[Photo provided to China Daily]

Explaining why the films became popular in the mainland years after it first found fame in Hong Kong, she says: "The emotional confusion caused by urbanization in the mainland came many years later than Hong Kong due to the different pace of development in both societies.

"This explains why people understood the connotations of the films only years later.

"When people born in the 1980s gained more say, thanks to the internet, it was reasonable to expect these films would get more popular," he says.

Nevertheless, though many first-generation Chinese netizens saw the films as a "love bible", its creators did not have such ambitions.

For instance, actor Man-tat Ng, who acted in the earlier films, once said: "The lines were written in that way because they sounded funny."

Interestingly, Lau was rebuked by critics when he first resurrected the Monkey King legend through the two films.

"An avalanche of criticism from Hong Kong critics made me decide to leave the film industry and move to Canada," says Lau.

"However, friends, including Chow, kept telling me that the films had suddenly become popular in the mainland. This gave me the confidence to return.