Vistas of Art

The painter Hu Mai was attracted to the beauty of Mei Lin, a girl in her youth, so Hu did a portrait of her named The Picture of Youth. A wealthy businessman Cao Bin brought this painting and got to know Mei Lin in person. Now Mei Lin has to chose who she should marry to, between the good hearted but poor painter Hu Mai, and the wealthy but ill-natured Cao Bin.

Two couple doubt their partners are having affairs with another, so they try their best to find out the truth.

Yang Mengchi is a spoiled, rich do-nothing whose habit of smoking opium has cost him his entire fortune and the family mansion, the Garden of Repose, now due to be sold to Yao Guodong. Fearing that Yao's spoiled and unruly son Siaofu will follow in Yang's footsteps, Yao's stepwife Wan Zhaohua tries to instil discipline in the child but her efforts are undermined by the child's indulging and protective father and grandmother. Unable to reform himself despite his own son's chastisement, Yang leaves home to lead a reclusive life in a destitute temple, only helped out by his filial daughter Han'er. The poverty-stricken Yang is drafted into the army and tragedy ensues.

A rich businessman's family is in straitened circumstances. He has a son and four daughters, but only the youngest daughter lives a positive life.

A wedding musician fails to wed his own love: Little Trumpet is raring to marry his childhood sweetheart, but a series of setbacks has prevented them from getting their way. Criticism against social formalities becomes all the more forceful with the clever use of contrast and irony, not to mention the realist and comedic touch a la Zhu Shilin. Of special mention is the famous teahouse scene where dynamic, melodic camerawork creates a hilarity that continues to amaze to this day. A genuine masterpiece with every single detail, down to the minor props, forming an integral part of a whole. Today, young couples are struggling nonetheless to get a roof over their heads, a testimony to the fact that poverty still reigns beneath the facade of harmony and stability after all these years.

Coming Home of a dead person

Adapted from Guy de Maupassant's "Boule de Suif", this satire-cum-thriller transposes its backdrop to wartime China. On a bus crossing a checkpoint, a pretty girl coveted by a Japanese officer sacrifices herself to aid the patriotic cause against the enemy.

The film tells the story of Yang Naifan (Ruan Lingyu) who runs from her arranged marriage to be with her true love, Li Zuyi (Jin Yan). The film details the poverty she must endure for breaking with tradition.