Hibiscus Town

Cast

Liu Xiaoqing as Hu Yuyin, the film's heroine, a young woman who is caught up in the political turmoil of China's Cultural Revolution. She originally sells rice beancurd with her husband.

Liu Linian as Li Guigui, Yuyin's first husband

Jiang Wen as Qin Shutian, a "bourgeoisie" rightist who falls in love with Yuyin

Zheng Zaishi as Gu Yanshan, the granary director

Zhu Shibin as Wang Qiushe

Xu Songzi as Li Guoxiang

Zhang Guangbei as Li Mangeng

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. She is happily married and runs a successful roadside food stall selling spicy beancurd. 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 sends a Party work-team to root out Rightists and capitalist roaders. 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, 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), who had come in the 1950s to collect local folksongs but was declared to be one of the Five Black Categories. 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 and it is not until Deng Xiaoping'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.

Reception

The film was very well received domestically and was voted by Chinese film audiences as one of the three best films of 1987. It remains however quite obscure outside China.

Gilbert Adair 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, 1987

Best Film

Best Actress — Liu Xiaoqing

Best Supporting Actress — Xu Songzi

Best Art Direction— Jin Qifen

Hundred Flowers Awards, 1987

Best Film — tied with Sun Zhongshan and Xue zhan Taierzhuang

Best Actor — Jiang Wen

Best Actress — Liu Xiaoqing

Best Supporting Actor — Zhu Shibin

Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, 1988

Crystal Globe, Grand Prix