Chinese Cinema - A Retrospective
by phl87 | created - 19 May 2012 | updated - 18 May 2013 | Public1933-2011
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1. Shaolin (2011)
R | 131 min | Action, Drama
After ambushing and killing his rival, losing everything in the process, dispirited warlord Hou Jie turns to a Shaolin monastery seeking salvation.
Director: Benny Chan | Stars: Shaoqun Yu, Chen Zhiui, Xing Yu, Jing Wu
Votes: 20,159 | Gross: $0.06M
2. Let the Bullets Fly (2010)
Not Rated | 132 min | Action, Comedy, Drama
In 1920s China, a bandit arrives in a remote provincial town posing as its new mayor, where he faces off against a tyrannical local nobleman.
Director: Wen Jiang | Stars: Chow Yun-Fat, Wen Jiang, You Ge, Carina Lau
Votes: 13,150 | Gross: $0.06M
3. Confucius (2010)
TV-MA | 125 min | Biography, Drama, History
The life story of the highly-influential Chinese philosopher, Confucius.
Director: Mei Hu | Stars: Chow Yun-Fat, Xun Zhou, Jianbin Chen, Quan Ren
Votes: 3,989
4. Last Train Home (2009)
Not Rated | 85 min | Documentary, Drama
A couple embarks on a journey home for Chinese new year along with 130 million other migrant workers, to reunite with their children and struggle for a future. Their unseen story plays out as China soars towards being a world superpower.
Director: Lixin Fan | Stars: Changhua Zhang, Yang Zhang, Suqin Chen, Qin Zhang
Votes: 3,717 | Gross: $0.29M
5. City of Life and Death (2009)
R | 133 min | Drama, History, War
In 1937, Japan occupied Nanjing, the Chinese capital. There was a battle and subsequent atrocities against the inhabitants, especially those who took refuge in the International Security Zone.
Director: Chuan Lu | Stars: Ye Liu, Wei Fan, Hideo Nakaizumi, Yuanyuan Gao
Votes: 11,722 | Gross: $0.12M
6. Red Cliff II (2009)
142 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
Second and final part of epic tale about a legendary battle that changed the course of China history.
Director: John Woo | Stars: Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Fengyi Zhang, Chang Chen
Votes: 25,359 | Gross: $0.63M
7. If You Are the One (2008)
130 min | Comedy, Romance
After making a killing, Fen returns to China a rich man. After seeking a wife on internet, he meets many women but only likes air hostess Liang/Shu Qi, who's in love with a married man and only wants friendship.
Director: Xiaogang Feng | Stars: You Ge, Shu Qi, Wei Fan, Alex Fong
Votes: 3,784
8. Red Cliff (2008)
R | 148 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
The first chapter of a two-part story centered on a battle fought in China's Three Kingdoms period (220-280 A.D.).
Director: John Woo | Stars: Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Fengyi Zhang, Chang Chen
Votes: 48,505 | Gross: $0.63M
9. Blind Mountain (2007)
95 min | Crime, Drama
A young woman is kidnapped and sold to a villager in the mountains.
Director: Yang Li | Stars: Lu Huang, Youan Yang, Yuling Zhang, Yunle He
Votes: 2,092 | Gross: $0.01M
10. Please Vote for Me (2007)
Not Rated | 58 min | Documentary
Democracy in China exists, that is, in a primary school in Wuhan where a grade 3 class can vote who they want as class monitor.
Director: Weijun Chen | Stars: Cheng Cheng, Luo Lei, Xu Xiaofei
Votes: 1,449
11. Up the Yangtze (2007)
Not Rated | 93 min | Documentary
At the edge of the Yangtze River, not far from the Three Gorges Dam, young men and women take up employment on a cruise ship, where they confront rising waters and a radically changing China.
Director: Yung Chang | Stars: Jerry Bo Yu Chen, Campbell Ping He, Cindy Shui Yu
Votes: 1,946 | Gross: $0.78M
12. Curse of the Golden Flower (2006)
R | 114 min | Action, Drama, Romance
During China's Tang dynasty the emperor has taken the princess of a neighboring province as wife. She has borne him two sons and raised his eldest. Now his control over his dominion is complete, including the royal family itself.
Director: Yimou Zhang | Stars: Chow Yun-Fat, Gong Li, Jay Chou, Ye Liu
Votes: 45,976 | Gross: $6.57M
13. Summer Palace (2006)
Unrated | 158 min | Drama, Romance
Yu Hong leaves her home village and starts university in Beijing, where she develops a consuming and compulsive relationship with another student. The student riots from 1989 then ensue and take a toll on their lives.
Director: Ye Lou | Stars: Lei Hao, Xiaodong Guo, Xueyun Bai, Lin Cui
Votes: 4,320 | Gross: $0.06M
14. Still Life (2006)
Unrated | 111 min | Drama
A town in Fengjie county is gradually being demolished and flooded to make way for the Three Gorges Dam. A man and woman visit the town to locate their estranged spouses, and become witness to the societal changes.
Director: Zhangke Jia | Stars: Tao Zhao, Zhou Lan, Sanming Han, Lizhen Ma
Votes: 7,308 | Gross: $0.07M
15. Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles (2005)
PG | 107 min | Drama
A Japanese father travels to China's Yunnan province in the place of his ailing son to film a folk-opera singer.
Director: Yimou Zhang | Stars: Ken Takakura, Kiichi Nakai, Shinobu Terajima, Ken Nakamoto
Votes: 5,631 | Gross: $0.25M
16. Mountain Patrol (2004)
PG-13 | 90 min | Action, Drama
A moving true story about volunteers protecting antelope against poachers in the severe mountains of Tibet.
Director: Chuan Lu | Stars: Duobujie, Lei Zhang, Dao Qi, Xueying Zhao
Votes: 5,437 | Gross: $0.14M
17. The World (2004)
Not Rated | 143 min | Drama
An exploration on the impact of urbanization and globalization on a traditional culture.
Director: Zhangke Jia | Stars: Tao Zhao, Taishen Cheng, Jue Jing, Zhongwei Jiang
Votes: 3,490 | Gross: $0.06M
18. House of Flying Daggers (2004)
PG-13 | 119 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
A romantic police captain breaks a beautiful member of a rebel group out of prison to help her rejoin her fellows, but things are not what they seem.
Director: Yimou Zhang | Stars: Ziyi Zhang, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Andy Lau, Dandan Song
Votes: 116,287 | Gross: $11.05M
19. Blind Shaft (2003)
Unrated | 92 min | Crime, Drama
Two coal miners and conmen looking for their next murder victim decide on a naïve country boy desperately looking for a job.
Director: Yang Li | Stars: Yixiang Li, Baoqiang Wang, Shuangbao Wang, Jing Ai
Votes: 2,914 | Gross: $0.03M
20. Tie Xi Qu: West of the Tracks (2002)
551 min | Documentary
The impact of the decline of heavy industry on workers and their families in the Tiexi district of Shenyang, China, at the turn of the 21st century, documented unflinchingly by a fly-on-the-wall camera.
Director: Wang Bing
Votes: 1,328
21. Springtime in a Small Town (2002)
PG | 116 min | Drama, Romance
The eight-year marriage of Liyan and Yuwen has left them both unfulfilled and distant. A visitor arrives from Shanghai, a doctor who's an old school friend of Liyan's and, unbeknownst to her husband, Yuwen's childhood sweetheart.
Director: Zhuangzhuang Tian | Stars: Jingfan Hu, Jun Wu, Bai Qing Xin, Xiaokeng Ye
Votes: 1,366 | Gross: $0.04M
22. Zhou Yu's Train (2002)
PG-13 | 97 min | Drama, Romance
Zhou Yu, a beautiful artisan, indulges in a torrid affair with Chen Ching, her poet-lover. United by their passion, he finds in Zhou the ultimate muse, while she believes Chen to be her ideal soul mate.
Director: Zhou Sun | Stars: Gong Li, Tony Ka Fai Leung, Honglei Sun, Zhixiong Li
Votes: 1,586 | Gross: $0.14M
23. Hero (2002)
PG-13 | 120 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
A defense officer, Nameless, was summoned by the King of Qin regarding his success of terminating three warriors.
Director: Yimou Zhang | Stars: Jet Li, Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Maggie Cheung, Ziyi Zhang
Votes: 187,698 | Gross: $53.71M
24. Unknown Pleasures (2002)
Unrated | 112 min | Comedy, Drama
Two unemployed Chinese teenagers have trouble resisting the temptations of the Western world.
Director: Zhangke Jia | Stars: Wei Wei Zhao, Qiong Wu, Tao Zhao, Qing Feng Zhou
Votes: 2,550 | Gross: $0.01M
25. He ni zai yi qi (2002)
PG | 116 min | Drama, Music
A violin prodigy and his father travel to Beijing, where the father seeks the means to his son's success while the son struggles to accept the path laid before him.
Director: Kaige Chen | Stars: Yun Tang, Peiqi Liu, Hong Chen, Zhiwen Wang
Votes: 4,479 | Gross: $0.60M
26. Beijing Bicycle (2001)
PG-13 | 113 min | Drama
A seventeen-year-old country boy working in Beijing as a courier has his bicycle stolen, and finds it with a schoolboy his age.
Director: Xiaoshuai Wang | Stars: Lin Cui, Xun Zhou, Bin Li, Yuanyuan Gao
Votes: 4,748 | Gross: $0.16M
27. Xiari nuanyangyang (2001)
97 min | Drama, Romance
A voyage through modern day Beijing in the taxi of the womanising Dezi. His aimless drifting between destinations and women is much like Beijing's own search for identity between perishing ancient values and an uncertain future.
Director: Ying Ning | Stars: Yu Lei, Baitao Zuo, Höng Tao, Yi Gai
Votes: 223
28. Zuotian (2001)
R | 112 min | Biography, Drama, Music
An actor becomes increasingly introverted and psychotic and his entire family attempts to intervene.
Director: Yang Zhang | Stars: Xiuling Chai, Fengsen Jia, Hongsheng Jia, Tong Wang
Votes: 800 | Gross: $0.02M
29. Suzhou River (2000)
83 min | Drama, Romance
After getting out of prison, small-time crook Mardar stumbles upon a woman who looks exactly like his long-lost lover.
Director: Ye Lou | Stars: Xun Zhou, Hongsheng Jia, Zhongkai Hua, Anlian Yao
Votes: 6,441 | Gross: $0.10M
30. Platform (2000)
154 min | Drama, History
A theatre troupe from rural Fenyang struggles under the decline of communism and rise of popular culture in China in the 1980s.
Director: Zhangke Jia | Stars: Hongwei Wang, Tao Zhao, Liang Jingdong, Tian-yi Yang
Votes: 3,077
31. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)
PG-13 | 120 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
A young Chinese warrior steals a sword from a famed swordsman and then escapes into a world of romantic adventure with a mysterious man in the frontier of the nation.
Director: Ang Lee | Stars: Chow Yun-Fat, Michelle Yeoh, Ziyi Zhang, Chang Chen
Votes: 281,713 | Gross: $128.08M
32. The Road Home (1999)
G | 89 min | Drama, Romance
Prompted by the death of his father and the grief of his mother, a man recalls the story of how they met in flashback.
Director: Yimou Zhang | Stars: Ziyi Zhang, Honglei Sun, Hao Zheng, Yulian Zhao
Votes: 13,921 | Gross: $1.28M
33. Happy Times (2000)
PG | 102 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
An aging bachelor has to engage his old, laid-off friends to keep a blind girl happy as a masseuse at a non-existent massage parlor.
Director: Yimou Zhang | Stars: Lifan Dong, Benshan Zhao, Jie Dong, Biao Fu
Votes: 4,178 | Gross: $0.24M
34. Shower (1999)
PG-13 | 92 min | Comedy, Drama
A young wealthy businessman's icy attitude toward his working-class background is about to thaw as he is forced to reconnect with his elderly father and mentally challenged younger brother, who together run a public bathhouse.
Director: Yang Zhang | Stars: Jiayi Du, Zheng Fang, Bing He, Wu Jiang
Votes: 4,226 | Gross: $1.15M
35. Not One Less (1999)
G | 106 min | Drama
13-year old Wei Minzhi is the new substitute teacher of a mountain village school. She is told not to lose any of her pupils under any circumstances.
Director: Yimou Zhang | Stars: Minzhi Wei, Huike Zhang, Zhenda Tian, Enman Gao
Votes: 9,365 | Gross: $0.59M
36. The Emperor and the Assassin (1998)
R | 162 min | Drama, History, Romance
In pre-unified China, the King of Qin sends his concubine to a rival kingdom to produce an assassin for a political plot, but as the king's cruelty mounts she finds her loyalty faltering.
Director: Kaige Chen | Stars: Gong Li, Fengyi Zhang, Zhou Sun, Xiaohe Lü
Votes: 6,471 | Gross: $1.33M
37. Pickpocket (1997)
Unrated | 108 min | Drama
A small town pickpocket whose friends have moved on to higher trades finds himself bitter and unable to adapt.
Director: Zhangke Jia | Stars: Hongwei Wang, Hongjian Hao, Baitao Zuo, Ma Jinrei
Votes: 3,297
38. The King of Masks (1995)
91 min | Drama
In a remote area of China, in the 1930s, a street performer named Wang practices the change-mask opera art of bian lian. Seeking to pass his art, Wang buys what he believes to be an orphan boy, but quickly learns his new disciple's secret.
Director: Tian-Ming Wu | Stars: Xu Zhu, Renying Zhou, Zhigang Zhao, Li Chen
Votes: 3,475 | Gross: $1.10M
39. The Opium War (1997)
153 min | Drama, History, War
Qing official Lin Zexu burns the opium of British traders in a bid to end the opium trade. Incensed by his actions, the British traders appeal to their government, leading to the First Opium War and the eventual cessation of Hong Kong.
Director: Jin Xie | Stars: Guoan Bao, Liankun Lin, Sihung Lung, Debra Beaumont
Votes: 599
40. Temptress Moon (1996)
R | 130 min | Drama, Romance
Not far from Shanghai, in a country town stands the palatial home of the Pang family. Old Master Pang is an addict who brings up his beautiful daughter Ruyi on opium smoke. Her older ... See full summary »
Director: Kaige Chen | Stars: Leslie Cheung, Gong Li, Kevin Lin, Saifei He
Votes: 2,041 | Gross: $1.08M
41. Shanghai Triad (1995)
R | 108 min | Crime, Drama, History
A provincial boy related to a Shanghai crime family is recruited by his uncle into cosmopolitan Shanghai in the 1930s to be a servant to a ganglord's mistress.
Director: Yimou Zhang | Stars: Gong Li, Baotian Li, Xiaoxiao Wang, Xuejian Li
Votes: 6,026 | Gross: $2.30M
42. In the Heat of the Sun (1994)
134 min | Drama, Romance
Beijing, 1970s. Now that the CR has driven most adults to the provinces, 14-year-old Monkey and his pals have free reign over the city. They hang around, get up to no good, and discover that unsolvable mystery referred to as "girls."
Director: Wen Jiang | Stars: Yu Xia, Wei Chen, Shaobo Dai, Hua Fang
Votes: 5,534
44. Farewell My Concubine (1993)
R | 171 min | Drama, Music, Romance
Two boys meet at an opera training school in Peking in 1924. Their resulting friendship will span nearly 70 years and endure some of the most troublesome times in China's history.
Director: Kaige Chen | Stars: Leslie Cheung, Fengyi Zhang, Gong Li, You Ge
Votes: 33,188 | Gross: $5.22M
45. The Blue Kite (1993)
140 min | Drama, History
The lives of a Beijing family throughout the 1950s and 1960s, as they experience the impact of the Hundred Flowers Campaign, the Great Leap Forward, and the Cultural Revolution.
Director: Zhuangzhuang Tian | Stars: Tian Yi, Wenyao Zhang, Xiaoman Chen, Liping Lü
Votes: 3,262 | Gross: $0.36M
46. The Story of Qiu Ju (1992)
PG | 100 min | Comedy, Drama
A peasant woman seeks justice after the headman of her village has kicked her husband in the groin.
Director: Yimou Zhang | Stars: Gong Li, Peiqi Liu, Liuchun Yang, Kesheng Lei
Votes: 6,666 | Gross: $1.89M
47. Raise the Red Lantern (1991)
PG | 125 min | Drama, Romance
China in the 1920s. After her father's death, Songlian is forced to marry the wealthy Master Chen. With three wives already, each living in a separate house, there is fierce competition for his attention and the privileges that are gained.
Director: Yimou Zhang | Stars: Gong Li, Jingwu Ma, Saifei He, Cuifen Cao
Votes: 35,369 | Gross: $2.60M
48. Life on a String (1991)
110 min | Drama, Music, Romance
A blind man's master told him that after he has broken 1000 strings on his Banjo, he can open the Banjo to get a script for his eyes. After 60 years he broke the 1000th string...
Director: Kaige Chen | Stars: Zhongyuan Liu, Lei Huang, Qing Xu, Yao Er Ga
Votes: 705
49. Red Sorghum (1988)
Not Rated | 91 min | Drama, History, Romance
When a leprous winery owner in 1930s China dies a few days after his arranged marriage, his young widow is forced to run the winery to make a living while contending with bandits, her drunkard lover, and the invading Japanese army.
Director: Yimou Zhang | Stars: Gong Li, Wen Jiang, Rujun Teng, Ji Liu
Votes: 9,879
50. The Black Cannon Incident (1985)
Not Rated | 96 min | Comedy
Engineer Zhao Shuxin likes playing chess a lot. Once during his business trip, he loses a black cannon chessman which leads to unexpected consequences for him.
Director: Jianxin Huang | Stars: Zifeng Liu, Ming Gao, Gerhard Olschewski, Hui Ge
Votes: 506
51. Hibiscus Town (1987)
164 min | Drama, History, Romance
Love, humiliation, and politics play out in a distant village of China during the Cultural Revolution.
Director: Jin Xie | Stars: Wen Jiang, Linian Liu, Xiaoqing Liu, Ning Xu
Votes: 1,375
52. Yellow Earth (1984)
TV-PG | 89 min | Drama, History, Music
A communist soldier travels to Shanbei to collect folk songs for propaganda while visiting a poor peasant family, giving hope to the teenage daughter in escaping an arranged marriage.
Director: Kaige Chen | Stars: Xueqi Wang, Bai Xue, Quiang Liu, Tuo Tan
Votes: 2,574
54. Hong lou meng (II) (1962)
107 min | Musical
Director: Chiu-Feng Yuan | Stars: Betty Loh Ti, Hung Chiang, Margaret Tu Chuan, Carrie Ku Mei
Votes: 48
55. Lin Zexu (1959)
102 min | Drama, History, War
Set in the middle of 19th century, in city of Guangzhou. The United Kingdom stretches her tentacles to China, the country of great antiquity. UK exports a lot of opium to the Qing Dynasty ... See full summary »
Directors: Fan Cen, Junli Zheng | Stars: Dan Zhao, Zheng Gao, Nan Deng, Bo Gao
Votes: 126
56. Sorrows and Joys of a Middle-Aged Man (1949)
100 min | Drama
In pre-communist China, a widowed school principal must take care of his three children and a girl left behind his deceased old friend. When he retires, he finds himself bored and neglected by his children until he returns to school.
Director: Hu Sang | Stars: Hui Shi, Jiachen Zhu, Yang Shen, Huanqing Li
Votes: 147
57. Spring in a Small Town (1948)
98 min | Drama, Romance
A lonely housewife finds her monotonous life altered when her childhood sweetheart returns to town.
Director: Mu Fei | Stars: Chaoming Cui, Wei Li, Yu Shi, Wei Wei
Votes: 3,356
58. Wanjia denghuo (1948)
Not Rated | 124 min | Drama
This tale of familial warfare and sacrifice takes place in hard-pressed Shanghai at the end of the 1940s. Hu Zhiqing can barely support his wife and children, and his situation is worsened ... See full summary »
Director: Fu Shen | Stars: Ma Lan, Yunzhu Shangguan, Qiaqia Shi, Yinyan Wu
Votes: 153
59. Sorrows of the Forbidden City (1948)
120 min | Drama, History
Set in the Qing Dynasty, years of emperor Guangxu. Guangxu feels involuntarily like a puppet because of dowager Cixi's reigning behind the curtain. He wants to support a political reform.
Director: Shilin Zhu | Stars: Xuan Zhou, Shi Shu, Rhoqing Tang, Fong Pau
Votes: 63
60. Taitai Wansui (1947)
112 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
After setting up a new company with his father-in-law's money, a man neglects his supportive wife for a seductive gold digger.
Director: Hu Sang | Stars: Tianliu Jiang, Fa Zhang, Zhen Lin, Fei Han
Votes: 173
61. The Spring River Flows East (1947)
192 min | Drama, War
1930's China. The village of a poor family is taken over by the occupying Japanese army. One son, Zhongliang, leaves his wife and young son to join a medic group for the Chinese Army. The ... See full summary »
Directors: Chusheng Cai, Junli Zheng | Stars: Yang Bai, Jin Tao, Yinyan Wu, Yunzhu Shangguan
Votes: 369
62. Song at Midnight (1935)
Not Rated | 124 min | Horror, Romance
China's first horror film, this is loosely based on The Phantom of the Opera. A disfigured musical genius roams a traditional Chinese opera house, punishing those who offend him.
Director: Weibang Ma-Xu | Stars: Menghe Gu, Ping Hu, Shan Jin, Chao Shi
Votes: 945
63. Street Angel (1937)
91 min | Comedy, Drama
In old Shanghai, two sisters, a prostitute and a singer, tried to escape from the local scoundrels with the help of a trumpet player and a newspaper seller.
Director: Muzhi Yuan | Stars: Dan Zhao, Heling Wei, Xuan Zhou, Jiting Wang
Votes: 945
64. The Big Road (1935)
Not Rated | 104 min | Comedy, Musical, Drama
Six young men from the city take jobs on a road crew, building a highway of strategic importance to the Chinese Army. The story relates the men's interactions with each other, the local ... See full summary »
Director: Yu Sun | Stars: Yan Jin, Yanyan Chen, Li-li Li, Peng Luo
Votes: 325
65. Shen nu (1934)
TV-PG | 85 min | Drama
Street walker by night, devoted mother by day, a woman fights to get her young son an education amid criminal and social injustice in China.
Director: Yonggang Wu | Stars: Lingyu Ruan, Tian Jian, Zhizhi Zhang, Keng Li
Votes: 2,475
66. Xiao Wanyi (1933)
114 min | Drama, War
Sister Ye is the master craftswoman in a village of toymakers that is subject to outside attacks. A series of personal tragedies reduces her to a shell of herself, until she breaks and rallies the townsfolk to fight their oppressors.
Director: Yu Sun | Stars: Lingyu Ruan, Congmei Yuan, Li-li Li
Votes: 225
67. Finding Mr. Right (2013)
PG-13 | 121 min | Comedy, Romance
A woman from Beijing, pregnant with the child of her rich married boyfriend flies to Seattle in order to deliver the baby. There she meets another Chinese immigrant man working as a driver, even as she finds her life beginning to change.
Director: Xiaolu Xue | Stars: Tang Wei, Xiubo Wu, Hai-Qing, Hongmei Mai
Votes: 2,807 | Gross: $0.01M
68. So Young (2013)
131 min | Drama, Romance
A college freshman encounters new friends, romance, and adventure upon her arrival at campus.
Director: Wei Zhao | Stars: Mark You-Ting Chao, Geng Han, Zishan Yang, Shuying Jiang
Votes: 2,301 | Gross: $0.01M
69. Painted Skin: The Resurrection (2012)
Not Rated | 131 min | Fantasy, Mystery, Romance
An ancient fox spirit embarks on a diabolical quest to become human after escaping an icy prison, and becomes bound to a disfigured princess who seeks the love of a noble guard as her ... See full summary »
Director: Wuershan | Stars: Xun Zhou, Wei Zhao, Kun Chen, Tingjia Chen
Votes: 3,666 | Gross: $0.05M
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