chong has spent his entire career in the local entertainment scene. he started working for television broadcasts ltd. (tvb), hong kong's premier television channel, and also wrote lyrics for cantopop songs. in 1994, he was working at a satellite network star tv ltd. when he and six partners decided the time was ripe for an entrepreneurial approach to filmmaking. dubbing themselves the seven samurai, they aimed to reverse a sharp decline in the hong kong film business as moviegoers rejected the poor quality of locally produced films.