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  • 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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New Women 新女性 (1935)

The film:


What is the reality women face in Chinese society? What should it be? This “problem film” dramatizes the perils facing women seeking a public role in society, especially a predatory news media that treats them like commodities for public consumption. A film inspired by the recent suicide of actress Ai Xia (who appears in Spring Silkworms), the film became a sensation when lead actress Ruan Lingyu committed suicide on March 8, 1935–International Women’s Day.

Xin nüxing
Alternative English titles: New Woman, New Female
Produced by: United Photoplay Services, Ltd. (Lianhua yingye gongsi 聯華影業公司) (second studio)
Director: Cai Chusheng 蔡楚生
Screenplay: Sun Shiyi 孫師毅
Date of release: February 3, 1935
Cast: Ruan Lingyu 阮玲玉, Zheng Junli 鄭君里, Yin Xu 殷虛, Wang Naidong 王乃東
English subtitles translated by Eileen Cheng-yin Chow

Learn more:

See the video lectures and other material on the New Women (1935) module of the Chinese Film Classics online course.

New Women (1935) is discussed in chapter 6 of the book Chinese Film Classics, 1922-1949.

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Crows and Sparrows 烏鴉與麻雀 (1949)
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Spring River Flows East 一江春水向東流 (1947)
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Goddess 神女 (1934)
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Playthings 小玩意 (1933)
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Spring Silkworms 春蠶 (1933)
Silkworm farmers in southern China find themselves in desperate economic straits, despite a bumper harvest.

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A Dream in Pink 粉紅色的夢 (1932)
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The Peach Girl 桃花泣血記 (1931)
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Love and Duty 戀愛與義務 (1931)
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Don’t Change Your Husband 情海重吻 (1929)
A married woman falls for a playboy college student. Will she live happily ever after? And what about her husband? Who will set things right?

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