Jianghai Wu

Shot in gorgeous color, this fascinating communist flipside to fifties Hollywood music biopics chronicles the life and tragic early death of Nie Er, the composer of the PRC’s national anthem.

China 1839. Because the British imports of opium into Southern China are creating such widespread medical and economic problems, the weak Manchu emperor Tao Kuang is forced to take action that precipitates the 'Opium War'.

The sailors on a Kuomintang warship revolt, arrest their officers and defect to the Chinese People's Liberation Army.

A People's Liberation Army division in Xinjiang in 1951 aids in a water conservancy project.

The People on the Grassland is one of the earliest “minority nationality films” produced in the PRC. It features Mongolian herders who serve the people in the struggle against the forces of the KMT. The film was released in China in 1953 and became particularly well-known for its songs and theme-music.

Young widow Fan Ruhua feigns the daughter of a tycoon and solicits husbands on papers. But Fan bumped into Yang Xiaomao, a barber, who similarly pretends to be a suiter for a broke businessman to court a daughter from a wealthy family. After a series of misunderstandings, Yang and Fan finally give up vanity and live honest lives.