Time Out Shanghai's 100 Best Mainland Chinese Films
by mymovieslists | created - 05 Apr 2014 | updated - 18 Aug 2020 | PublicSource: http://www.timeoutshanghai.com/features/Books__Film-Film_features/18353/The-100-best-Mainland-Chinese-Films-the-full-list.html
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1. Farewell My Concubine (1993)
R | 171 min | Drama, Music, Romance
Two boys meet at an opera training school in Peking in 1924. Their resulting friendship will span nearly 70 years and endure some of the most troublesome times in China's history.
Director: Kaige Chen | Stars: Leslie Cheung, Fengyi Zhang, Gong Li, You Ge
Votes: 33,185 | Gross: $5.22M
2. Spring in a Small Town (1948)
98 min | Drama, Romance
A lonely housewife finds her monotonous life altered when her childhood sweetheart returns to town.
Director: Mu Fei | Stars: Chaoming Cui, Wei Li, Yu Shi, Wei Wei
Votes: 3,356
3. Devils on the Doorstep (2000)
139 min | Comedy, Drama, War
Villagers in World War II China are unsure what to do with the two enemy prisoners who have been left in their care.
Director: Wen Jiang | Stars: Wen Jiang, Kenya Sawada, Hongbo Jiang, Teruyuki Kagawa
Votes: 8,621 | Gross: $0.02M
4. In the Heat of the Sun (1994)
134 min | Drama, Romance
Beijing, 1970s. Now that the CR has driven most adults to the provinces, 14-year-old Monkey and his pals have free reign over the city. They hang around, get up to no good, and discover that unsolvable mystery referred to as "girls."
Director: Wen Jiang | Stars: Yu Xia, Wei Chen, Shaobo Dai, Hua Fang
Votes: 5,533
5. Pickpocket (1997)
Unrated | 108 min | Drama
A small town pickpocket whose friends have moved on to higher trades finds himself bitter and unable to adapt.
Director: Zhangke Jia | Stars: Hongwei Wang, Hongjian Hao, Baitao Zuo, Ma Jinrei
Votes: 3,296
6. Tie Xi Qu: West of the Tracks (2002)
551 min | Documentary
The impact of the decline of heavy industry on workers and their families in the Tiexi district of Shenyang, China, at the turn of the 21st century, documented unflinchingly by a fly-on-the-wall camera.
Director: Wang Bing
Votes: 1,328
7. Yellow Earth (1984)
TV-PG | 89 min | Drama, History, Music
A communist soldier travels to Shanbei to collect folk songs for propaganda while visiting a poor peasant family, giving hope to the teenage daughter in escaping an arranged marriage.
Director: Kaige Chen | Stars: Xueqi Wang, Bai Xue, Quiang Liu, Tuo Tan
Votes: 2,574
9. Shen nu (1934)
TV-PG | 85 min | Drama
Street walker by night, devoted mother by day, a woman fights to get her young son an education amid criminal and social injustice in China.
Director: Yonggang Wu | Stars: Lingyu Ruan, Tian Jian, Zhizhi Zhang, Keng Li
Votes: 2,475
10. Street Angel (1937)
91 min | Comedy, Drama
In old Shanghai, two sisters, a prostitute and a singer, tried to escape from the local scoundrels with the help of a trumpet player and a newspaper seller.
Director: Muzhi Yuan | Stars: Dan Zhao, Heling Wei, Xuan Zhou, Jiting Wang
Votes: 945
11. Still Life (2006)
Unrated | 111 min | Drama
A town in Fengjie county is gradually being demolished and flooded to make way for the Three Gorges Dam. A man and woman visit the town to locate their estranged spouses, and become witness to the societal changes.
Director: Zhangke Jia | Stars: Tao Zhao, Zhou Lan, Sanming Han, Lizhen Ma
Votes: 7,308 | Gross: $0.07M
12. Red Sorghum (1988)
Not Rated | 91 min | Drama, History, Romance
When a leprous winery owner in 1930s China dies a few days after his arranged marriage, his young widow is forced to run the winery to make a living while contending with bandits, her drunkard lover, and the invading Japanese army.
Director: Yimou Zhang | Stars: Gong Li, Wen Jiang, Rujun Teng, Ji Liu
Votes: 9,879
13. Raise the Red Lantern (1991)
PG | 125 min | Drama, Romance
China in the 1920s. After her father's death, Songlian is forced to marry the wealthy Master Chen. With three wives already, each living in a separate house, there is fierce competition for his attention and the privileges that are gained.
Director: Yimou Zhang | Stars: Gong Li, Jingwu Ma, Saifei He, Cuifen Cao
Votes: 35,367 | Gross: $2.60M
14. The Blue Kite (1993)
140 min | Drama, History
The lives of a Beijing family throughout the 1950s and 1960s, as they experience the impact of the Hundred Flowers Campaign, the Great Leap Forward, and the Cultural Revolution.
Director: Zhuangzhuang Tian | Stars: Tian Yi, Wenyao Zhang, Xiaoman Chen, Liping Lü
Votes: 3,262 | Gross: $0.36M
15. Blind Shaft (2003)
Unrated | 92 min | Crime, Drama
Two coal miners and conmen looking for their next murder victim decide on a naïve country boy desperately looking for a job.
Director: Yang Li | Stars: Yixiang Li, Baoqiang Wang, Shuangbao Wang, Jing Ai
Votes: 2,914 | Gross: $0.03M
16. Platform (2000)
154 min | Drama, History
A theatre troupe from rural Fenyang struggles under the decline of communism and rise of popular culture in China in the 1980s.
Director: Zhangke Jia | Stars: Hongwei Wang, Tao Zhao, Liang Jingdong, Tian-yi Yang
Votes: 3,077
17. Suzhou River (2000)
83 min | Drama, Romance
After getting out of prison, small-time crook Mardar stumbles upon a woman who looks exactly like his long-lost lover.
Director: Ye Lou | Stars: Xun Zhou, Hongsheng Jia, Zhongkai Hua, Anlian Yao
Votes: 6,437 | Gross: $0.10M
18. The Sun Also Rises (2007)
116 min | Drama, Fantasy
Jiang Wen stars in his third directorial work that boasts a stellar cast including Joan Chen, Anthony Wong and Jaycee Chan. A polyptych of interconnected stories in different time-zones, ... See full summary »
Director: Wen Jiang | Stars: Wen Jiang, Joan Chen, Anthony Chau-Sang Wong, Jaycee Chan
Votes: 2,572
19. Hibiscus Town (1987)
164 min | Drama, History, Romance
Love, humiliation, and politics play out in a distant village of China during the Cultural Revolution.
Director: Jin Xie | Stars: Wen Jiang, Linian Liu, Xiaoqing Liu, Ning Xu
Votes: 1,375
20. Summer Palace (2006)
Unrated | 158 min | Drama, Romance
Yu Hong leaves her home village and starts university in Beijing, where she develops a consuming and compulsive relationship with another student. The student riots from 1989 then ensue and take a toll on their lives.
Director: Ye Lou | Stars: Lei Hao, Xiaodong Guo, Xueyun Bai, Lin Cui
Votes: 4,319 | Gross: $0.06M
21. Ju Dou (1990)
PG-13 | 95 min | Drama, Romance
In rural China, the young bride of a tyrannical owner of a silk-dyeing business finds temporary solace in the arms of her husband's nephew, but problems arise when she becomes pregnant.
Directors: Yimou Zhang, Fengliang Yang | Stars: Gong Li, Wei Li, Baotian Li, Zhang Yi
Votes: 9,022 | Gross: $1.99M
22. Ben ming nian (1990)
107 min | Crime, Drama
A semi-literate who was deprived of schooling during the Cultural Revolution, Li Huiquan, is released from labor camp. But his attempts to make good are continually thwarted. His street ... See full summary »
Director: Fei Xie | Stars: Wen Jiang, Cheng Lin, Hong Yue, Xiaoning Liu
Votes: 552
24. Havoc in Heaven (1961)
Not Rated | 114 min | Animation, Action, Adventure
Sun Wukong, the King of the Monkeys, sets off on his first adventure to gain a worthy weapon. This earns the attention of the Jade Emperor of Heaven.
Directors: Wan Laiming, Cheng Tang | Stars: Yue-Feng Qiu, Run-Sheng Fu, Hans Alfredson, Ke Bi
Votes: 2,396
25. The Horse Thief (1986)
Not Rated | 88 min | Drama
A Tibetan man struggles to provide for his family.
Directors: Zhuangzhuang Tian, Peicheng Pan | Stars: Rigzin Tseshang, Jiji Dan, Daiba, Drashi
Votes: 1,554
26. Petition (2009)
120 min | Documentary
It is a fantastic documentary about Chinese govt's systemic oppression and persecution toward ordinary folk who petition the government.
Director: Liang Zhao | Stars: Zhang Weiye, Xiao Yuan
Votes: 354
27. Oxhide (2005)
Not Rated | 110 min | Documentary, Drama
Daily life in an impossibly cramped Beijing apartment takes on epic proportions in this, intimate portrait, with unprecedented access, of a working-class Chinese family.
Director: Jiayin Liu | Stars: Huifen Jia, Jiayin Liu, Zaiping Liu
Votes: 269
28. Let the Bullets Fly (2010)
Not Rated | 132 min | Action, Comedy, Drama
In 1920s China, a bandit arrives in a remote provincial town posing as its new mayor, where he faces off against a tyrannical local nobleman.
Director: Wen Jiang | Stars: Chow Yun-Fat, Wen Jiang, You Ge, Carina Lau
Votes: 13,149 | Gross: $0.06M
29. Crazy Stone (2006)
98 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
What do you get when you have a precious jewel, a group of bumbling thieves intent on getting their hands on it, the mob wanting a piece of the action, and a loyal but mischievous security ... See full summary »
Director: Ning Hao | Stars: Tao Guo, Teddy Lin, Hua Liu, Gang Liu
Votes: 4,450
30. The Big Road (1935)
Not Rated | 104 min | Comedy, Musical, Drama
Six young men from the city take jobs on a road crew, building a highway of strategic importance to the Chinese Army. The story relates the men's interactions with each other, the local ... See full summary »
Director: Yu Sun | Stars: Yan Jin, Yanyan Chen, Li-li Li, Peng Luo
Votes: 325
31. Hero (2002)
PG-13 | 120 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
A defense officer, Nameless, was summoned by the King of Qin regarding his success of terminating three warriors.
Director: Yimou Zhang | Stars: Jet Li, Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Maggie Cheung, Ziyi Zhang
Votes: 187,692 | Gross: $53.71M
32. Unknown Pleasures (2002)
Unrated | 112 min | Comedy, Drama
Two unemployed Chinese teenagers have trouble resisting the temptations of the Western world.
Director: Zhangke Jia | Stars: Wei Wei Zhao, Qiong Wu, Tao Zhao, Qing Feng Zhou
Votes: 2,550 | Gross: $0.01M
33. Mr. Zhao (1998)
89 min | Comedy
The psychology in this triangle situation focuses on a Shanghai university professor, his factory worker wife, and a young female former student who becomes his mistress.
Director: Yue Lü | Stars: Zhihua Zhang, Jingming Shi, Yi'nan Chen, Wenli Jiang
Votes: 185
34. Woman Demon Human (1987)
Not Rated | 108 min | Drama
The fictional life and career of a famous actress in Chinese opera, a woman who goes against tradition by specializing in playing male roles, especially that of Zhang Kui, a benevolent ... See full summary »
Director: Shuqin Huang | Stars: Shouli Xu, Baotian Li, Qilin Ji, Yanling Pei
Votes: 146
35. Sacrificed Youth (1986)
92 min | Drama
A young girl from the city is sent out to work in a village of Dai people in China's cultural revolution. Here she learns to enjoy being young and gains a new outlook on life.
Director: Nuanxing Zhang | Stars: Fengxu Li, Yuanzheng Feng, Tao Song, Jianguo Guo
Votes: 142
36. King of the Children (II) (1988)
Not Rated | 106 min | Drama
This film is adapted from the novel of Ah Cheng. During the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), a young man is assigned to teach in village school.
Director: Kaige Chen | Stars: Yuan Xie, Xuewen Yang, Shaohua Chen, Caimei Zhang
Votes: 656
37. Kong que (2005)
136 min | Drama
China in the late 1970s and early 1980s: the life of an ordinary working family as seen through its three siblings.
Director: Changwei Gu | Stars: Jing An, Li Feng, Changwei Gu, Meiying Huang
Votes: 1,125
38. Mountain Patrol (2004)
PG-13 | 90 min | Action, Drama
A moving true story about volunteers protecting antelope against poachers in the severe mountains of Tibet.
Director: Chuan Lu | Stars: Duobujie, Lei Zhang, Dao Qi, Xueying Zhao
Votes: 5,437 | Gross: $0.14M
39. Spring Fever (2009)
116 min | Drama
Hired to spy on a philandering husband, Luo Haitao soon becomes entangled in a clandestine affair with the other man. Along with Luo's girlfriend, they succumb to the delirium of drunken nights, but how long can their tryst last?
Director: Ye Lou | Stars: Hao Qin, Sicheng Chen, Wei Wu, Zhuo Tan
Votes: 1,640 | Gross: $0.01M
40. Life of a Beijing Policeman (1950)
120 min | Drama, History
Fifty years of modern Chinese history (1900-1950), including wars, revolutions and corrupt politics, as seen through the life and times of a simple Beijing policeman and his family.
Director: Hui Shi | Stars: Hui Shi, Heling Wei, Yang Shen, Wei Li
Votes: 204
41. Crows and Sparrows (1949)
113 min | Drama
A story of a corrupt party official who attempts to sell an apartment building he has appropriated from the original owner and the struggles of the tenants to prevent themselves being thrown onto the street.
Director: Junli Zheng | Stars: Dan Zhao, Yinyan Wu, Daolin Sun, Yunzhu Shangguan
Votes: 320
42. Back to Back, Face to Face (1994)
148 min | Drama
Wang Shuangli is Deputy Director of the local Cultural Centre, and hopes to be appointed Director. However Old Ma is brought in from the country and installed as Director. This starts a ... See full summary »
Directors: Jianxin Huang, Yazhou Yang | Stars: Zhenhua Niu, Kesheng Lei, Qiang Li, Hao Ju
Votes: 745
43. The Spring River Flows East (1947)
192 min | Drama, War
1930's China. The village of a poor family is taken over by the occupying Japanese army. One son, Zhongliang, leaves his wife and young son to join a medic group for the Chinese Army. The ... See full summary »
Directors: Chusheng Cai, Junli Zheng | Stars: Yang Bai, Jin Tao, Yinyan Wu, Yunzhu Shangguan
Votes: 369
44. The Story of Qiu Ju (1992)
PG | 100 min | Comedy, Drama
A peasant woman seeks justice after the headman of her village has kicked her husband in the groin.
Director: Yimou Zhang | Stars: Gong Li, Peiqi Liu, Liuchun Yang, Kesheng Lei
Votes: 6,665 | Gross: $1.89M
45. Prince Nezha's Triumph Against Dragon King (1979)
65 min | Animation, Action, Adventure
Tells the fable from Chinese mythology about the young warrior Nezha who takes on a group of evil dragons.
Directors: Shuchen Wang, Jingda Xu, Ding Xian Yan | Stars: Ke Bi, Banjô Ginga, Daisuke Gôri, Junko Hori
Votes: 1,289
46. Wu Shan Yun Yu (1996)
96 min | Comedy, Drama
Mai Qiang is a 30-year old bachelor, withdrawn, with little in his life besides his job at an isolated signal station along the Yangtze River and his ink drawings he uses as toilet paper. ... See full summary »
Director: Ming Zhang | Stars: Xiu Jiang, Bing Li, Shengguo Wang, Wenqiang Wang
Votes: 178
47. City of Life and Death (2009)
R | 133 min | Drama, History, War
In 1937, Japan occupied Nanjing, the Chinese capital. There was a battle and subsequent atrocities against the inhabitants, especially those who took refuge in the International Security Zone.
Director: Chuan Lu | Stars: Ye Liu, Wei Fan, Hideo Nakaizumi, Yuanyuan Gao
Votes: 11,722 | Gross: $0.12M
48. Shower (1999)
PG-13 | 92 min | Comedy, Drama
A young wealthy businessman's icy attitude toward his working-class background is about to thaw as he is forced to reconnect with his elderly father and mentally challenged younger brother, who together run a public bathhouse.
Director: Yang Zhang | Stars: Jiayi Du, Zheng Fang, Bing He, Wu Jiang
Votes: 4,226 | Gross: $1.15M
49. Early Spring (1963)
120 min | Drama
Jianqiu is a high school teacher and sympathizes Mrs. Wen, a widow whose husband was Jianqiu's schoolmate and died in the Guangzhou Uprising. Jianqiu and Lan fall in love, but Jianqiu decides to marry Mrs. Wen.
Director: Tieli Xie | Stars: Daolin Sun, Fang Xie, Yunzhu Shangguan, Xuepeng Fan
Votes: 175
50. Jia fang yi fang (1997)
90 min | Comedy
Four friends come up with an unusual idea to make some money and have fun doing it. For a small fee, they will impersonate and act out any character role for their customers. In the course ... See full summary »
Director: Xiaogang Feng | Stars: You Ge, Xiaogang Feng, Pei Liu, Bing He
Votes: 1,735
51. A Touch of Sin (2013)
Not Rated | 130 min | Crime, Drama
Four independent stories set in modern China about random acts of violence.
Director: Zhangke Jia | Stars: Wu Jiang, Baoqiang Wang, Tao Zhao, Lanshan Luo
Votes: 12,901 | Gross: $0.09M
52. Beijing Bicycle (2001)
PG-13 | 113 min | Drama
A seventeen-year-old country boy working in Beijing as a courier has his bicycle stolen, and finds it with a schoolboy his age.
Director: Xiaoshuai Wang | Stars: Lin Cui, Xun Zhou, Bin Li, Yuanyuan Gao
Votes: 4,748 | Gross: $0.16M
53. 24 City (2008)
Not Rated | 112 min | Documentary, Drama
When a factory is being torn down in Chengdu, China, workers reflect on their experiences and the importance of the factory in their lives.
Director: Zhangke Jia | Stars: Jianbin Chen, Joan Chen, Liping Lü, Tao Zhao
Votes: 2,339
55. Sorrows and Joys of a Middle-Aged Man (1949)
100 min | Drama
In pre-communist China, a widowed school principal must take care of his three children and a girl left behind his deceased old friend. When he retires, he finds himself bored and neglected by his children until he returns to school.
Director: Hu Sang | Stars: Hui Shi, Jiachen Zhu, Yang Shen, Huanqing Li
Votes: 147
56. The Days (1993)
80 min | Drama
The Days is Wang Xiaoshuai's 1993 debut. Filmed in black-and-white, The Days follows the life of two married artists who have graduated from the Beijing Art Institute.
Director: Xiaoshuai Wang | Stars: Xiaodong Liu, Ye Lou, Hong Yu
Votes: 191
57. Wan zhu (1989)
110 min | Comedy, Drama
For anyone with tricky personal troubles - marital and professional Yu Guan and his buddies have a new business that will provide the solution, from taking the abuse of a man's nagging wife to showering an obscure writer with awards.
Director: Jiashan Mi | Stars: Guoli Zhang, Hong Pan, Tian Liang, You Ge
Votes: 504
58. New Women (1935)
106 min | Drama
Overnight, the sexy Wei Ming will become a successful novelist. But, desperate to get the money that she needs to cure her little daughter (and harassed by a rich, unscrupulous rake), she ... See full summary »
Director: Chusheng Cai | Stars: Lingyu Ruan, Naidong Wang, Junli Zheng, Moqiu Wang
Votes: 267
59. My Memories of Old Beijing (1983)
96 min | Drama
Yingzi is a young, impressionable girl living on the southern side of Beijing in the late 1920s. Encountering people in the city, she tries to understand how people are really like inside through her own eyes.
Director: Yigong Wu | Stars: Jie Shen, Min Zhang, Fengyi Zhang, Zhenyao Zheng
Votes: 516
60. Baba (2000)
96 min | Comedy, Drama
A middle-aged man raises his son all by himself. He works as the chairman of the labor union and acts the way of putting on airs and cocky style both at work and home. He tries to build good relations with son but it does not work.
Director: Shuo Wang | Stars: Xiaogang Feng, Xiaopei Hu, Fan Xu, Yan Qin
Votes: 190
61. For Fun (1993)
97 min | Comedy, Drama
A charming story of a group of senior citizens who set up a Peking Opera club in hopes of finding revitalization through singing and dancing.
Director: Ying Ning | Stars: Zongluo Huang, Wenjie Huang, Shanxu Han, Qi Mo
Votes: 130
62. Taking Father Home (2005)
Not Rated | 100 min | Drama
A 17 year old boy from a village in the Sechuan province leaves for the big city looking for his father, who left 6 years before and has not been heard of since. The fact that his mother ... See full summary »
Director: Liang Ying | Stars: Xiaopei Liu, Jie Wang, Yun Xu
Votes: 116
63. Oxhide II (2009)
132 min | Documentary, Drama
The director shows herself and her parents making dumplings in their apartment with nine fixed camera positions, with which she revolves around the kitchen table.
Director: Jiayin Liu | Stars: Huifen Jia, Jiayin Liu, Zaiping Liu
Votes: 148
64. Keep Cool (1997)
93 min | Comedy
A spurned lover seeks a rich man for revenge. A random onlooker -- who witnessed the public assault committed by the rich man against the lover -- seeks for monetary compensation for his ... See full summary »
Director: Yimou Zhang | Stars: Wen Jiang, Baotian Li, Ying Qu, Xinyi Liu
Votes: 2,254
65. Woman Basketball Player No. 5 (1957)
86 min | Drama, Romance, Sport
"Woman Basketball Player No. 5" not only explores the problems that a young female athlete faces in coming to grips with her ambitions in the field of sports, it portrays the fate of two ... See full summary »
Director: Jin Xie | Stars: Qiwei Cao, Qiong Liu, Yi Qin, Ke Bi
Votes: 127
66. Purple Butterfly (2003)
R | 127 min | Drama, History, War
Cynthia is a young Chinese woman in love with Itami, a Japanese man about to be sent home for military service.
Director: Ye Lou | Stars: Ziyi Zhang, Tôru Nakamura, Ye Liu, Yuanzheng Feng
Votes: 1,344 | Gross: $0.02M
67. On the Beat (1995)
102 min | Comedy
Take crime out of police work, and what's left is procedures. In the western sector of Beijing, we follow the tedium of police officers. A rabid dog is loose in Guoli's beat: a gang of ... See full summary »
Director: Ying Ning | Stars: Li Jian, Liu Ying Shu, Liangui Wang, Tao Xu
Votes: 177
68. Xunzhao zhimei gengdeng (2009)
PG | 117 min | Drama
A filmmaker searches the Himalayas for an actor and actress to play the lead roles in his Tibetan opera.
Director: Pema Tseden | Stars: Dobe Dorje, Drolma Gyab, Manla Kyab, Lumo Tso
Votes: 80
69. Xun qiang (2002)
PG-13 | 90 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
Small-town policeman Ma Shan wakes up one morning to discover that his gun is missing. During his search, things take a sinister turn when his first love turns up dead and the bullet appears to be from his gun.
Director: Chuan Lu | Stars: Wen Jiang, Yujuan Wu, Xiao-Fan Wang, Ji Pei
Votes: 1,348
70. Third Sister Liu (1960)
Not Rated | 117 min | Musical
This is the first musical film in China which tells the story of Liu San Jie (Liu the Third Sister), a legendary folk female singer of Zhuang minority in Guangxi Autonomous Region.
Director: Su Li | Stars: Wanqiu Huang, Zongxue Xia, Ju-ke Zhang, Wen-jun Zhang
Votes: 203
71. The World (2004)
Not Rated | 143 min | Drama
An exploration on the impact of urbanization and globalization on a traditional culture.
Director: Zhangke Jia | Stars: Tao Zhao, Taishen Cheng, Jue Jing, Zhongwei Jiang
Votes: 3,490 | Gross: $0.06M
72. A World Without Thieves (2004)
113 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A con-team couple (Andy Lau & Rene Liu) head west after taking a city businessman for his BMW. But an encounter with a naive young carpenter travelling home with his life savings challenges their fate as thieves.
Director: Xiaogang Feng | Stars: Andy Lau, Rene Liu, Baoqiang Wang, You Ge
Votes: 5,542
73. The Black Cannon Incident (1985)
Not Rated | 96 min | Comedy
Engineer Zhao Shuxin likes playing chess a lot. Once during his business trip, he loses a black cannon chessman which leads to unexpected consequences for him.
Director: Jianxin Huang | Stars: Zifeng Liu, Ming Gao, Gerhard Olschewski, Hui Ge
Votes: 505
74. Winter Vacation (2010)
Not Rated | 91 min | Drama
An ordinary village in Northern China, the last day of the winter vacation. Four idle, aimless adolescents gather at Zhou Zhixin's home, a friend who lives with his father, brother and ... See full summary »
Director: Hongqi Li | Stars: Jinfeng Bai, Lei Bao, Hui Wang, Ying Xie
Votes: 343
75. House of Flying Daggers (2004)
PG-13 | 119 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
A romantic police captain breaks a beautiful member of a rebel group out of prison to help her rejoin her fellows, but things are not what they seem.
Director: Yimou Zhang | Stars: Ziyi Zhang, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Andy Lau, Dandan Song
Votes: 116,285 | Gross: $11.05M
76. If You Are the One (2008)
130 min | Comedy, Romance
After making a killing, Fen returns to China a rich man. After seeking a wife on internet, he meets many women but only likes air hostess Liang/Shu Qi, who's in love with a married man and only wants friendship.
Director: Xiaogang Feng | Stars: You Ge, Shu Qi, Wei Fan, Alex Fong
Votes: 3,784
77. People Mountain People Sea (2011)
91 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
A man is tracking down the murderer of his brother and this journey in many places made him facing his own troubles.
Director: Shangjun Cai | Stars: Jianbin Chen, Hong Tao, Xiubo Wu, Zhenjiang Bao
Votes: 233
78. 11 Flowers (2011)
Not Rated | 110 min | Crime, Drama, History
11-year-old Wang lives with his family in a remote village in China. Life is tough, but they make the most of what little they have. When Wang is selected to lead his school's daily ... See full summary »
Director: Xiaoshuai Wang | Stars: Jingchun Wang, Wenqing Liu, Guo Liuxing Zhong, Kexuan Zhang
Votes: 759
80. Disorder (2009)
Not Rated | 58 min | Documentary, News
Footage collected from a dozen amateur videographers woven into a unique city symphony of social dysfunction.
Director: Weikai Huang
Votes: 187
81. East Palace, West Palace (1996)
90 min | Drama
Before the 1990s P.R.China criminalized the LGBT population. Without family law and marriage law for the LGBT couples, many had to secretly encounter for sexual activities with the risk of police arrests.
Director: Yuan Zhang | Stars: Si Han, Jun Hu, Jing Ye, Wei Zhao
Votes: 1,087 | Gross: $0.05M
82. Secrets of the Heavenly Book (1983)
89 min | Animation
Yuangong, the deacon, opened the shrine and exposed the holy book to the human world. He also carved the contents of the book on the stone wall of white cloud cave in the mountains. He is ... See full summary »
Directors: Shuchen Wang, Yunda Qian | Stars: Jianhua Ding, Ke Bi, Xiu Su, Xiaohua Cheng
Votes: 567
83. Assembly (2007)
124 min | Action, Biography, Drama
A soldier fights to gain recognition for comrades who died during the Chinese Civil War.
Director: Xiaogang Feng | Stars: Hanyu Zhang, Chao Deng, Wenkang Yuan, Yan Tang
Votes: 7,337
84. Taitai Wansui (1947)
112 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
After setting up a new company with his father-in-law's money, a man neglects his supportive wife for a seductive gold digger.
Director: Hu Sang | Stars: Tianliu Jiang, Fa Zhang, Zhen Lin, Fei Han
Votes: 173
85. The Lin Family Shop (1959)
Not Rated | 85 min | Drama
A textile store in Zhejiang province encounters a series of trouble when the Japanese invade China and the war breaks out.
Director: Choui Khoua | Stars: Tian Xie, Bin Lin, Wei Ma, Tao Han
Votes: 155
86. Karamay (2010)
Not Rated | 356 min | Documentary
The film opens on the morning of December 8th 2007, in Karamay's Xiaoxihu cemetery. Daybreak casts a cold grey light over faraway mountains and the Gobi sands. As the camera moves from ... See full summary »
Director: Xin Xu
Votes: 131
87. Princess Iron Fan (1941)
Not Rated | 73 min | Animation, Fantasy
Three travelers needing to pass through a fiery mountain seek the magical fan of a princess, but she does not wish to part with it.
Directors: Wan Laiming, Guchan Wan | Stars: Guanxiang Liu, Chen Zhengfa, Zhou Jirang, Shi Fengai
Votes: 321
88. Fortune Teller (2010)
157 min | Documentary
Li Baicheng is a charismatic fortune teller who services a clientele of prostitutes and marginalized figures whose jobs, like his, are commonplace but technically illegal in China. He ... See full summary »
Director: Tong Xu
Votes: 174
90. Ermo (1994)
Not Rated | 98 min | Comedy, Drama
A woman gets obsessed with buying a television for her family.
Director: Xiaowen Zhou | Stars: Liya Ai, Peiqi Liu, Zhijun Ge, Haiyan Zhang
Votes: 462 | Gross: $0.06M
91. The Next Life (2011)
81 min | Documentary, Family
In the 2008 Sichuan Earthquake, 5,335 students were killed. As China has one-child policy, the earthquake took away the only child of many families. This film is about a mother -Ye Hongmei ... See full summary »
Director: Jian Fan
Votes: 19
92. Yu guang qu (1934)
56 min | Drama
About the trials and tribulations of the family of a poor fisherman.
Director: Chusheng Cai | Stars: Renmei Wang, Langen Han, Peng Luo, Congmei Yuan
Votes: 143
93. Lang tao sha (1936)
68 min | Crime
Returning home from a long voyage overseas, a man finds his wife and child living with another man. Fuelled by anger, he murders the other man and is forced to flee justice, until he faces death on a deserted island.
Director: Yonggang Wu | Stars: Yan Jin, Zhizhi Zhang
Votes: 60
94. Drug War (2012)
R | 107 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A drug cartel boss who is arrested in a raid is coerced into betraying his former accomplices as part of an undercover operation.
Director: Johnnie To | Stars: Louis Koo, Honglei Sun, Yi Huang, Michelle Ye
Votes: 10,865 | Gross: $0.13M
95. Last Train Home (2009)
Not Rated | 85 min | Documentary, Drama
A couple embarks on a journey home for Chinese new year along with 130 million other migrant workers, to reunite with their children and struggle for a future. Their unseen story plays out as China soars towards being a world superpower.
Director: Lixin Fan | Stars: Changhua Zhang, Yang Zhang, Suqin Chen, Qin Zhang
Votes: 3,717 | Gross: $0.29M
96. The Swordsman in Double Flag Town (1991)
91 min | Adventure, Western
A teenage lad arrives at Double Flag Town to claim his betrothed bride, when he encounters a group of outlaws and kills one of them. A vendetta is expected.
Director: Ping He | Stars: Wei Gao, Mana Zhao, Jiang Chang, Haiying Sun
Votes: 611
97. Beijing Bastards (1993)
88 min | Drama
A rock musician looks for his girl-friend who left while pregnant, trying to decide whether to keep the baby.
Director: Yuan Zhang | Stars: Jian Cui, Wen Li, Bian Tianshuo, Li Wei
Votes: 192
98. The September of Mine (1990)
88 min | Comedy, Drama
Before the Beijing Asian Games in 1990, a group of elementary school kids compete for the chance to participate in a martial arts performance for the opening ceremony. In this coming-of-age... See full summary »
Director: Li Yin | Stars: Danping Shen, Zeru Tao, Guoli Zhang, Meng Zhang
Votes: 44
99. The Message (2009)
118 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
Following a series of assassination attempts on officials of the Japanese-controlled puppet government in 1942 Nanjingn (Nanking), the Japanese spy chief gathers a group of suspects in a ... See full summary »
Directors: Kuo-Fu Chen, Qunshu Gao | Stars: Xun Zhou, Bingbing Li, Hanyu Zhang, Xiaoming Huang
Votes: 4,223
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