| Native Name: |
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| Director: | Bu Wancang | ||||||||||
| Producer: | Lay Min Wei | ||||||||||
| Cinematography: | Wong Siao Fen | ||||||||||
| Studio: | Lianhua Film Company | ||||||||||
| Runtime: | 100 min. (at 20 frames per second) | ||||||||||
| Country: | Republic of China | ||||||||||
| Language: | Silent film, with Traditional Chinese and English intertitles |
The Peach Girl, also known as Peach Blossom Weeps Tears of Blood,[1] [2] is a 1931 silent film written and directed by Bu Wancang. The cast included some of the major movie stars of the periods including the Korean-born actor Jin Yan and the actresses Ruan Lingyu and Zhou Lili.
The film was produced by the Lianhua Film Company and proved an early success for the studio, in no small part due to the on screen combination of Jin and Ruan, the so-called "Valentino" and "Garbo" of Shanghai cinema, and who starred together in several vehicles before Ruan's suicide in 1935.
A print of the film is currently maintained by the China Film Archives.
The Peach Girl follows the relationship of King Teh-en (Jin Yan), the son of a wealthy landowner, and Miss Lim (Ruan Lingyu), the daughter of a poor herder.
The film is set in rural China, where Teh-en and Miss Lim share a close friendship during their childhood despite the social gap between their families. As they grow older, their bond deepens into a passionate romance. However, Teh-en's mother, who holds traditional views on class, vehemently opposes their relationship. She demands that Teh-en cease all interactions with Miss Lim and the less privileged villagers. Defying his mother’s wishes, Teh-en continues to see Miss Lim in secret. Teh-en decides to take Miss Lim to the city, hoping to keep their relationship away from prying eyes. However, their romance is discovered, and Teh-en's mother forces him to send Miss Lim away. Unable to deny his feelings, Teh-en hides Miss Lim in his private villa, promising to marry her. Miss Lim's father, worried about her absence, finds them together and forces the couple to confront Teh-en’s mother. Teh-en's mother offers money to Miss Lim’s father and fires him from his job. Teh-en is eventually coerced into an arranged marriage with a woman of his own class, leaving Miss Lim heartbroken and abandoned. Miss Lim, now alone, discovers she is pregnant and returns home in shame. She gives birth to her child but soon becomes terminally ill. Her father, having lost his job, struggles to care for her and the newborn. An elderly man in the village proposes to Miss Lim, hoping to take advantage of her vulnerable state, but she refuses. Teh-en learns of Miss Lim's condition and rushes to see her, defying his mother's wishes. He arrives as Miss Lim is on her deathbed, and she dies shortly after his arrival. After Miss Lim's death, Teh-en's mother, moved by the tragedy, accepts the child into the family. She allows Miss Lim’s grave to be placed on the family’s land, acknowledging the bond between Teh-en and Miss Lim.
The Peach Girl explores significant themes such as love, class struggle, and societal expectations. It centres on forbidden romance and portrays the tragic consequences of defying social norms, including Miss Lim’s pregnancy, illness, and eventual death. King Teh-en’s character represents the weakness and moral decay of the upper class, while his mother's eventual acceptance of Miss Lim's child offers a form of redemption.
The first VCD and DVD rereleases of the film in mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan all used the same battered, cropped, dark prints. The new DVD versions of Peach Girl use 35mm prints provided by The China Film Archive, in which the image is not cropped. Those versions used are the most complete available.[4]
The film was remade in 1957 into a Hokkien-language Singaporean-Hong Kong film, Peach Blossom Weeps Blood, which was directed by Chen Huanwen (陳煥文) and starring Kong Fan (江帆), Pai Yun (白雲), Lin Yanyan (林燕燕) and Ivy Ling Po (then using the stage name Xiaojuan 小娟).