Zhang Xianmin

Wu is in her mid-twenties and lives with her mother in a traditional one-story house in one of Beijing’s hutongs. Both consider themselves to be writers, but success has so far eluded them. The fact that Wu is supported by a divorced, elderly man helps the women through lean periods. Their unhealthily close relationship is characterized by reproaches and quibbling; only during meals do they appear to lay down their verbal weapons. The situation escalates when both Wu and her mother hit an emotional low.

In the subtropical province of Guizhou, Chen Sheng embarks on a journey to find his nephew.

One summer night, Zhen Liu’s husband, Xiao Ping, is arrested out of the blue and cannot be reached after being dragged away by the police 30 days earlier. Liu goes to the police in search of information about her husband, but to no avail. Her husband’s sudden disappearance slowly destroys her while her relationship with her kindergarten-age daughter becomes rocky as well. She visits her husband’s friends to ask for their help, but gets only various assumptions about his arrest in return. Liu manages to bring her former boyfriend and attorney Lv Xin on board and together they search for her husband. Thanks to Lv Xin’s connections, they locate where her husband is, but the police’s unreasonably demanding requests eventually discourage her husband’s release. An unassuming examination, shown in documentary style, of a Chinese society helpless under state power.

Liu Jincai, a taxi driver, falls in love with unemployed Wu Li. Wu Li's parents ask 20 000 yuan to Liu's family to cover their daughter's fee for nurse school in a bigger city, in exchange of a promise of marriage just after graduation. Liu's parents firmly refuse. Despaired, Liu Jincai commits suicide with poison. During Jincai's funeral, beyond his buddies, his brother Liu Jinbao swears to exterminate Wu Li's whole family. Wu's family urgently moved away, Jinbao searches downtown on a motorbike with a knife...

Xiao-Li is a devoted housewife and an active member of her local Catholic church in the farmlands of southern China. Her faith is put to the test when her husband is hospitalized with respiratory illness caused by unsafe working conditions.

Xiao-Li is a devoted housewife and an active member of her local Catholic church in the farmlands of southern China. Her faith is put to the test when her husband is hospitalized with respiratory illness caused by unsafe working conditions.

1987年の中国、東北部に住む少女、余紅（ユー・ホン）のもとに北京の「北清大学」から合格通知が届いた。余紅は故郷の恋人暁軍（シャオ・ジュン）と離れ離れになり、1人での大学生活を始める。自分のやり方を貫き、束縛を受けることを好まない性格から、いつしか学生たちの間でも注目される存在になっていた。 そんな中、余紅は友人の李緹（リー・ティ）たちを通じて周偉（チョウ・ウェイ）と出会った。2人はすぐに強烈な恋に落ちるが、強く結びつけば結びつくほど気持ちが近づいたり離れたりを繰り返してしまい、ついには李緹もこの複雑な関係に巻き込まれてしまうことに。 1989年夏、北京の大学生たちが参加していたデモを軍が鎮圧した。世に言う天安門事件であった。事件後、余紅は大学を中退して故郷に戻り、周偉は李緹と若古（ロー・グー）の助けを借りてベルリンに移った。2人はそれぞれ新しい生活を始め、長らく連絡を取ることはなかった。 数年後、周偉は中国に戻り、既に結婚していた余紅を見つけ出し、再会を果たす。離れ離れになってから片時も相手のことを忘れなかった2人だったが…。

A policeman investigates an introverted signal-station manager suspected of raping a hotel clerk.