Discoveries from China World Cinema

Movie adaptation of a wildly popular hand-copied unpublished novel by Zhang Yang during the Cultural Revolution that was later rehabilitated and officially published in 1979.

A'e, a widow approaching seventy, lives with her unmarried son Shi'an. When her recently divorced daughter Shining returns home with a child, an invisible wall settles over the family. One cold winter, A'e is swindled while trying to buy herself a cashmere sweater — and the incident cracks open the old house's hidden grief, forcing each member to face what they have long buried.

Once a year, on April 7th, Hell's gates open and the Phantom Lantern chooses a judge to punish the wicked. The judge uses the lantern to trap the souls of the wronged, condemning them to eternal torment. The film combines Western thriller elements with Eastern horror traditions in a suspenseful, supernatural story.

A group of third-year students in the acting department of an art college in Guangxi repeatedly cause problems—arriving late to class, playing with their phones, and other disruptive behaviors—leading the college to repeatedly replace their acting instructor. Finally, they decide to hire an experienced acting teacher from outside the school: Ms. He Man.

Tibetan teen Gera and her mom Sandan have always been discriminated by the villagers because she was born out of wedlock. Uncle Enbo is the only man who is kind to them. Growing up in a hostile environment, Gara becomes an independant woman, and starts to change how the villagers perceive her.

College graduate Jiang Chao returns to his hometown Quzhou and hopes to become a teacher. He lives with his sister Jiang Wei, a tour guide, and brother-in-law Zhang Qi, a driving school instructor. Chao meets Zhou Yuan at the school when he covers Qi’s shift; in the name of practicing, they drive around the memory-laden Lanke Mountain. Meanwhile, as Jiang Wei decides to participate in a tour-guide competition, she finds herself further distant from Qi; the legend of Lanke Mountain also seems to play a part in their relationship. As their adventures unfold, the small town’s landscape starts to transform.

The Enforcer of Justice is a wartime drama set during the War of Resistance Against Japan, focusing on hunters from the deep forests of Northeast China who rise up to defend their homeland. The story follows their courageous stand as they fight to delay Japanese forces and protect the retreat of the Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army headquarters. Inspired by true events, the film is based on the “Twelve Martyrs Mountain” and “Li Paoying Ambush” battles that took place in Baoqing County, Shuangyashan, Heilongjiang Province.

Panther Head Lin Chong - tragic hero from classical novel Water Margin. Martial arts instructor of the Imperial Guards in Dongjing - Lin Chong - was framed by jealous friend Lu Qian and young playboy Gao Yanei, adopted son of Grand Marshal Gao Qiu. Knowing Lin loves good weapons, Gao Qiu sends a man to trick him to buy a rare sword on the street. The Grand Marshal then summons Lin Chong to his residence claiming that he wants to see his new possession. Lin, carrying the sword, unsuspectingly enters the White Tiger Hall, where meetings on top-secret state matters are held and arms are prohibited. Gao Qiu accuses Lin of wanting to assassinate him and orders his arrest. The story avoids the usual cliches of costume films, and through the psychological and social analysis of the characters, it aims to drive the story forward and deepen the theme, presenting the audience with a story that touches and provokes some thought.

There are four ancient Beauties: a female warrior Liu Rusi, a sentimental winebibber Chen Zilian, a startling geisha Li Mengying and a prodigal daughter Susu. Their souls were carried to modern society by a mystery necklace, and entered a girl Qin Duyi's body who is ordinary and hapless. The only way to send the four ancient beauties back, is to get the real love of four heartless men.

Four thirty year old losers are running dance hall that is on the verge of bankruptcy. Вue to the poor management and lack of funds, it was difficult to operate and maintain this place, so heroes flew to Thailand to realize the dream and setting up own entertainment company.

Documentary about a man called Xiaolizi.

The steady and wise Xu Wenxuan, the quietly demure yet fiercely rebellious Bai Ruoxue, and the duplicitous Haishi—three strangers who first cross paths in a digital realm. When their virtual encounters bleed into the real world, their lives become inextricably intertwined, blurring the lines between fantasy and reality in a complex tale of love, deception, and the masks people wear.

Two orphan 15-year girls Yan Zi and Chen Lu are students in the village school in rural Guizhou. One day young music teacher Zhang formed special choir classes for enthusiastic students.

Darkly humorous reinterpretation of the zombie film, set in Beijing. Here the undead are real estate agents, nouveau riche businessmen, security guards, manicurists, and sex workers seeking contact in an increasingly individualized, alienating society.

A Tibetan girl, who’d be a bride, could sing the traditional folk song Ganglamedo magically and elegantly. Her name was the same as the name of the song. But she disappeared in the night of her wedding. 60 years later, An Yu, a singer of Han nationality, became hot for singing Ganglamedo. But she lost her voice in a performance and then she disappeared, too. Is Ganglamedo a beautiful curse?

The film tells the story of an archaeological team led by Lu Bingzheng and Chen Youde on an expedition to Kunlun Mountain in the 1980s and was trapped in Queen Niya’s mausoleum. Seven years later, Lu Bingzheng’s son Lu Jiuyi led an expedition to search for the ancient Niya country and the disappearance of his father. The mystery, but found that it has fallen into a deeper vortex

Xuan Xuan, a reporter, suspects Zheng Yiqun's company to be behind the closing of her former magazine company after she released an article on them. She goes undercover in his company to find the truth. As Xuan Xuan makes her way closer to him, she starts realizing he's not as evil as she had originally thought but definitely smarter than she expected. Zhang Yiqun knew of her identity from the beginning and gives her free reign in his company to find out the truth herself. While slowly falling for each other, Xuan Xuan also starts to see that the truth is more complicated than she thought. (Source: Summarized from Baidu)

A young woman must pretend to be a man to visit her grandfather, and gets into some romantic scrapes in the process.

A woman's struggle and confusion ultimately lead to her profound transformation and rebirth.

In the ocean, there are four magical crystals. The dark corps led by sea monster Limo Ansen tried to get the crystals by all means and dominate the ocean. The deep-sea ranger-led by Xiaoronglong waged fierce battles with them in order to maintain the security of the ocean. In this period, two octopus siblings were involved in the struggles. With the help of Octopus siblings and in reliance on their courage and wisdom, Xiaoronglong and his friends resolved the crises time and time again and eventually defeated the dark forces and maintained the peace of the ocean.

On Changchi Island, Wu Xuan Wei and his brother Wang Jie Long, who grew up in an orphanage, have been making money by selling eavesdropping information for many years. Soon, they get involved in a bizarre incident during their collection of another batch of information for selling. Everything goes downhill when Wu Xuan gets accused of kidnapping and murder. The fact that the man suffers from amnesia doesn't make things any easier. Still convinced of his innocence, the man begins his own investigation, which reveals many dark secrets, about people around him, and put his information collecting skills and his own sanity to the test .

A comedy about four best friends. Lila, Sammi, Gigi and Muscle. They have four completely different personalities and four different points of view, which define their lives, relationships and this particular friendship. Four different conflicting personalities, managed by humor, will be tested when deep secrets that they kept hidden between them become revealed one by one. Their friendships now will be challenged beyond what they ever thought was possible.

There was a 78-year-old man in Shanghai. He wanted to spend the rest of his life to climb 100 mountains. one day, when he was in the southeastern Tibet, he found that there was a Motuo Country in China with no highway leading to it. it was a scenic spot with Menbas living there. The children there should climb over the Himalayas to go to school.... The old man was shocked to learn this. He encountered all difficulties to go there to set up a primary school. With Motuo as background,this film will you the real story...

Precious Daughter follows the couple's story even after their marriage. With the help of her caring mother, rich girl who is mute manages to marry the man of her dreams. However, their marriage soon runs into difficulties because of her inability to please her demanding sister-in-law. While the heroine regaining her voice leads to catastrophe for the hero in the original play, the two films celebrate the return of their heroines' voices with song and dance – thanks to the popularity of musicals at the time.

A woman asks the hospital in which her father is due to stomach cancer to be allowed to return home to celebrate the New Year with his family. Part of the 2002 'Jeonju Digital Project'.

At the end of the Han Dynasty, the feudal lords engaged in a fierce battle, with numerous heroes vying for the deer and smoke of war rising everywhere. Gongsun Zan and Liu Yu fought fiercely for power, causing the people to suffer from conscription and exile.

How does a woman navigate her actions and emotions after committing murder?

Two teenagers goes to the countryside to investigate the world of fortune-telling.

Just because she arrived three minutes earlier in the world, the elder sister of the twins was separated from the other, and was sent thousands of miles away from home. The elder sister (Chan) was forced to leave their hometown, and struggled for her life in Chengdu. The younger sister (Juan) stayed in their rural hometown and continued her routine life. However, two girls who looked exactly like each other actually pursued distinct paths in two entirely different cities. Their experiences of growing up as women developed in parallel.

Fong Sai Yuk's fight against the water monster.

Zhou Zhou, who lives in Wuhan, Hubei, is a boy with down syndrome. His father was a musician with the Wuhan Symphony Orchestra, and the special environment gave him an incredible outlet: Whenever music is played, Zhou Zhou conducts along with the rhythm. This film won the 10th China TV Golden Eagle Award, the 1998 China TV Documentary Academic Award and the Best Director Award, and the National "Striving for Civilization and Progress" TV award.

When the long-collapsed Tongtian Pagoda mysteriously reignites and a fiery dragon devastates the city’s training grounds, panic grips the capital and rumors spread that only Empress Wu Zetian’s sacrifice can stop the disaster. Assigned to investigate, Di Renjie is forced to partner with his rival Pei Dongsheng to uncover the truth behind the supernatural calamity before fear and foreign threats tear the city apart.

At the beginning of the Republic of China the remote town of Gulou in the North has been plagued by the mysterious disease - 'Skeleton Syndrome'. Patients suffer from speech and behavioral disorders, suffer from anorexia, and soon become living skeletons. In the town of Bones, a young girl Sanjian has been learning the art of hunting under her master, Sun Laohai, since she was young, and has developed an excellent archery skill. So the girl secretly vowed to hunt the notorious Black Beast for life as their mission, so often wandering in the nearby hazelnut forest to find the monster traces.

A Mu, from Ashamo Village, overcame many difficulties and led the children in Daliangshan to train basketball. Although the conditions are difficult, they have the tenacity, bravery, and an unyielding spirit.

Remnants of Taiping Rebellion plan and carry out an assassination aimed at a traitor.

In the spring of 1938, Japanese forces occupied the Jiaodong region of China. The village of Tiandao, located deep in the Kunyu Mountains, was chosen by the Japanese as a central stronghold. Lieutenant Colonel Watanabe Taro was dispatched with a unit to eliminate resistance in Tiandao Village. The village, whose inhabitants had lived as hunters for generations, faced the sudden invasion with fierce resistance, creating a heroic and fiery epic of youth amidst blood and fire.