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  • Directory of Early Chinese Films
  • Chinese Film Classics Course
    • About the Course
    • Module 1: Laborer’s Love (1922)
    • Module 2: Sports Queen (1934)
    • Module 3: Goddess (1934)
    • Module 4: The Great Road (1934)
    • Module 5: New Women (1935)
    • Module 6: Song at Midnight (1937)
    • Module 7: Street Angels (1937)
    • Module 8: Long Live the Missus! (1947)
    • Module 9: Spring River Flows East (1947)
    • Module 10: Spring in a Small Town (1948)
    • Module 11: Crows and Sparrows (1949)
    • Module 12: Course Wrap-Up
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Goddess 神女 (1934)

The film:

Shennü
Alternative English title: The Goddess
Written and directed by Wu Yonggang
Lianhua Film Studio
Released date: December 7, 1934
Cast: Ruan Lingyu, Li Keng, Zhang Zhizhi, Li Junpan
English subtitles translated by Christopher Rea

Widely regarded as the finest Chinese silent film, Goddess is a stylistic masterpiece. A single mother working as a streetwalking prostitute finds herself trapped in a relationship with a thuggish gambler, and desperately fights to escape. How should society respond to her sacrifices? An exemplary melodrama featuring legendary actress Ruan Lingyu at her most radiant. Child actor Li Keng (Henry Lai, Lai Hang) also appears in films Sports Queen (1934) and Song of China (1935).

Learn more

Watch the video lectures and see other related content in Module 3 of the Chinese Film Classics course.

Goddess is discussed in chapter 4 of the book Chinese Film Classics, 1922-1949.

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Teaching Resources for Early Chinese Cinema
The Chinese Film Classics Project is a research, teaching, and translation initiative aimed at making early Chinese cinema more accessible to the general public

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Chinese Film Classics, 1922-1929 (2021), by Christopher Rea
An essential guide to the first golden age of Chinese cinema, offering detailed introductions to fourteen films.

Chinese Film Classics 1922-1949 by Christopher Rea

Ruan Lingyu 阮玲玉
Ruan Lingyu is one of the most iconic actors of China's silent cinema age.

Ruan Lingyu photo in New Women 1935

Ruan Ling-Yu (2005), by Richard J. Meyer
Ruan Ling-yu: The Goddess of Shanghai tells the story of one of the greatest Chinese movie stars of the silent era from humble origins to tragic death at the height of her career.

Ruan Ling-Yu 2005 by Richard J Meyer

New Women 新女性 (1935)
A contemporary social drama about “the woman question.” What are women’s lives like in China today? And what should they be?

New Women 1935

The Peach Girl 桃花泣血記 (1931)
The Peach Girl co-stars Ruan Lingyu and Jin Yan as lovers in rural China tragically separated by social class.

The Peach Girl (1931)

Love and Duty 戀愛與義務 (1931)
A romantic melodrama with paternalistic overtones, Love and Duty was the first Lianhua film to showcase the chemistry between Ruan Lingyu and Jin Yan.

Love and Duty 1931

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