Chen Kaige

Chen Kaige (born August 12, 1952, Beijing, China) is a Chinese film director noted for his realistic, sensitive, compassionate, and unflinching view of the lives and hopes of Chinese people. He is best known for the award-winning film Bawang bieji (1993; Farewell My Concubine).

Chen was the son of teacher and filmmaker Chen Huai’ai. In 1967 he was sent to rural Yunnan province to work on a rubber plantation. During his time among the impoverished workers there, Chen was indelibly impressed by the vast differences between the aspirations of the peasants and the harsh reality of their lives. After leaving Yunnan, Chen began a five-year stint in the army, which included a brief tour in Laos. When he returned to Beijing in 1975, he elected to pursue a career in film rather than a university degree with a major in poetry. In 1978 he entered the Beijing Film Academy, which had just reopened after the Cultural Revolution (1966–76). Not long after his graduation, Chen became a leading member of what became known as the “fifth generation” of Chinese filmmakers.

Chen’s first film, Huang tudi (1984; Yellow Earth), won critical acclaim. It tells the story of a communist soldier who visits a village to collect old songs. This film was followed the next year by Dayuebing (The Big Parade), which depicts young soldiers training for a military parade in Beijing. Haizi wang (1987; King of the Children) is the story of a young teacher sent to a squalid rural school “to learn from the peasants.” Chen’s fourth film, Bienzou bienchang (1991; Life on a String), chronicles the deeds of a blind storyteller and his blind apprentice as they roam the countryside.

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Farewell My Concubine follows the lives of two Peking opera actors, Cheng Dieyi (played by Leslie Cheung) and Duan Xiaolou (Fengyi Zhang), from their youth and rigorous training in the 1920s to the years after the traumatic Cultural Revolution. Starring the much-loved actress Gong Li as Juxian, the woman who comes between the men, the film was noteworthy for its honest depiction of homosexual love and society’s role in the betrayal of loved ones. Farewell My Concubine shared (with Jane Campion’s The Piano) the Cannes film festival’s Palme d’Or in 1993; it was the first Chinese film to win the award. The film was also honoured at the festival with a prize from the International Federation of Film Critics “for its brilliant combination of the spectacular and the intimate.”

The enthusiastic response the film received abroad was not matched at home. In July 1993 the Chinese government banned an already-censored version after a two-week run in Shanghai and a single showing in Beijing. Authorities cited homosexual conduct as justification for the ban. Discouraged by this rebuke, Chen set aside plans for two works on the Cultural Revolution. A month later, however, the film reopened in China with additional editing that did not substantially alter the basic story line and preserved the final scene—a suicide.

Chen subsequently directed the romance Fengyue (1996; Temptress Moon) and the historical drama Jing Ke ci Qinwang (1998; The Emperor and the Assassin) before venturing into English-language cinema with the poorly received thriller Killing Me Softly (2002). He returned to a focus on Chinese subjects with the sentimental He ni zai yiqi (2002; Together), the martial arts epic Wuji (2005; The Promise), and Mei Lanfang (2008; Forever Enthralled), a biography of the titular theatrical performer. Demonstrating his range, Chen followed Zhaoshi guer (2010; Sacrifice), which was based on a 13th-century zaju (a Chinese dramatic form), with Sousuo (2012; Caught in the Web), a commentary on the social effects of modern technology. His later films included the martial arts drama Dao shi xia shan (2015; Monk Comes Down the Mountain) and Kûkai (2017; Legend of the Demon Cat), a fantasy set during the Tang dynasty. In addition, Chen codirected Chang jin hu (2021; The Battle at Lake Changjin), about a military campaign in the Korean War; hugely popular, the war epic set records at the Chinese box office.