Xu Haofeng was born in Beijing and began to learn Xingyiquan, one of the major “internal” styles of Chinese martial arts, in 1987. After studying fine arts for five years, he went to the Department of Film Directing in Beijing Film Academy and graduated in 1997. Unlike his peers who were eager to make waves in the newly discovered film market, Xu returned home and studied Taoism and the history of martial arts from two eighty-year-old masters for eight years. In 2006, his publication "Shiqu de wulin" (In Search of the Lost Martial Arts World) aroused nationwide attention. He continued to write novels and non-fiction about the ecology of the martial arts sphere in the Republic of China. In 2011, his first film "The Sword Identity" had its world premiere at the 68th Venice Film Festival and this marked the reincarnation of the Chinese martial arts film. One year later, his sophomore film "Judge Archer" premiered at the 7th Rome Film Festival. Xu insists in presenting unusual values in traditional Chinese culture in an age celebrating outrageous slapstick comedies and restless performing monkeys, and he investigates whether people could live in an alternative way, other than following the conventional circle of life.
