Liu Jiqun

This movie is based on the famous Chinese folklore that is more than one and a half millennium old. The same folklore was what the Disney animation Mulan is based on, and similarly, it was what many Chinese movies/operas/plays based on.

"Lianhua Symphony" - a small collection, consisting of eight short films shot in 1937 by young filmmakers Shanghai Lianhua Film Company. Part 1: Two Yuans (兩毛錢) directed by Situ Huimin / Part 2: Nightmares in Spring Chamber (春閨斷夢) directed by Fei Mu / Part 3: The Stranger (陌生人) directed by Tan Youliu / Part 4: Three Friends (三人行) directed by Shen Fu / Part 5: Landscape Under the Moonlight (月下小景) directed by He Mengfu / Part 6: The Ghost (鬼) directed by Zhu Shilin / Part 7: Rhapsody of a Madman (瘋人狂想曲) directed by Sun Yu / Part 8: Five Little Brothers (小五義) directed by Cai Chusheng

In 1930, two sisters from the countryside, the serious Zhang Lan (Ruan Lingyu) and the frivolous Zhang Tao graduate from the secondary school where their mother Zhang Jie serves as principal. They both love their cousin Zuo, but have ambitions other than marriage. Their lives change dramatically when both attend university in Shanghai and encounter modern urban life and rapidly changing society. The film also depicts the emergence of Chiang Kai-shek's 1934 New Life Movement. Lianhua Film Studio did the film to appease the Nationalist Party which accused it of primarily presenting left-wing films, which was true.

중국의 제 2세대 감독 손유의 34년도 작품. [대로]는 도로 건설 현장에서 막일을 하는 노동자 진거와 그 친구들의 이야기를 담고 있다. 그들은 바위를 깨고 산을 뚫어 길을 닦는 혹독한 노동 현실에 놓여 있지만, 고통스러워하기 보다는 그것을 소명으로 여기고 즐겁게 받아들이는 청년들이다. 정의롭고 근면 성실한 ‘프론티어’ 정신으로 무장한 그들은 실직을 밥 먹듯 하지만 함께 있어 노래하며 일할 수 있는 건전한 정신과 육체적 활력을 가지고 있다. 이들을 주플롯으로 삼은 덕택에 계몽 영화적 성격이 지배적이지만 거기에는 청년 노동자들과 처녀들의 우정과 사랑, 연대를 강조하는 청춘 영화의 기운도 실려 있다. 그리고 후반부, 민족반역자가 내미는 돈의 유혹을 뿌리치고 기꺼이 고문을 선택하는 장면에서 민족적 항일 영화의 색채도 발견할 수 있을 것이다. 이는 윤리적, 교육적 가치전달을 우선시하는 당대 중국영화 주제 의식에 민족적, 이데올로기적 특성이 부가된 결과다. 일본의 공습으로 몰살당하는 결말도 비관적이지만은 않다. 곧바로 이어지는 진짜 결말은 ‘그들은 여전히 살아있다’는 생존자의 믿음에 따라 혼령들이 하나 둘씩 일어나 ‘투쟁하자, 건설하자’며 노래 부르며 일하는 모습이기 때문이다. 죽음조차 넘어선 그들의 소명 의식에서 당대 중국 영화의 교조적 강박과 중국 사회의 미래와 희망을 엿볼 수 있을 것이다. 시종일관 즐겁고 유머러스한 활기를 띠는 이 영화는 당대 중국이 처한 어두운 현실조차도 즐겁게 노래할 수 있는 능력을 보여준다. 그것은 무성영화의 청각적 단조로움을 몇 개의 뮤지컬 코드와 코믹한 효과음으로 대체하는 것으로 가능했다. 무엇보다 이 영화의 가장 큰 즐거움은 1930년대 상하이 영화계를 주름잡은 조선인 ‘영화황제’ 김염의 모습을 보는 일일 것이다. 내내 달콤한 미소를 짓고 있는 그의 부드러운 카리스마가 어떻게 중국 대륙을 사로잡았는지 짐작하고도 남는다. 강소원(영화평론가)

Young sprinter Lin Ying enrolls in a sports college in Shanghai. As she becomes a sports celebrity, she starts to mangle with the upper class and has gradually forgotten the true essence of sports.

Sister Ye lives in a rural village, where everyone makes traditional toys. When Sister Ye's husband dies of an unknown illness, and while Ye is attending to him, her son is kidnapped and sold to a wealthy lady in the city of Shanghai. Shortly after, the village is destroyed during an attack between rival warlords, forcing the villagers move to the city, where they continue to make toys. Ten years pass, and Ye's daughter Zhu'er has become a toy designer. While helping the Nationalist army at the rear, Zhu'er is killed in an attack by the Japanese. On New Year's Eve, Sister Ye is dressed in rags, sitting on the curb, selling toys. A young boy buys toys from her, and it is none other than her son, whom she does not recognize.

A country girl and her boyfriend arrive in Shanghai for a better life. They soon find only desperation. She is raped and falls into prostitution as he drifts into revolutionary circles. Her access through her trade grants her greater access which she uses to aid her revolutionary lover with tragic results.

A warlord's nephew lusts for farmer Song Ke's sister. When Song refuses, the whole family is thrown into jail and the sister commits suicide. The father dies of grief and Song lives with his cousin abroad. The warlord's nephew loses power and also escapes to the same country.

A Chinese couple in the 1930s struggle to survive. Things get complicated for them when he enlists to fight the war against Japan.

A wild country girl moves to Shanghai with her painter boyfriend and experiences exploitation and poverty.

To please his dying father, Hong Yu, a college student, is forced to abandon his girlfriend, Little Hong, and marry his cousin, with disastrous results.

An upper-class son of urbane landowners falls in love with a peasant girl. When a pregnancy results, the couple are kept apart by strict societal morays.

Bai Le De and Hu Lun tung are military cadets. After graduating, Hu Lin Tung is appointed captain of Guangdong headquarters and goes away. Later, Bae Le De is also appointed to a post at the same place. Hu Lun Ting falls in love with Luo Hua, daughter of the local commander.

This is a silent film from China made in 1931. It is about two leads in a film, Yan (Raymond King) and Ying (Violet Wong). They meet after hearing Ying sing while another movie is being shot. You, of course, don't get to hear the song, but it catches people's attention. Once they meet and work together, they fall in love. Is it forever?

The film tells the story of Yang Naifan (Ruan Lingyu) who runs from her arranged marriage to be with her true love, Li Zuyi (Jin Yan). The film details the poverty she must endure for breaking with tradition.

This film depicting the lives of ordinary people — street peddlers, poor scholars, and young revolutionaries — reflects the culturally progressive political climate of that pre-War, post-May the 4th era.

Ill-fated romance of an orphaned flower girl and a young musician, destroyed by his traditional family and the Shanghai underworld.

A 1929 B&W silent comedy from Shanghai, describing a vindictive funnyman's efforts to get back at his cheating wife, as aided by his smarter and more moralistic young son.

A wife borrows a necklace for a party, and it is subsequently stolen. Her husband embezzles funds to pay for the loss, but he is discovered and arrested.