Curated List
The Chinese-Language Canon
Eight Chinese-language films, from Shanghai in 1934 to Hong Kong in 2000
This list gathers eight Chinese-language films made between 1934 and 2000. Four were produced in Shanghai before 1949, three in Taiwan and one in Hong Kong. They are not arranged by date: the list opens with Spring in a Small Town from 1948, follows it with The Goddess from 1934, and closes with In the Mood for Love from 2000.
- 01
Spring in a Small Town
小城之春 · 1948
Fei Mu
Produced by Wenhua in 1948, with five characters and its action confined to one courtyard house and a stretch of ruined town wall. Since returning to circulation in the 1980s it has placed first in several polls of Chinese-language cinema.
- 02
The Goddess
神女 · 1934
Wu Yonggang
Produced by Lianhua in 1934, the earliest film here and the only silent one. Ruan Lingyu, who plays the lead, died the following year at twenty-four.
- 03
Street Angel
馬路天使 · 1937
Yuan Muzhi
Produced by Mingxing in 1937, written and directed by Yuan Muzhi, with Zhou Xuan and Zhao Dan. Its two songs, with lyrics by Tian Han and music arranged by He Luting, are still widely sung.
- 04
The Spring River Flows East
一江春水向東流 · 1947
Cai Chusheng, Zheng Junli
Produced by Kunlun in 1947 and directed by Cai Chusheng with Zheng Junli. Released in two parts running about three hours in total, it played in Shanghai for more than three months.
- 05
A Touch of Zen
俠女 · 1971
King Hu
A 1971 Taiwan and Hong Kong co-production written and directed by King Hu, and the only genre film here. Its award at Cannes in 1975 was the first taken at that festival by a Chinese-language film.
- 06
A Time to Live, a Time to Die
童年往事 · 1985
Hou Hsiao-hsien
Hou Hsiao-hsien's 1985 film, drawn from his own upbringing in Fengshan and built largely from fixed long takes. It is one of the principal works of the Taiwan New Cinema period.
- 07
A Brighter Summer Day
牯嶺街少年殺人事件 · 1991
Edward Yang
Edward Yang's 1991 film and the longest here. Most of the cast were non-professionals; Chang Chen was fourteen during the shoot, and his own father plays his father in the film.
- 08
In the Mood for Love
花樣年華 · 2000
Wong Kar-wai
Wong Kar-wai's film from 2000, the most recent on the list, and the one for which Tony Leung took the acting award at Cannes that year.