts Center and held its awards ceremony on November 30 at the Taipei International House, hosted by President Yu Chi-chung¹¹¹². The awards selected by professional judges were called the Golden Horse Awards; Best Actor went to Kang Ming for The Wanhua Skeleton Case, and Best Actress went to Ke Yu-hsia for Three Beauties Competing for a Man¹¹¹².

Five years later, the Government Information Office organized the official Golden Horse Awards, but they accepted Mandarin-language films. In that year, Taiwan produced far more Taiwanese-language films; according to data compiled by The Reporter, there were 120 Taiwanese-language films in 1962, while there were only 7 Mandarin-language films¹³. What the government sought to encourage and what was being mass-produced in the market were films in two different languages. During that wild, grassroots era of Taiwanese-language films, Taiwanese cinema had a complete story of its own.

The linguistic barrier did not loosen for the first time until twenty-one years later. In 1983, because The Son's Big Doll featured Bân-lâm-gú (the Southern Min language), its eligibility for entry became controversial. The Government Information Office ultimately ruled that since the Bân-lâm-gú dialogue did not exceed half of the film, it was permitted to enter². Two years later, the "Implementation Guidelines for Rewarding Excellent Mandarin Films" shortened the term "Mandarin films" to "national films" (guopian), a move intended by the government to broaden its scope of inclusion².

The Ceremony Once Held to Celebrate the President's Birthday Was Later Handed Over to Filmmakers

The 1st Golden Horse Awards were held on October 31, 1962, at the Taipei Guoguang Theater (now the Military Arts and Culture Center), with the first Best Actress winner, Yu Min, taking the stage to speak on behalf of all award recipients¹⁴. There was a specific intention behind this date; official chronicles state it plainly: "The date for the awards ceremony was set for October 31 to coincide with the President's birthday celebrations, with a birthday gala held immediately following the ceremony." From the 3rd to the 15th awards, the date was changed to October 30 to signify a "warm birthday" (pre-celebration)¹⁴.

The 7th awards in 1969 were held at the Taipei Zhongtai Guesthouse, where the President's birthday gala was held at the same venue immediately after the ceremony¹⁵. In 1972, the 10th awards were moved directly into the CTS (China Television) studios to be recorded and broadcast alongside the President's birthday gala¹⁶. During this period, the Golden Horse Awards were suspended twice: in 1964, one of the reasons listed by the Government Information Office was that "Taipei society is tending toward extravagance and indulgence; from a social perspective, there is no necessity to hold it"⁴, and in 1974, it was suspended again due to the hosting of an Asian film festival¹⁷.

Starting in 1978, the list of winners began to be announced live at the ceremony, and official hosts were appointed. One of the hosts that year was Ling Bo, who fifteen years earlier had caused crowds of tens of thousands to flock to the streets of Taipei¹⁸. The following year, the ceremony date "was no longer restricted to October 30," meaning the awards no longer had to be tied to birthday celebrations¹⁹.

In 1983, Government Information Office Director James Soong handed over the "Golden Horse Awards" plaque, inscribed by Zhang Daqian, to the Film and Television Association. Official records note this as "symbolizing that the Golden Horse Awards would henceforth be managed by civil society"²⁰. The following year, the Golden Horse Awards were "handed over to civil society for the first time," with the Film and Television Association convening a working committee²¹. By the 27th awards in 1990, the Government Information Office officially handed the organization of the Golden Horse Awards to the Motion Picture Development Foundation, which established a permanent Golden Horse Executive Committee; its first chairman was director Li Hsing⁸²².

In 1993, filmmakers from mainland China participated in Golden Horse-related activities as an official delegation for the first time²³. In 1996, six years after management was handed to the Foundation, films from mainland China were eligible to apply for the first time². In 1999, the Executive Committee reached an agreement with the Government Information Office: government officials would not be proactively invited to the awards ceremony, and any political figures in attendance "would not go on stage, would not give speeches, and would not present awards"²⁴. From celebrating the President's birthday to asking political figures to sit in the audience, the stage has been returned to the filmmakers.

Hong Kong Actors Sweep Most Best Actor Awards, While Taiwanese Directors Take Home Best Feature Film

In 1980, the Golden Horse Awards held its first International Film Appreciation Exhibition, screening 15 films; nine years later, the entire event was officially named the "Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival" ²⁵²⁶. That appreciation exhibition also featured screenings and symposiums for works by rising Hong Kong directors, inviting Tsui Hark, Stanley Kwan, Ngan Hiu, and Ann Hui to Taiwan for exchange ²⁵. The following year, Tsui Hark won Best Director for Night Fragrance ²⁷.

Movie vouchers from the 2009 Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival, bearing the Golden Horse horse-head seal. The Golden Horse film festival grew out of the first International Film Appreciation Exhibition held in 1980. Photo: ddio / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0.

Over the next fifteen editions, Hong Kongers were constantly moving in and out of the Golden Horse stage: between 1981 and 1995, eleven Best Actor awards were given to Hong Kong actors, with Chow Yun-fat winning twice in 1985 and 1987 ²⁸²⁹³⁰. Seven Best Director awards went to Hong Kong directors—Tsui Hark, Cheung Kwok-ming, Mak Tong-hung, John Woo, Lo Kai-rui, Ngan Hiu, and Wong Kar-wai, in that order—while the other eight went to Taiwanese directors ³⁰. For Best Actress, the split was even, with seven awards each for both sides; Maggie Cheung won twice in 1989 and 1991 ³¹³².

Source: Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival Executive Committee Nominees and Winners Database 1981–1995; regions based on common affiliation of directors and actors. Tsai Ming-liang is counted as Taiwan, while Chinese-American Joan Chen is counted as Other.

The distribution for Best Feature Film was the reverse: out of those fifteen editions, eleven were awarded to works by Taiwanese directors. These included Chen Kun-hou's The Story of Xiao Bi, Chang Yi's I've Lived My Life Like This, Yang De-chang's Terrorizers and A Brighter Summer Day, Wang Tung's The Scarecrow and Silent Hills, Ang Lee's The Wedding Banquet, and Tsai Ming-liang's Vive L'Amour, which was filmed in Taiwan ³⁰. Hong Kong directors won four times, including a three-year streak from 1988 to 1990 with Seven Little Fortunes, Three Women's Stories, and Red Dust ³³³¹³⁴. While Taiwanese directors' films secured their own biggest awards during these years, the Hong Kong stars and directors helped this Taiwan-based award reach beyond Taiwan.

The eligibility rules expanded outward during this same period; much like the year of Ling Bo, every step forward first encountered those who could not fit in. In 1989, Return of the Elegance was disqualified because it used actors from mainland China and thus could not obtain a screening permit; Swiss actress Sze Qin Gao Wa also could not apply because she did not hold actor status in either Taiwan or Hong Kong ². In 1991, individual awards were relaxed to "any person of Chinese descent may apply," provided they joined film organizations in Taiwan or Hong Kong; Australian cinematographer Christopher Doyle immediately protested that the Golden Horse Awards excluded non-Chinese people ². Two years later, the rules were relaxed again: foreign nationals could also apply if they had participated in the production of at least three national films, joined film organizations in Taiwan or Hong Kong, and provided proof ².

Once the Doors Opened to the Mainland, Taiwanese Films Often Lost at Home

In 1992, the Mainland Affairs Council allowed films from mainland China to be released in Taiwan, provided that the proportion of mainland Chinese directors and screenwriters did not exceed half; the following year, the Golden Horse Awards also opened nominations to such films². Films exceeding this ratio were still barred from entry. In 1994, the Executive Committee resolved that even if a film won major awards at international film festivals and held a valid screening permit, it could not participate if it did not meet the required ratio; consequently, Farewell My Concubine and To Live were unable to compete².

In 1996, eligibility requirements were changed to films that used a Chinese language as their primary spoken language—including Tâi-gí (Taiwanese/Hokkien) and other dialects—regardless of the country of origin, funding structure, or nationality of the cast and crew. This allowed mainland Chinese films to apply for the first time². That year, the awards ceremony was held in Kaohsiung, and the mainland film In the Heat of the Sun won six awards, including Best Feature Film, Best Director, and Best Actor³⁵. The following year, the Government Information Office abolished the "Measures for Rewarding Excellent Mandarin Films," repositioning the Golden Horse Awards as a global competition for Chinese-language cinema. The annual subsidies for the ceremony and prize money were also handed over to the Executive Committee for full discretion³⁶. In 1999, the requirement that "nominated films must hold a valid screening permit" was removed, and in 2007, another step of liberalization occurred: films where the director and at least half of the core creative team are Chinese could apply even if they did not use a Chinese language as their primary spoken language².

Source: Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival Executive Committee, "Evolution of Awards"

Between 1996 and 2009, after the doors were widened, Taiwanese directors won only four out of fourteen Best Feature Film awards: Ang Lee's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Lust, Caution, Chang Tso-chi's Millennium Mambo, and Tai Lap-nin's No Way to Hide^37383940. The other ten awards went to films directed by people from Hong Kong, mainland China, and elsewhere; titles such as In the Heat of the Sun, Comrades: Almost a Love Story, Infernal Affairs, Kung Fu Hustle, and The Warlords were among them³⁵⁴¹.

In 1997, the Golden Horse Awards added the "Jury Grand Prize" and the "Jury Special Prize" to reward Taiwanese cinema and filmmakers. The film prize was later renamed the "Best Taiwan Film of the Year" or the "Formosa Film Award," and in 2007, it was titled the "Outstanding Taiwanese Film of the Year"². In 2008, Cape No. 7 won this award, which was reserved exclusively for Taiwanese films; that year's Best Feature Film went to Peter Chan's The Warlords⁴². By 2011, the Executive Committee abolished this film prize reserved only for Taiwanese films, providing only a single-sentence official reason: "In response to the trend of Chinese-language co-productions"². The individual award, "Outstanding Taiwanese Filmmaker of the Year," continues to be presented to this day⁴³.

📝 Curator's Note
If one wanted to protect domestic cinema, the easiest way would be to keep the doors narrow—only accepting Taiwanese films—or set up more hurdles for co-productions. The Golden Horse took a different path: it kept the doors open but set up a separate table inside specifically for Taiwanese films. Once co-productions became the norm in Chinese-language cinema, they even removed that specific film award reserved for Taiwan. The winners' lists in the following years can be used to reflect upon this choice.

In the seven years from 2012 to 2018, only one Best Feature Film was officially listed with "Taiwan" as its country: The Bold, the Corrupt, and the Beautiful in 2017⁴⁴; The Assassin in 2015 was a co-production between Taiwan, Hong Kong, and China⁴⁵. From 2019 to 2022, A Sun, The Broken Circle Returns, The Falls, and Family Stage were all Taiwanese films for four consecutive years^46474849. Counting from 2010 to 2025, out of sixteen Best Feature Film winners, eight are officially listed only as Taiwan; seven belong to China, Singapore, Japan, or are co-productions with them, and one is a co-production involving Taiwan⁵⁰.

Source: Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival official website, film database "Country/Region" column, Best Feature Film winners from 2010–2025

Two Speeches on Stage, and the Empty Seats the Following Year

On November 17, 2018, during the ceremony, the press area of the 55th Golden Horse Awards red carpet outside the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall had its red carpet covered with waterproof plastic sheeting. Photo: Solomon203 / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

At the 55th awards in 2018, Chinese films took home several major prizes: Zhang Yimou won Best Director for Shadow, Xu Zheng won Best Actor for Dying to Survive⁵¹, and Best Feature Film was awarded to _An Elephant Sitting Still by the late young director Hu Bo, who passed away in 2017⁵². The jury president that year was Gong Li, and the chairman of the Executive Committee was Ang Lee⁵².

That night, the Best Documentary award went to Fu Yu for Our Youth, in Taiwan. The following day, she posted the full text of her speech on Facebook, ending with: "I hope that one day, our country can be regarded as a truly independent entity; this is my greatest wish as a Taiwanese person."⁵³ Following her, Tu Hung—the previous year's Best Actor who went on stage to present the Best Actress award—stated that he had come to "Chinese Taipei"⁵⁴.

Fu Yu's Facebook post also responded to the other remarks made on stage: regarding the subsequent appearances of "Chinese Taipei" and "cross-strait families are one," she wrote, "I respect it, but I certainly cannot agree." She stated that her remarks were "not a 'momentary impulse'" and acknowledged that she might no longer be able to communicate with many Chinese filmmakers in the future, writing: "I am willing to bear all the consequences that may face my future career, and I do not regret it."⁵³

Gong Li, who was originally supposed to present Best Feature Film alongside Ang Lee, remained below the stage that night and did not appear in the media interview area after the ceremony ended⁵⁵. In an interview after the ceremony, Ang Lee said: "I feel the basic spirit is that here in Taiwan, it is free, the film festival is open; they can say whatever they want to say. We absolutely cannot say you cannot say something or how you should behave." When asked if filmmakers would be affected next year, he said: "I don't know, let's think about it tomorrow. I have done my best to act as a host and have given my all."⁵⁵ After the ceremony, many Chinese filmmakers reposted "China cannot be divided by even a little bit" on Weibo⁵⁵⁵⁶.

By the July 31 deadline for entries for the 56th awards the following year, there were only 148 feature films registered, compared to 228 the previous year, though the total number of entries reached a new high⁵⁷. Reports the next day pointed out that China had scheduled its official Golden Rooster Awards ceremony for November 23, the same day as the Golden Horse Awards⁵⁸. On August 7, citing news from the China Film Administration, the China Film News announced a suspension of mainland Chinese films and personnel participating in the 56th Golden Horse Awards⁵⁹.

When asked about the reason that day, Long Mingbiao, deputy director of the Taiwan Affairs Office, said that "Taiwan's current political situation and political ecology will bring many problems"⁵⁹. The response from the Golden Horse Executive Committee was brief: "If true, it is certainly regrettable. Currently, the Golden Horse Awards have entered the judging stage, and all Golden Horse activities will be held as usual."⁶⁰ Following the announcement, media reports suggested that several registered Hong Kong-Mainland co-productions, such as Storm Drug Lord, had withdrawn⁶¹. In September, Hong Kong director Johnnie To, who was originally serving as jury president, resigned; the Executive Committee stated the reason was restrictions in his production contract with film investors. Wang Tung took over as jury president⁶²⁶³.

On the night of the 56th awards ceremony, an Associated Press reporter asked Ang Lee if the absence of Chinese filmmakers and films constituted a loss. He replied, "It is certainly a loss." He continued: "Both the red carpet and the number of entries are thinner than in the past, but the participating works this year will not be inferior."⁶⁴

Source: CNA, 2019-11-24

During the Years Chinese Films Were Absent, Lou Ye and Fan Bingbing Still Won Golden Horses

Nanyang names actually appeared on the Golden Horse rosters even earlier: at the 50th awards in 2013, Singaporean director Anthony Chen's Ilo Ilo became the first Singaporean film to win Best Feature Film, and he also won Best New Director that same night⁶⁵⁶⁶. Since 2019, this trend has grown longer: Yang Yan-yan won Best Actress in 2019 for Tropical Rain⁶⁷, Teo Shun-fong won Best New Director in 2020 for Apprentice⁶⁸, and Taiwanese actor Wu Kang-ren won the top prize in 2023 for the Malaysian film Tiger Stripes⁶⁹⁷⁰. In 2025, Chinese actress Fan Bingbing won Best Actress for Earth Mother, directed by Teo Shun-fong; as she could not attend in person, Teo accepted the award on her behalf⁷¹.

Hong Kong films have also taken the stage year after year since 2019: ों Revolution won Best Documentary in 2021⁷², Anthony Wong and Chung Suet-ying both won top honors for Hong Kong films⁷³⁷⁴, and in 2025, Best Director was awarded to Hong Kong director Li Jun-shuo for The Crowd⁷⁵. In a 2021 interview with AFP, Revolution director Chung Kwai-wai said that for Hong Kong films that cannot be screened in Hong Kong, the Golden Horse has become a free outlet⁷⁶.

Films by Chinese directors are also still on the list, they just do not enter under the category of "Chinese films": the 2023 Best Feature Film, The Gate, directed by Huang Chi and Ryuji Otsuka, was filmed in China, but official records classify it as a Japanese film⁷⁰⁷⁷. In 2024, Chinese director Lou Ye won both Best Feature Film and Best Director for An Unfinished Film; this film was officially classified as a Singapore-Germany co-production, and at the time of its win, it had still not been released in China⁷⁸. The American entertainment media outlet Variety wrote bluntly that year: Taiwan's top awards went to films by three Chinese directors working outside the official Chinese system⁷⁸.

In 2025, Korean-Canadian director Lloyd Lee CHOI won Best New Director for Lucky Lu, making him the first non-Chinese winner of this award⁷⁹. Current regulations offer two paths for film eligibility; a film needs only to meet one: more than half of the dialogue is in a Chinese language, or more than half of the creative crew are ethnic Chinese⁷. For films following the first path, any director can enter. That same night, the star of Lucky Lu, Chang Chen, won Best Actor, and Best Feature Film went to Chen Yu-hsun's 大濛⁷⁹.

Taiwanese films won Best Feature Film for four consecutive years from 2019 to 2022, falling exactly within the years that Chinese films were absent⁶³. The suspension by Chinese authorities has not been lifted as of 2024; in that year's 61st edition, among the 718 entries, there were still over two hundred works from China⁸⁰⁸¹⁸², but the one that ultimately took Best Feature Film was Lou Ye's film that had not been released in China. In 2025, Fan Bingbing won the Golden Horse Best Actress nonetheless. While the door is closed on the Chinese side, it remains open here in Taiwan.

Golden Horse Official Channel: The Best New Director at the 62nd Golden Horse Awards is Lloyd Lee CHOI for his feature directorial debut, 《幸福之路》Lucky Lu. He is the first non-Chinese winner of this award.

The 63rd Awards' Most Nominated Film is by Japanese Director SABU

On November 22, 2025, Chang Chen won Best Actor for the second time with "The Road to Happiness"; he will succeed as the Chairperson of the Golden Horse Executive Committee starting in 2026. Photo: Jennifer 8. Lee / WikiPortraits / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

The most nominated film for the 63rd Golden Horse Awards in 2026 is Forgetful Detective, directed by Japanese director SABU, which received 11 nominations⁴³⁸³. Among the nominees for Best Director is Singaporean director Anthony Chen, who won Best Feature Film in 2013⁸³. There were 587 entries this year, including 92 feature films⁴³.

Weng Chien-yu, who won Best Actress for The Real and the Fake Heiress in 1972, was nominated for Best Supporting Actress for The Sunshine Girls, marking a gap of 54 years⁸⁴⁸³. Other nominees in the same category include Lin Pin-tung, who won Best Actress at the age of 12 in 2023; her nominated work, Girl, is Shu Qi's first feature film written and directed by herself, and Shu Qi was also nominated for Best New Director⁶⁹⁸³.

Jury President Ang Lee has been nominated for a Golden Horse Award 21 times, winning Best Actress three times for My Grandpa, Most Beloved, and The Dim Light of the Lamp. This marks her return as Jury President after 15 years⁸⁵. She addressed this year's filmmakers: "Welcome to the Golden Horse!" She remarked that here, there are spirited young stallions, steady middle-aged horses, and also "old horses who should not be underestimated—after experiencing all the rugged paths, their passion remains undiminished as they gallop with composure"⁸⁵.

The Chairperson of the Executive Committee has changed to Chang Chen. Having won Best Actor twice in 2021 and 2025, he takes over the chairmanship in 2026. Upon taking office, he said: "I shouldn't decline. Perhaps I should be like Forrest Gump and just keep running. I hope the next Golden Horse remains very 'Golden Horse'."⁸⁶

The Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to director Yu Kan-ping; his 1983 film The Misplaced Bus led Sun Yue to win the Golden Horse Best Actor award⁸⁷⁸⁸. Speaking about this award, he said: "Film allows me to leave behind stories of this land of Taiwan and its people, and to remember those voices easily overlooked and the warmth of the era."⁸⁷ The Outstanding Taiwanese Film Professional of the Year was awarded to colorist Chou Chia-sheng; the jury's citation noted that he has "worked in post-production color grading for nearly thirty years, spanning from the film era to the digital age"⁴³.

The winners will be announced on the evening of November 22 at the Taipei Music Center. Starting this year, the Golden Horse Awards will be held on Sundays and will be broadcast live on TTV⁸⁵.

That Horse, Still Yang Ying-feng's Horse

In November 2018, the carving of the 55th Golden Horse Award trophy was displayed outdoors in the rain at the Taipei Film Park. This is a large-scale sculpture used for exhibition, following the design of Yang Ying-feng's galloping horse. Photo: Solomon203 / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

According to the official Golden Horse website, it is no longer possible to trace who designed the trophy for the first ceremony. For the second ceremony, young sculptor Yang Ying-feng was invited to design the trophy, which was in 1963 when Ling Bo came to Taipei to receive her award⁸⁹. The Yang Ying-feng Digital Art Museum, curated by National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, holds another record stating that he was invited to design medals for the Golden Horse Awards as early as 1962⁹⁰. Yang Ying-feng once wrote about his thoughts on this horse: "Initially, I used Yin and Shang dynasty patterns to create a relief titled 'Looking Toward the Horse's Head' to express the exemplary elegance of the award winners. Subsequently, in response to the progress of the times, each successive term saw slight evolutions, gradually progressing into the design of a galloping warhorse"⁸⁹.

The design of the trophy has changed its central shape several times; however, from the 24th ceremony onward, the horse's body returned to Yang Ying-feng's original design. During the 30th anniversary of the Golden Horse Awards, Chairman Lee Hsing suggested that the design be fixed from then on, with the horse's body and the pedestal cast as a single piece⁸⁹. Since the 42nd ceremony in 2005, the trophy has consistently been gold, standing 30 cm tall and weighing 3.4 kg, made of bronze covered in gold leaf⁸⁹. In 2020, 81-year-old Chen Shu-fang won both Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress on the same night⁹¹. On stage, she joked that the Golden Horse Awards were giving this old lady a hard time—even in her eighties, she still had to hold such a heavy trophy, but she insisted on clutching it tightly⁹².

For over sixty years, the appearance of that horse has not changed much; what has changed is who gets to go on stage to receive it. In 1963, the judges created a separate award for an actor who didn't quite fit into Best Actor or Best Actress; in 2025, Best New Director was awarded for the first time to a non-Chinese director.

The first characters of Kinmen and Matsu remain the name of this award to this day. Conscripts fear drawing these two words [in their military service lottery], just as every November in Taipei, these same two words are bestowed upon filmmakers.

Further Reading:

• Taiwanese Cinema: The Voice Beside the Screen, and a Film History That Died and Came Back to Life — Where those Taiwanese films awarded by the Golden Horse come from: the golden age of Tâi-gí (Taiwanese language) films, the New Cinema movement, to Cape No. 7 breathing new life into domestic cinema.
• Golden Melody Awards: Taiwan Awarding Its Own Music — The other pillar of the "Three Golds"; how Taiwan awards its own music and decides which sounds are worth remembering.
• Golden Bell Awards: Seventeen Years After the Three Awards Swapped Roles — In 1971, television news footage moved from the Golden Horse to the Golden Bell Awards; from then on, film and television each had their own awards.
• From the Golden Horse Awards to the Han Kuang Exercises — The "Golden Horse Awards" mentioned by conscripts refers to the lottery ticket that sends them to serve in the outlying islands of Kinmen or Matsu.
• Golden Horse Hotel Contemporary Art Museum — How a transit station in Kaohsiung used to send soldiers to Kinmen and Matsu was turned into an art museum, sharing the same name as the Golden Horse Awards.

Image Sources

This article uses 5 Creative Commons licensed images, all cached in public/article-images/art/ to avoid hotlinking from source servers; it also embeds 2 videos from the official Golden Horse Film Festival channel.

• A Foggy Tale, winner of best narrative film, 2025 Golden Horse Awards 01 — Photo: Jennifer 8. Lee / WikiPortraits, 2025-11-22, CC BY-SA 4.0 (hero)
• Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival tickets 20091023 — Photo: ddio, 2009-10-23, CC BY-SA 2.0
• Walk of Fame press, Golden Horse Awards 20181117a — Photo: Solomon203, 2018-11-17, CC BY-SA 4.0
• Chang Chen at the 2025 Golden Horse Awards Ceremony 03 — Photo: Jennifer 8. Lee / WikiPortraits, 2025-11-22, CC BY-SA 4.0
• Golden Horse Awards trophy sample in Taipei Cinema Park 20181117a — Photo: Solomon203, 2018-11-17, CC BY-SA 4.0
• Videos: TGHFF Official Channel 〈Golden Horse Gallop · Classics 50 | Fifty Years Ago, Taipei Became a "City of Madmen"〉, 〈The 62nd Golden Horse Awards Best New Director | Lloyd Lee CHOI〉

References