Shiming Zhi

Three members of the Young Pioneers search for the source of a rare piece of ore.

A critical hit during one of China’s most politically charged periods, Zheng’s follow-up to his 1959 anniversary epics merged Soviet-style socialist realism with his own breakthroughs in film technique, specifically his use of continuous camera movement in the spirit of traditional Chinese scrolls. Tractor-kino at its finest, the film revolves around two rural lovers—one struck with a deadly disease—and their eventual survival thanks to socialist medical advances.

An episode from the life of a metallurgical plant collective. Lu Zhong-kui, an advanced worker appointed as head of the smelting shop, initiates the re-equipment of the open-hearth furnace. The plant director and some specialists warn him that the furnace, built by Americans, is operating at maximum capacity. However, many refer to the experience of the Soviet people and support Lu. And then an accident occurs: steel bursts out of the furnace... This episode is full of drama, as is the entire story about the selfless and persistent struggle of a worker-promoter to fulfill the state plan.

The film tells the story about the daughter of a Nationalist general who revisits the famous summer resort Lushan Mountain in Jiangxi province in 1980 and falls in love with the son of a senior general of the Chinese Communist Party.

In the center of the story is the story of a young girl from the Dai nation, who, despite gossip and accusations of witchcraft, becomes a successful doctor and finds happiness in her personal life.

On orders from the command, the wife of the commander of the 4th Army, Hua Xiaofeng, infiltrates enemy lines to establish contact with an underground organization and rally the masses to take up arms against the Kuomintang. Under difficult conditions, risking her life, the young woman carries out her combat mission. The red seeds she sows among the people sprout—the peasants help the 4th Army defeat the Kuomintang.

In the late 1950s, during China’s Great Leap Forward, Shanghai housewives participated, supported by Dai Mama from the neighbourhood committee. Liu Mama opposed her daughter-in-law Wang Caifeng’s involvement, wanting her to stay home, but her son Liu Genfa supported Caifeng. Zheng Baoqing also opposed his wife Cai Guizhen joining the production group, but Cai ignored him, organised her household, and led the sewing group. Dai Mama helped persuade Zheng Baoqing to change his mind. Lu Afeng joined the sewing group out of fear they would borrow her machine but felt ashamed when they made coats for the children’s welfare home.

A young woman named Lin Pei-min, a kindergarten teacher who underestimates her profession, considers it boring, and, most importantly, thankless. But gradually, Lin Pei-min begins to realize how responsible and important the work entrusted to her is. And her "ordinary profession" becomes her life's work.