| Spring in a Small Town | |
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| Directed by | Fei Mu |
| Written by | Short story: Li Tianji |
| Starring | Wei Wei Zhang Hongmei Li Wei |
| Studio | Wenhua Film Company |
| Distributed by | United States (DVD): Cinema Epoch |
| Release date(s) | 1948 |
| Running time | 85 min. |
| Country | China |
| Language | Chinese (Mandarin) |
Spring in a Small Town (Chinese: 小城之春; pinyin: Xiǎochéng zhī chūn) was a Chinese film released in 1948 and directed by Fei Mu (Chinese: 费穆; pinyin: Fèi Mù). The film was based on a short story by Li Tianji (Chinese: 李天济; pinyin: Lǐ Tiānjì), and was produced by the Wenhua Film Company.
Though its reputation suffered after 1949 in the mainland after the Communist revolution, within the last 20 years it had become known as one of the greatest Chinese films ever made.
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Taking place in a ruined family compound after the war, the film tells the story of the once prosperous Dai family. The husband and patriarch, Dai Liyan (Shi Yu) is an invalid, and spends his days in the courtyard nostalgic for the past. His marriage to Zhou Yuwen (Wei Wei) has long been rendered loveless, though both still feel concern for the other. Liyan's young teenage sister Dai Xiu (Zhang Hongmei), meanwhile, is too young to remember the past, and stays cheerful and playful in the ruins of her home.
Into this dreary but unchanging existence comes Liyan's childhood friend Zhang Zhichen (Li Wei), a doctor from Shanghai and a former flame of Zhou Yuwen before she ever met her husband. The rest of the film details Zhou Yuwen's conflicting emotions between her love for Zhang, and her loyalty to her husband and his family.
Made after the war and the so-called "Solitary Island" period of Shanghai film-making, Spring in a Small Town, unlike its leftist predecessors of the 1930s, was a more intimate affair with only tangential references to the politics of the day. Indeed, the film can be distinguished from those earlier works by its more mature treatment of inter-personal conflicts, particularly in the sense that there are no villains or antagonists except for time and circumstance. Even the husband, who ostensibly stands between Zhou Yuwen and Zhang Zhichen's love, is an inherently decent and good human being.
Unfortunately, because of this apparent lack of "political" grounding, Spring in a Small Town was rejected by the Communists as rightist or reactionary, and was ignored following the Communist victory in China in 1949.[1] The film was only able to find its audience and had a resurgence in popularity after the China Film Archive made a new print in the early 1980s.[2] Today it is considered one of the classics of Chinese film, with the Hong Kong Film Awards Association naming it the greatest Chinese film ever made in 2005.[3] Sixth Generation film director Wang Chao also declared the film to be one of his favorites and Fei Mu the director he most admired.[4] In 2002, the film was remade by Tian Zhuangzhuang as Springtime in a Small Town.
Spring in a Small Town was released on Region 1 DVD on May 8, 2007 by Cinema Epoch. The disc features English subtitles.
An earlier all-region DVD version was also released in the United States by the Guangzhou Beauty Culture Communication Co.Ltd on December 1, 2006.
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   | A translated script - Spring in a Small Town |
| | AP article - "Spring in a Small Town" tops best 100 Chinese films in HK_taiwan_hk_English_SINA.com |
| | Five Questions for Wang Chao - Five Questions for Wang Chao, Director of Luxury Car -- china.org.cn |
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