Xiao Mao

A film by Li Ziyu.

The debut film by Chinese director Ning Ying, starring Shi Puyuan, Fang Zheng, Ma Xiaoqing, and others. Tells the story of a pair of friends who went to the karaoke hall as musicians but were involved in smuggling.

Five girls grow up in China during the first years of the twentieth century. When they become adults they have to learn that women are almost without rights. Other women close to them are suppressed in the most brutal way. When Mingtao is to marry a mentally deficient but rich man, she and her friends decide to escape and to search for the mythical "garden" where a woman's life is worth living.

Women’s Story was the first work to garner international acclaim for Peng Xiaolian. It is about three women living in China’s northern countryside and straightforwardly raises the issue of gender inequality hidden in a communist society.