The subject of this thesis is the depiction of Chinese women warriors in the cinemas of Hong Kong, Taiwan and Mainland China since 1980. Women warriors have been a popular feature of Western media since the 1970s influenced by the second wave women's movement, and have become a significant topic of academic study. However, Chinese women warriors are combined with and referred to as 'Asian' women without consideration of their cultural differences. Furthermore, although representations of women warriors in the cinemas of Hong Kong, Mainland China and Taiwan may share some similarities, they also exhibit different regional features. This thesis attempts to reveal regional differences in the representations of women warriors in Chinese language films and their sociocultural contexts since 1980. An important goal of such research is to contribute to the study of the 'woman warrior' phenomenon in Chinese cinemas, in the hope that it will arouse interest in the field. This thesis also aims to focus attention on the changing status of Chinese women in different communities. Since gender is a global issue, it is hoped that the feminist perspective adopted here will stimulate interest among film specialists, not only in Chinese women in films, but also in the broader field of gender studies.