Hu Jintao of Taiwan that the PRC considers provocative. Hu's initial response was a combination of "soft" and "hard" approaches. On the one hand, Hu expressed a flexibility to negotiate on many issues of concern to Taiwan. On the other hand, he continued to refuse talks without preconditions and remained committed to Chinese reunification as an ultimate goal. While Hu gave some signs of being more flexible with regard to political relationships with Taiwan as in his 17 May Statement, where he offered to address the issue of "international living space" for Taiwan, Hu's government remained firm in its position that the
King Hu heroine as the central protagonist. Leaving the Shaw Brothers Studio in 1966, Hu travelled to Taiwan, where he made another "wuxia" movie, "Dragon Inn". "Dragon Inn" broke box office records and became a phenomenal hit and cult classic, especially in Southeast Asia. This tense tale of highly skilled martial artists hidden in an inn was said to be the inspiration for Ang Lee's "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" (2000) and Zhang Yimou's "House of Flying Daggers" (2004). In 2003, the award-winning Malaysian-born Taiwanese auteur Tsai Ming-liang made "Goodbye, Dragon Inn", a tribute to Hu, in which all the action takes place