China

Storyline
Li Baicheng is a charismatic fortune teller who services a clientele of prostitutes and marginalized figures whose jobs, like his, are commonplace but technically illegal in China. He practices his ancient craft in a village near Beijing while taking care of his deaf and dumb wife Pearl, who he rescued from her family’s mistreatment. Winter brings a police crackdown on both fortune tellers and prostitutes, forcing Li and Pearl into temporary exile in his hometown, where he revisits old family demons. His humble story is told with chapter headings similar to Qing Dynasty popular fiction. Written by AnonymousRead More »

Storm Under the Sun is a documentary about one of the “political storms” by Mao Zedong that fell upon the intellectuals of China in the 50’s. Centered around the Hu Feng Case, the documentary traces the synergy that generated such an event, Mao’s personal involvement in every step, and various victims’ reaction to and realizations following the humiliation and accusations.Read More »

An old teahouse in Beijing serves as the stage for a drama that unfolds over several tumultuous decades of modern Chinese history, from the waning days of the Qing dynasty to the eve of the People’s Republic.Read More »

Plot: The young teacher Li Mingguang is to be murdered in the north of China because of having taken the virginity from the young girl Li Pingwa. The whole family wants to take revenge on him for that, even the whole village.Read More »

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The rise and fall of a family in Shanghai. Once wealthy and capitalist, the family unraveled during the Cultural Revolution in the 1960s and 1970s. Their home, once a French concession mansion, was converted into a multi-family dwelling. Years later, the matriarch of the family announces that she is dying. When her four grown children return, it becomes the first time the family has been under one roof in decades.Read More »

A young Shaolin follower reunites with his discouraged brothers to form a soccer team using their martial art skills to their advantage.Read More »

Plot Summary
Based on the mid-eighteenth century novel by Cao Xueqin, Beijing’s CCTV’s version of “A Dream in Red Mansions” (aka Dream of the Red Chamber) is known by many to be the ultimate and best adaptation of the story either on TV or film. It is a story about the tragic love of Jia Baoyu and Lin Daiyu, and the prosperity and decline of the four notable feudal ruling-class families of Jia, Shi, Wang and Xue. Daiyu is a beautiful and talented girl, but prone to ill health. The intelligent and carefree Baoyu, nonetheless, shows love toward her over the years and puts up with her sensitivity and ill-tempered personality. They, along with their family-favored and tactful cousin Xue Baochai, reside in the Grand View Garden. Read More »

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John Woo displays the crucial distinction in the magnificently told Red Cliff, the Hong Kong director’s triumphant return to Chinese film after 16 years in Hollywood” and “with Red Cliff, Woo shows he’s still a masterful director to be reckoned with.Read More »

After the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japan in 1945, a large number of Japanese orphans were adopted by families in Northeast China. With the normalization of diplomatic relations between the two countries in the 1970s and 1980s, many orphans returned to China, including Lihua, the adopted daughter of Grandma Chen (played by Wu Yanshu). In 2005, Grandma Chen, who hadn’t received a reply from her adopted daughter for a long time, couldn’t help but miss her. She went to Nara, Japan. People journey. In a foreign country, they met many returned orphans. Their lives showed another side-section of war trauma. Under cultural differences and conflicts, the journey of tracing people became turbulent. Where did the adopted daughter become the biggest in everyone’s hearts Mystery.Read More »