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''Hibiscus Town'' () is a 1986 Chinese film directed by
Xie Jin Xie Jin (; 21 November 1923 – 18 October 2008) was a Chinese film director. He rose to prominence in 1957, directing the film ''Woman Basketball Player No. 5'', and is considered one of the Third Generation directors of China. Most recently he ...
, based on a novel by the same name written by
Gu Hua Luo Hongyu (, born June 20, 1942"Gu Hua" ''The Writers Directory 2010''. Ed. Lisa Kumar. 25th ed. Vol. 1. Detroit: St. James Press, 2009. 1082. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Retrieved 17 Oct. 2012.), better known by his pen name Gu Hua (), is a ...
. The film, a melodrama, follows the life and travails of a young woman who lives through the turmoil of the
Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a sociopolitical movement in the People's Republic of China (PRC) launched by Mao Zedong in 1966, and lasting until his death in 1976. Its stated goa ...
and as such is an example of the "scar drama" genre that emerged in the 1980s and 1990s that detailed life during that period. The film was produced by the
Shanghai Film Studio The Shanghai Film Studio (), one of the three biggest film studios in China, is the film division of the Shanghai Film Group Corporation in Shanghai, China. It is responsible for the production of Chinese films and TV programs. History Shangha ...
. The film won Best Film for 1987
Golden Rooster Awards The Golden Rooster Awards () are film awards given in mainland China. The awards were originally given annually, beginning in 1981. The name of the award came from the year of the Rooster in 1981. Award recipients receive a statuette in the shap ...
and
Hundred Flowers Awards The Hundred Flowers Awards () are, together with the Golden Rooster Awards, the most prestigious film awards honouring the best in Chinese cinema, as well as Hong Kong cinema and the Cinema of Taiwan, they are classified as the Chinese equiv ...
, as well as Best Actress awards for
Liu Xiaoqing Liu Xiaoqing (born 30 October 1955) is a Chinese actress and businesswoman. She was one of the leading actresses in China in the 1980s. Biography In her early days Liu worked as a farm labourer, then as a propagandist for the People's Liberatio ...
at both ceremonies. It was also selected as the Chinese entry for the
Best Foreign Language Film This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...
at the
60th Academy Awards The 60th Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), took place on April 11, 1988, at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles beginning at 6:00 p.m. PDT. During the ceremony, AMPAS presented ...
, but was not accepted as a nominee. The village in
Hunan Hunan (, ; ) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, part of the South Central China region. Located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze watershed, it borders the province-level divisions of Hubei to the north, Jiangxi ...
province where the film was made was initially known as Wang Village (;
pinyin Hanyu Pinyin (), often shortened to just pinyin, is the official romanization system for Standard Chinese, Standard Mandarin Chinese in China, and to some extent, in Singapore and Malaysia. It is often used to teach Mandarin, normally writte ...
: ''Wáng cūn''). In 2007, the village was renamed Furong zhen () owing to this film.


Plot

The film follows Hu Yuyin (Liu Xiaoqing), a young and hardworking woman in a small Chinese town on the eve of the
Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a sociopolitical movement in the People's Republic of China (PRC) launched by Mao Zedong in 1966, and lasting until his death in 1976. Its stated goa ...
. She is happily married and runs a successful roadside food stall, selling spicy
beancurd Tofu (), also known as bean curd in English, is a food prepared by coagulating soy milk and then pressing the resulting curds into solid white blocks of varying softness; it can be ''silken'', ''soft'', ''firm'', ''extra firm'' or ''super fir ...
. Yuyin is supported by Party members Li Mangeng (Zhang Guangbei), who once wanted to marry her, and Director Gu (Zheng Zaishi), a war veteran in charge of the granary. But in 1964 the
Four Cleanups Movement __NOTOC__ The Socialist Education Movement (, abbreviated 社教运动 or 社教運動), also known as the Four Cleanups Movement () was a movement launched by Mao Zedong in 1963 in the People's Republic of China. Mao sought to remove reactionary e ...
sends a Party work-team to root out Rightists and
capitalist roader In anti-capitalist Mao Zedong thought, a capitalist roader (; also ) is a person or group who demonstrates a marked tendency to bow to pressure from bourgeois forces and subsequently attempts to pull the Revolution in a capitalist direction. If all ...
s. The team is led by Li Guoxiang (Xu Songzi), a single woman, assisted by Wang Qiushe (Zhu Shibin), a former poor peasant who has lost his land because of his drinking. At a public
struggle session Denunciation rallies, also called struggle sessions, were violent public spectacles in Maoist China where people accused of being "Five Black Categories, class enemies" were public humiliation, publicly humiliated, accused, beaten and tortured by ...
, Yuyin is declared to be a "new rich peasant." Both her home and business are taken from her and her husband, Li Guigui (Liu Linian) is executed for trying to kill Li Guoxiang. After the first waves of the Revolution have ended, Yuyin, now relegated to a lowly street sweeper, returns to the town. She then falls in love with Qin Shutian (
Jiang Wen Jiang Wen (born 5 January 1963) is a Chinese actor, screenwriter, and director. As a director, he is sometimes grouped with the "Sixth Generation" that emerged in the 1990s. Jiang is also well known internationally as an actor, having starred wit ...
), who had come in the 1950s to collect local folksongs but was declared to be one of the
Five Black Categories The "Five Black Categories" () referred to the following five political identities. These groups were: * Landlords () * Rich farmers () * Counter-revolutionaries () * Bad influencers bad elements"() * Right-wingers () During the period of the ...
. When Yuyin becomes pregnant, however, this loving relationship attracts the outrage of Li Guoxiang and Wang Qiushe, who themselves are having a secret affair. Shutian is sent to
reform through labor ''Laogai'' (), short for ''laodong gaizao'' (), which means reform through labor, is a criminal justice system involving the use of penal labor and prison farms in the People's Republic of China (PRC) and North Korea (DPRK). ''Láogǎi'' i ...
and it is not until
Deng Xiaoping Deng Xiaoping (22 August 1904 – 19 February 1997) was a Chinese revolutionary leader, military commander and statesman who served as the paramount leader of the People's Republic of China (PRC) from December 1978 to November 1989. After CCP ...
's reforms in 1978 that his case is reviewed and he is allowed to return and help Yuyin re-establish their food stall. At the end of the film, Li Guoxiang continues to hold a position in the bureaucracy while Wang Qiushe loses his mind.


Cast

*
Liu Xiaoqing Liu Xiaoqing (born 30 October 1955) is a Chinese actress and businesswoman. She was one of the leading actresses in China in the 1980s. Biography In her early days Liu worked as a farm labourer, then as a propagandist for the People's Liberatio ...
as Hu Yuyin, the film's heroine, a young woman who is caught up in the political turmoil of China's
Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a sociopolitical movement in the People's Republic of China (PRC) launched by Mao Zedong in 1966, and lasting until his death in 1976. Its stated goa ...
. She originally sells rice
beancurd Tofu (), also known as bean curd in English, is a food prepared by coagulating soy milk and then pressing the resulting curds into solid white blocks of varying softness; it can be ''silken'', ''soft'', ''firm'', ''extra firm'' or ''super fir ...
with her husband. *
Liu Linian / ( or ) is an East Asian surname. pinyin: in Mandarin Chinese, in Cantonese. It is the family name of the Han dynasty emperors. The character originally meant 'kill', but is now used only as a surname. It is listed 252nd in the classic tex ...
as Li Guigui, Yuyin's first husband *
Jiang Wen Jiang Wen (born 5 January 1963) is a Chinese actor, screenwriter, and director. As a director, he is sometimes grouped with the "Sixth Generation" that emerged in the 1990s. Jiang is also well known internationally as an actor, having starred wit ...
as Qin Shutian, a "bourgeoisie" rightist who falls in love with Yuyin *
Zheng Zaishi Zheng may refer to: *Zheng (surname), Chinese surname (鄭, 郑, ''Zhèng'') *Zheng County, former name of Zhengzhou, capital of Henan, China * Guzheng (), a Chinese zither with bridges *Qin Shi Huang (259 BC – 210 BC), emperor of the Qin Dynasty ...
as Gu Yanshan, the granary director *
Zhu Shibin Zhu or ZHU may refer to: *Zhu (surname), common Chinese surnames *Zhu River, or Pearl River, in southern China *Zhu (state), ancient Chinese state, later renamed Zou *House of Zhu, the ruling house of the Ming dynasty in Chinese history *Zhu (stri ...
as Wang Qiushe *
Xu Songzi Xu or XU may refer to: People and characters * Xu (surname), one of two Chinese surnames ( or /), transliterated as Xu in English * ǃXu, a name for the ǃKung group of Bushmen; may also refer to the ǃKung language or the ǃKung people * ǃXu ( ...
as Li Guoxiang *
Zhang Guangbei Zhang Guangbei (; born 11 June 1959) is a Chinese actor, best known in television work for portraying Lü Bu in ''Romance of the Three Kingdoms'' (1994) and Chu Yunfei in '' Drawing Sword'' (2006). Early life and education Zhang was born in Bei ...
as Li Mangeng


Reception

The film was well received domestically and was voted by Chinese film audiences as one of the three best films of 1987 in the
Hundred Flowers Awards The Hundred Flowers Awards () are, together with the Golden Rooster Awards, the most prestigious film awards honouring the best in Chinese cinema, as well as Hong Kong cinema and the Cinema of Taiwan, they are classified as the Chinese equiv ...
. It remains quite obscure outside China.
Gilbert Adair Gilbert Adair (29 December 19448 December 2011) was a Scottish novelist, poet, film critic, and journalist.Stuart Jeffries and Ronald BerganObituary: Gilbert Adair ''The Guardian'', 9 December 2011. He was critically most famous for the "fiend ...
of '' Time Out'' magazine gave the film his endorsement, calling it "a potent blend of the political and personal": :"Xie's portrait of China's traumatic, turbulent history ranges from '63 to the post-' Gang of Four' years, his palette the changing fortunes of an entangled group of individuals. It's impressive both for the elegant precision with which the director fills his scope frame with small, significant details, and for the discreet understatement that controls his own special brand of epic melodrama. In some ways similar to the classic romances of Frank Borzage, ''Hibiscus Town'' is a moving account of survival in the face of widespread social and political madness, told with clarity, compassion and insight."


Awards

*
Golden Rooster Awards The Golden Rooster Awards () are film awards given in mainland China. The awards were originally given annually, beginning in 1981. The name of the award came from the year of the Rooster in 1981. Award recipients receive a statuette in the shap ...
,
1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, k ...
** Best Film ** Best Actress —
Liu Xiaoqing Liu Xiaoqing (born 30 October 1955) is a Chinese actress and businesswoman. She was one of the leading actresses in China in the 1980s. Biography In her early days Liu worked as a farm labourer, then as a propagandist for the People's Liberatio ...
** Best Supporting Actress —
Xu Songzi Xu or XU may refer to: People and characters * Xu (surname), one of two Chinese surnames ( or /), transliterated as Xu in English * ǃXu, a name for the ǃKung group of Bushmen; may also refer to the ǃKung language or the ǃKung people * ǃXu ( ...
** Best Art Direction— Jin Qifen *
Hundred Flowers Awards The Hundred Flowers Awards () are, together with the Golden Rooster Awards, the most prestigious film awards honouring the best in Chinese cinema, as well as Hong Kong cinema and the Cinema of Taiwan, they are classified as the Chinese equiv ...
,
1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, k ...
** Best Film — tied with ''
Dr. Sun Yat-sen Sun Yat-sen (; also known by several other names; 12 November 1866 – 12 March 1925)Singtao daily. Saturday edition. 23 October 2010. section A18. Sun Yat-sen Xinhai revolution 100th anniversary edition . was a Chinese politician who serve ...
'' and ''Xue zhan Taierzhuang'' ** Best Actor —
Jiang Wen Jiang Wen (born 5 January 1963) is a Chinese actor, screenwriter, and director. As a director, he is sometimes grouped with the "Sixth Generation" that emerged in the 1990s. Jiang is also well known internationally as an actor, having starred wit ...
** Best Actress —
Liu Xiaoqing Liu Xiaoqing (born 30 October 1955) is a Chinese actress and businesswoman. She was one of the leading actresses in China in the 1980s. Biography In her early days Liu worked as a farm labourer, then as a propagandist for the People's Liberatio ...
** Best Supporting Actor —
Zhu Shibin Zhu or ZHU may refer to: *Zhu (surname), common Chinese surnames *Zhu River, or Pearl River, in southern China *Zhu (state), ancient Chinese state, later renamed Zou *House of Zhu, the ruling house of the Ming dynasty in Chinese history *Zhu (stri ...
*
Karlovy Vary International Film Festival The Karlovy Vary International Film Festival ( cs, Mezinárodní filmový festival Karlovy Vary) is a film festival held annually in July in Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic. The Karlovy Vary Festival is one of the oldest in the world and has become ...
,
1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Australian ...
** Crystal Globe, Grand Prix


See also

*
Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a sociopolitical movement in the People's Republic of China (PRC) launched by Mao Zedong in 1966, and lasting until his death in 1976. Its stated goa ...
*
List of submissions to the 60th Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film This is a list of submissions to the 60th Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film. The Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film was created in 1956 by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to honour non-English-speaking films ...
*
List of Chinese submissions for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film The People's Republic of China has submitted films for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film since 1979. The award is handed out annually by the United States Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to a feature-length motion ...


Further reading

* Browne, Nick. "Society and Subjectivity: On the Political Economy of Chinese Melodrama," in ''New Chinese Cinemas: Forms, Identities, Politics''. Cambridge: CUP, 1994, 57-87. * Hayford, Charles W. "Hibiscus Town: Revolution, Love and Bean Curd." In Chris Berry, ed., ''Chinese Films in Focus: 25 New Takes''. London: BFI Publishing, 2003, 120-27. * Kipnis, Andrew. "Anti-Maoist Gender: Hibiscus Town's Naturalization of a Dengist Sex/Gender/Kinship System." ''Asian Cinema'' 8, 2 (Winter 1996-97): 66-75.


References


External links

* *
''Hibiscus Town''
article from China.org
''Hibiscus Town''
from the Chinese Movie Database

of ''Hibiscus Town'' from
Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...
{{Chinese submission for Academy Awards 1986 films 1986 drama films 1980s pregnancy films Chinese drama films 1980s Mandarin-language films Golden Rooster Best Film recipients Films directed by Xie Jin Films about the Cultural Revolution Films based on Chinese novels Films set in 1964 Films set in 1978 Films shot in Hunan Crystal Globe winners Shanghai Film Studio films Films with screenplays by Ah Cheng Melodrama films