Dancing in the City

Beijing, 1970s. The Cultural Revolution has driven most adults to the provinces leaving 14-year-old Monkey and his pals with free rein over the city. They hang around, get up to no good, and discover that unsolvable mystery known as "girls."

A man in priestly robes, seemingly the long-awaited Father O'Shea, arrives at a little-frequented Catholic mission in 1947 China. Though the man seems curiously uncomfortable with his priestly duties, his tough tactics prove very successful in the Seven Villages, as around them China disintegrates in civil war and revolution. But he has a secret, and his friendship with mission nurse Anne (an attractive war widow) seems to be taking on an unpriestly tone.

After the massacre of his village, Zhang Xiaofan is taken in by the Qing Yun Sect where he begins his journey of cultivation. When he finds out the truth behind the deaths of his parents, he succumbs to his rage and demonic tendencies and becomes the enemy of Qing Yun Sect.

When her husband is kicked in the groin by the village head, Qiu Ju, a peasant woman, despite her pregnancy, travels to a nearby town, and later a big city to deal with its bureaucrats and find justice.

An inventor spurns his city life and moves his family into the jungles of Central America to make a utopia.

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.

The rigorous city life of China, while bustling and unforgiving, contains the everlasting memories of days past. Three stories told in three different cities, follow the loss of youth and the daunting realization of adulthood. Though reality may seem ever changing, unchangeable are the short-lived moments of one's childhood days. A plentiful bowl of noodles, the beauty of family and the trials of first love endure the inevitable flow of time, as three different characters explore the strength of bonds and the warmth of cherished memories. Within the disorder of the present world, witness these quaint stories recognize the comfort of the past, and attempt to revive the neglected flavors of youth.

China, during the rule of the Qing Dynasty. The arranged marriage between Wang Lung, a humble farmer, and O-Lan, a domestic slave, will endure the many hardships of life over the years; but the temptations of a fragile prosperity will endanger their love and the survival of their entire family.

An American WWI veteran undertakes a spiritual quest that takes him from Paris to Nepal to the Himalayas and back to his hometown. Upon his return, he discovers he is not the only one who has changed.

A bureaucrat interviews five souls to decide which of them will be given a life on Earth. But he soon faces an existential challenge of his own.

Yang Hui-zhen, a mysterious princess on the run from corrupt government officials, is joined in her endeavors by skilled Buddhist monks and an unambitious painter named Gu Sheng-zhai.

Based on a novel by the same name written by Gu Hua, a melodrama about the life and travails of a young woman who lives through the turmoil of the Cultural Revolution.