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Yellow Earth
Theatrical poster
Directed by	Chen Kaige
Written by	Chen Kaige Zhang Ziliang
Starring	Xue Bai Wang Xueqi Tan Tuo Tan Tuo
Music by	Zhao Jiping
Cinematography	Zhang Yimou
Release date(s)	1984
Running time	89 min.
Country
Language	Mandarin

Yellow Earth (simplified Chinese: 黄土地; traditional Chinese: 黃土地; pinyin: Huáng tǔ dì) is a 1984 Chinese drama film. It was the directorial debut for Chen Kaige. The film's notable cinematography is by Zhang Yimou. At the 24th Hong Kong Film Awards ceremony on 27 March 2005, a list of 100 Best Chinese Motion Pictures was tallied, and Yellow Earth came in fourth.^{[citation needed]}

Plot

Yellow Earth begins with showing a communist soldier walking several miles. He reaches a small village where he is assigned to live with a poor family with the task of recording local folk songs for use in the army later. He learns the hardships of peasant life and especially of that of a peasant girl named Cui Qiao. The story then focuses on the girl, who at only age 14 is forced to marry a significantly older man as her wedding dowry was used to pay for her mother's funeral and brother's engagement. The communist soldier "Brother Gu" attempts to dissuade Cui Qiao from running off and joining the CCP, but recognizes her despair. This is an allegory to the CCP and communism in general being unable to save all peasants from their fates. After her marriage, Qiao crosses the Yellow River at night. Her fate is unknown. The story then fast forwards to a rain dance being performed by the villagers, as the land has dried up and peoples' crops have died.

Characters

Father - The village farmer who is the father of Cui Qiao, holds strictly to tradition regardless of his girl's feelings. Beats girl after she complains about her future marriage.
Cui Qiao - The main character and protagonist in the film. Cui Qiao starts out working hard bringing water to the farm and cooking for the family, and washing people's feet.
Brother Gu - The Communist Party soldier who stays with Cui Qiao's family while fulfilling his mission to collect folk songs from the outer provinces.

References

External links

• Yellow Earth at the Internet Movie Database
• Yellow Earth at Allmovie
• Yellow Earth at the Chinese Movie Database
• Yellow Earth at Rotten Tomatoes

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