Release CalendarDVD & Blu-ray ReleasesTop 250 MoviesMost Popular MoviesBrowse Movies by GenreTop Box OfficeShowtimes & TicketsIn TheatersComing SoonMovie NewsIndia Movie Spotlight
    What's on TV & StreamingTop 250 TV ShowsMost Popular TV ShowsBrowse TV Shows by GenreTV NewsIndia TV Spotlight
    What to WatchLatest TrailersIMDb OriginalsIMDb PicksIMDb Podcasts
    OscarsBest Picture WinnersBest Picture WinnersEmmysAPA Heritage MonthSTARmeter AwardsSan Diego Comic-ConNew York Comic-ConSundance Film FestivalToronto Int'l Film FestivalAwards CentralFestival CentralAll Events
    Born TodayMost Popular CelebsMost Popular CelebsCelebrity News
    Help CenterContributor ZonePolls
For Industry Professionals
  • All
  • Titles
  • TV Episodes
  • Celebs
  • Companies
  • Keywords
  • Advanced Search
Watchlist
Sign In
  • Fully supported
  • English (United States)
    Partially supported
  • Français (Canada)
  • Français (France)
  • Deutsch (Deutschland)
  • हिंदी (भारत)
  • Italiano (Italia)
  • Português (Brasil)
  • Español (España)
  • Español (México)

East Palace, West Palace

Original title: Dong gong xi gong
  • 19961996
  • 1h 30m
IMDb RATING
6.3/10
990
YOUR RATING
  • Cast & crew
  • User reviews
  • Trivia
  • IMDbPro
Dong gong xi gong (1996)
  • 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 p... Read allBefore 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.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.
IMDb RATING
6.3/10
990
YOUR RATING
  • Director
    • Yuan Zhang
  • Writers
    • Xiaobo Wang
    • Yuan Zhang
  • Stars
    • Si Han
    • Jun Hu
    • Jing Ye
Top credits
  • Director
    • Yuan Zhang
  • Writers
    • Xiaobo Wang
    • Yuan Zhang
  • Stars
    • Si Han
    • Jun Hu
    • Jing Ye
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 14User reviews
    • 13Critic reviews
  • See production, box office & company info
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 4 wins & 1 nomination

    Photos144

    Dong gong xi gong (1996)
    Dong gong xi gong (1996)
    Dong gong xi gong (1996)
    Si Han and Jun Hu in Dong gong xi gong (1996)
    Si Han and Jun Hu in Dong gong xi gong (1996)
    Si Han and Jun Hu in Dong gong xi gong (1996)
    Dong gong xi gong (1996)
    Wei Zhao in Dong gong xi gong (1996)
    Jun Hu in Dong gong xi gong (1996)
    Jun Hu in Dong gong xi gong (1996)
    Jun Hu in Dong gong xi gong (1996)
    Dong gong xi gong (1996)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Si Han
    • A Lanas A Lan
    Jun Hu
    Jun Hu
    • Xiao Shias Xiao Shi
    Jing Ye
    Wei Zhao
    Wei Zhao
    • Director
      • Yuan Zhang
    • Writers
      • Xiaobo Wang
      • Yuan Zhang
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
    • All cast & crew

    More like this

    Lan Yu
    7.1
    Lan Yu
    Blue Gate Crossing
    7.4
    Blue Gate Crossing
    Suzhou River
    7.4
    Suzhou River
    Rouge
    7.3
    Rouge
    Center Stage
    7.4
    Center Stage
    No Man's Land
    7.3
    No Man's Land
    Green Snake
    7.2
    Green Snake
    Dear Ex
    7.3
    Dear Ex
    Vive L'Amour
    7.4
    Vive L'Amour
    Jia fang yi fang
    7.3
    Jia fang yi fang
    Eternal Summer
    7.0
    Eternal Summer
    The Wedding Banquet
    7.6
    The Wedding Banquet

    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      In 1997 the Chinese government put director 'Zhang, Yuan' under house arrest and confiscated his passport. His friends smuggled this movie out of the country so it could be shown at the 1997 Cannes film festival.
    • Connections
      Referenced in Century of Cinema: Naamsaang-neuiseung (1998)

    User reviews14

    Review
    Top review
    10/10
    the metaphor of subordination in East Palace West Palace
    East Palace West Palace is an excellent film for its subtle attention to the relation of power and subordination in modern China. Set in present day Bejing, it boldly shirks the trend of the "fifth-generation" Chinese directors to ignore contemporary issues. Among the more daring of those films, To Live and The Blue Kite presented us with the dehumanization on which China's current population was founded; EPWP explores the inhumanity it faces now.

    The main characters evince the respective macrocosms of the subordinated Chinese civilian populace and its privileged oppressors. A Lan is a gay man, rounded up in a park near the Forbidden City by Xiao Shi, a police officer. The plot involves A Lan's night-long interrogation, involving flashbacks of his hard life. The film is not sympathetic to homosexuality, despite its casual screenings at gay festivals, exuberant to find identification in a foreign culture. Rather, it uses homosexuality as a portrayal of weakness and subordination, to a powerful end. The film's telling message resides in a philosophy I've explored in the writings of Gandhi and James Joyce--that a repressed society is always in someway responsible for its own domination. Xiao Shi finds A Lan's homosexuality reprehensible, but the detached, scrawny, weak A Lan eventually falls in "love" with him. In China, everyone is in some way a catamite of state power. As A Lan has been arrested for the night, so the Chinese have been ensnared in a dark age. As dawn approaches, the film builds to a confusing, frightful, bitter, and ultimately moving catharsis. It is not afraid to look forward, into the rising sun.
    helpful•9
    3
    • singh
    • May 8, 1999

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • July 24, 1998 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • China
    • Language
      • Mandarin
    • Also known as
      • Behind the Forbidden City
    • Production companies
      • Amazon Entertainment Ltd.
      • Hubert Bals Fund
      • Ministrère de la Culture Français
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Gross US & Canada
      • $46,470
    • Opening weekend US & Canada
      • $28,024
      • Sep 11, 1998
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      1 hour 30 minutes
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • Dolby SR
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.85 : 1

    Related news

    Contribute to this page

    Suggest an edit or add missing content
    Dong gong xi gong (1996)
    Top Gap
    By what name was Dong gong xi gong (1996) officially released in Canada in English?
    Answer
    • See more gaps
    • Learn more about contributing
    Edit page

    More to explore

    View list
    List
    The Best Movies and Shows to Watch in May
    See the full list
    View list
    List
    2022 TV Guide: The Best Shows Coming This Year
    See the full list

    Recently viewed

    Please enable browser cookies to use this feature. Learn more.
    Get the IMDb App
    • Get the IMDb App
    • Help
    • Site Index
    • IMDbPro
    • Box Office Mojo
    • IMDb Developer
    • Press Room
    • Advertising
    • Jobs
    • Conditions of Use
    • Privacy Policy
    • Interest-Based Ads

    © 1990-2022 by IMDb.com, Inc.