Summary: The story takes place in Shanghai at the end of 1948. Hou, an official of the Republican government takes possession of Mr Kong’s property, a residential house, driving the old man into a tiny corner room downstairs, while he and his concubine occupy the top level. Two other families, the Huas and the Xiaos,…
Tag: Chinese Movies
Two Stage Sisters – Summary – Analysis
Summary: Against the backdrop of the evolution of Shanghai-based Yueju (aka Shaoxing opera), Two Stage Sisters unfolds around Chunhua, a child bride who runs away from her arranged marriage in 1935. Taking refuge with an itinerant Yueju company, Chunhua becomes an apprentice in that opera troupe and befriends the master’s daughter, Yuehong. On stage Chunhua…
Daybreak (1933 Movie) – Summary – Analysis
Summary: Unable to pay the local taxes imposed by the warlord, Lingling and her fiancé, Zhang Jin, leave their hometown, a fishing village, for the big city Shanghai, where their cousin and her husband live. The four of them work at the same factory. Unfortunately, Zhang is soon fired and has to start to work…
House of Flying Daggers – Summary- Analysis
Summary: China 859 AD, the mysterious House of Flying Daggers leads a rebellion against a corrupt government. News reaches military captain Leo that one of the members of the House can be found in a local brothel. Hatching a plan to capture the rebel, Leo sends one his men, Jin, to the establishment. This leads…
The Goddess (1934 Film): Summary, Analysis
Summary: A devoted mother supports her child through prostitution. Despite being domineered by a gangster called ‘the Boss’, she squirrels away part of her earnings in order to give her young son an education. Gossip about the mother’s profession soon begins to spread around and, despite the kindly headmaster’s protests, leads the school board to…
Street Angel (1937 Film): Summary & Analysis
Summary: Orphan sisters Xiao Yun and Xiao Hong from war-plagued northeast China live under the exploitation of their adoptive parents in Shanghai 1935. Xiao Hong, forced to work as a teahouse singer, falls in love with her neighbour Xiao Chen, whose room window faces hers. Her elder sister, the silent and gloomy Xiao Yun, has…
In The Mood For Love – Summary & Analysis
Summary: In Hong Kong, 1962, Su Li-zhen, Chow Mo-wan and their respective partners rent rooms in adjacent flats. The two gradually become aware that Li-zhen’s husband is having an affair with Mo-wan’s wife and begin to seek solace in each other’s company. They work through their shared pain by roleplaying scenarios, such as imagining how…
Raise The Red Lantern: Summary and Analysis
Summary: China in the 1920s. After her father’s death, 19-year-old Songlian is forced to marry Chen Zuoqian, the 50-year-old head of a powerful family. He already has three wives, each of them living in separate houses within his compound. The competition between the wives is fierce, as their master’s attention carries power, status and privilege….
Spring Silkworms – Summary and Analysis
Summary: Spring Silkworms depicts the plight of Chinese silkworm farmers against the backdrop of imperialist incursion and a weakened rural economy. Living in a village in Zhejiang province, Old Tongbao and his family go into debt acquiring a large quantity of mulberry leaves to ensure the healthy growth of their silkworms. When they finally succeed…