The ancient people created the five secret arts based on the principle of the five elements, which are the five arts of gold, wood, water, fire and earth, and formed five corresponding sects. However, with the decline of the Golden Gate, the whereabouts of this secret treasure are not known. The Golden Gate heir, Yang Lao, with his son, Yang Yiqin, lives in anonymity in Taoyuan Town, playing iron and selling vegetables.
Often cited as China’s first independent feature film, this low-budget drama, filmed largely in the director’s Beijing apartment, depicts the life of a single mother (a topic considered taboo at the time) caring for her mentally challenged son. Shot with a documentary aesthetic that includes interviews with families of mentally challenged persons, the film helped kick-start the Sixth Generation of filmmakers (including Wang Xiaoshuai and Jia Zhangke) and their ethos of employing documentary realism to depict the true conditions of contemporary China.
