Chinese Movies&TV

English name：Flowers of Shanghai Broadcast time：October 1, 1998 Starring：刘嘉玲（Carina Lau）、梁朝伟（Tony Leung Chiu-Wai）、李嘉欣（Michele Monique Reis） director：侯孝贤（Hou Hsiao-hsien） Introduction Today, I will introduce a Chinese film which called Flowers of Shanghai (海上花hǎi shàng huā). So let us have a brief introduction. Flowers of Shanghai is a 1998 film, made in Taiwan, directed by Guangdong-born Taiwanese director Hou Hsiao-hsien (侯孝贤Hóu Xiàoxián) starring Hada Michiko (羽田yǔ tián), Annie Shizuka Inoh (伊能静Yī Néngjìng), Shuan Fang, Jack Kao (高捷Gāo Jié), Carina Lau (刘嘉玲Liú Jiālíng), Tony Leung (梁朝伟Liáng Cháowěi), Rebecca Pan (潘迪华Pān Díhuá), Michelle Reis (李嘉欣Lǐ Jiāxīn) and Vicky Wei (魏筱惠Wèi Xiǎohuì). It was voted the third best film of the 1990s in the 1999 Village Voice Film Poll. Plot In four elegant brothels, called "Flower Houses", in fin-de-siècle 19th-century Shanghai (Qing dynasty), several affairs are described. The action involves four drunkards, and takes place mostly in candlelight. Preparation and consumption of opium and tea are at the center of the business operations. Subtitles note that the girl Crimson is in Huifang, Pearl is in Gongyang, Emerald is in Shangren, and Jasmine is in East Hexing. The relations of the rich gentlemen with the courtesans is partly monogamous and is held to an obligation of many years. The life of the graceful, well-bred girls, who were young when bought, resembles in certain respects a life of slavery. Because…

English name：Postmen In The Mountains / Postiers dans les montagnes Broadcast time：1999 Starring：滕汝骏、刘烨、陈好、赵秀丽、龚业珩、党浩予 director：霍建起 Introduction Today, I will introduce a Chinese film which called That Mountain, That Man, That Dog (那山那人那狗nà shān nà rén nà gǒu). So let us have a brief introduction. That Mountain, That Man, That Dog is a 1999 Chinese film directed by Huo Jianqi (霍建起Huò Jiànqǐ ). It is based on the short story of the same name by Peng Jianming (彭见明Péng Jiànmíng ). Postmen in the Mountains tells the story of an old man who for years served as the postman for rural mountain communities. Retiring, he hands over his job to his son, but accompanies him on the first tour. Together, they deliver mail on a 230 li (about 115 km) long walking route, into the rural heart of China and in the process the son learns from the mails' recipients more about the father he hardly knew. Plot The film is set in the mountainous regions of the western Hunan (湖南Húnán) province in the early 1980s. At the film's start, a young man begins his first journey as a postman at the mountainous rural areas of the aforesaid regions. His father, a veteran postman forced to retire due to a bad…

English name：Woman Sesame Oil Maker Broadcast time：February 1993 Starring：斯琴高娃（Stchingowa）、伍宇娟、陈宝国、雷恪生 director：谢飞 Introduction Today, I will introduce a Chinese film which called Woman Sesame Oil Maker (香魂女xiāng hún nǚ). So let us have a brief introduction. Woman Sesame Oil Maker is a 1993 Chinese film in the Mandarin language. In the English speaking world it has been released in the UK under the title Women from the Lake of Scented Souls (the more literal translation) and more recently on DVD as Woman Sesame Oil Maker. It is adapted from a novel by Zhou Daxin (周大新Zhōu Dàxīn), "The Fragrant Oil Mill by the Lake of Scented Souls" (香魂塘畔的香油坊Xiāng Hún Táng Pàn de Xiāng Yóu Fāng). The film is adapted and directed by Xie Fei (谢飞Xiè Fēi ) and tells the story of a woman in a small village in Hebei (河北Héběi ) who runs a small sesame oil business that becomes unexpectedly successful, but who then uses her money to buy for her mentally disabled son a peasant bride. Plot Illiterate villager Second Sister Xiang (香二嫂Xiāng èr sǎo ) was sold as a tongyangxi (童养媳Tóngyǎngxí ) to her present husband, a man with a lame leg, when she was seven. She has an intellectually disabled son Dongzi (东子Dōngzǐ ), who suffers from epileptic fits and is now grown up,…

Overview Chinese Name：活着 English Name：To Live Other Names: Lifetimes, Lifetimes Living, Woot jeuk, 人生 Director: Zhang Yimou 张艺谋 Screenwriter: Yu Hua 余华, Lu Wei 芦苇 Starring: Gong Li 巩俐, Ge You 葛优 Release Year：1994 Running time : 132 Minutes To Live 活着 Brief Introduction of To Live To Live 活着 （Huo Zhe） is a feature film produced by Times International Limited in 1994. The film is adapted from Yu Hua’s novel of the same name, directed by Zhang Yimou and starring Ge You and Gong Li. Set in the Chinese civil war and various political movements after the founding of People’s Republic of China, the film reflects the fate of a generation of Chinese people through the rough life of the hero Fu Gui. In 1994, the film won the Grand Jury Prize and the best actor award at the 47th Cannes International Film Festivall and is regarded as one of Zhang Yimou’s best works by some audiences and film critics. Plot of To Live This movie is set in the 1940s, and Fugui is the son of a landlord. After squandering his family’s fortune in gambling dens and brothels and the sudden death of his father, Fugui settles down to do the honest work…

Overview Chinese Name：霸王别姬 English Name：Farewell My Concubine, Ba Wang Bie Ji Other Names: 再见，我的妾, Adieu Ma Concubine Director: Chen Kaige 陈凯歌 Screenwriter: Lilian Lee 李碧华, Lu Wei 芦苇 Starring: Leslie Cheung 张国荣, Gong Li 巩俐, Zhang Fengyi 张丰毅, Ge You 葛优 Release Year：1993 Running time : 171 Minutes Brief Introduction of Farewell My Concubine Farewell My Concubine霸王别姬（Ba Wang Bie Ji） is a love literary film, adapted from Lilian Lee’s李碧华 novel of the same name and directed by Chen Kaige陈凯歌. Focusing on the joys and sorrows of the two Peking Opera actors for half a century, the film shows the thinking and understanding of traditional culture, people’s living state and human nature. In 1993, the film was released in mainland China and Hong Kong, China. Since then, it has been released in many countries and regions around the world, and broke the box office record of literary and artistic films in mainland China in the United States. As a benchmark work in the Chinese film world and a film enjoying world-class important honors, “Farewell My Concubine” has both epic pattern and cultural connotation. Under the background of profound Peking opera art, it shows the multifaceted and richness of people in the face of role…

Overview Chinese Name：阳光灿烂的日子 English Name：In the Heat of the Sun Other Names: Days of the Bright and Lush Sunshine（literally） Director: Jiang Wen姜文 Screenwriter: Jiang Wen姜文 Starring: Ning Jing宁静，Xia Yu夏雨，Geng Le耿乐，Tao Hong陶虹 Release Year：1994 Running time : 134min In the Heat of the Sun阳光灿烂的日子里 Brief Introduction of In the Heat of the Sun In the Heat of the Sun is a film produced in 1993 and released in 1995. It is the first film directed by Jiang Wen（also directed Let the Bullets Fly） and adapted from Wang Shuo’s novel Animal Ferocity. The main actors are Xia Yu, Jing Jing, Tao Hong, Geng le and so on. The background of the film is Beijing during the cultural revolution. A group of children living in the military compound spends their youth in the dazzling sunshine with red flags everywhere. In the stories of stream of consciousness, there are love and sexual impulses, naive and failed revolutionary spirit, and growth stories. Plot of In the Heat of the Sun In the Heat of the Sun tells such a story: in Beijing in the early 1970s, adults were busy “making revolution”, schools were closed, and a group of boys aged 15 or 16 in an army compound indulged in fighting…

Overview Chinese Name：牯岭街少年杀人事件 English Name：A Brighter Summer Day Other Names: Youth Homicide Incident on Guling Street (literally) Director: Edward Yang楊德昌 Screenwriter: Hung Hung, Lai Ming-tang, Edward Yang, Alex Yang, Yan Hong-ya Starring: Chang Chen张震，Lisa Yang，Chang Kuo-Chu，Elaine Jin金燕玲，Wang Chuan，Chang Han Release Year：1991（Taiwan） Running time : 237min Brief Introduction of A Brighter Summer Day A Bright Summer Day is a film adapted from the real murder of teenagers in Taiwan. The film is directed by Yang Dechang and starred Zhang Zhen, Yang Jingyi, Zhang Guozhu, and Jin Yanling. The story tells the story of a homicide in Taiwan in the early 1960s. The film was released in Taiwan on July 27, 1991. other movies only released in Taiwan, China: A City of Sadness 悲情城市（1989） Plot of A Brighter Summer Day In Taiwan in the early 1960s, it seemed that everything was gray, and there was a dark smell in the turbid air. The mood of loss and despair shrouded the city. People from other provinces from all directions speak their strong accents, Shandong dialect, Shanghai dialect, Subei dialect, Sichuan dialect… wandering around the city. The families who fled to Taiwan with the army formed small villages called “dependents’ villages”. In such a city lived Xiao Si, Xiao…

To Live -- Huózhe To Live (Chinese: 活着; pinyin: Huózhe, Lifetimes in some English versions) is a Chinese epic film directed by Zhang Yimou in 1994, starring Ge You, Gong Li. It is based on the novel of the same name by Yu Hua. Having achieved international success with his previous films (Ju Dou and Raise the Red Lantern), director Zhang Yimou's To Live came with high expectations. It is the first Chinese film that had its foreign distribution rights pre-sold. Director: Zhang Yimou The story describes the struggles endured by the son of a wealthy land-owner  (starred Ge You) after the Revolution fundamentally alters the nature of Chinese society. The contrast between his pre-revolutionary status as a selfish fool who (literally) travels on the shoulders of the downtrodden and his post-revolutionary status as a persecuted peasant are stark. Ge You The film was banned in mainland China by the Chinese State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television due to its critical portrayal of various policies and campaigns of the Communist government. Zhang Yimou was also banned from filmmaking for two years. To Live was screened at the 1994 New York Film Festival before eventually receiving a limited release in the United States on…