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OPEN CLASSIC CINEMA · 611

Daybreak

193397 minChina
DramaRomance

Synopsis

Two young people leave the countryside hoping to build a life in Shanghai. Factory work and city streets expose them to exploitation rather than the opportunity they imagined. Their paths separate, but affection and political upheaval bring them together again under circumstances that demand more than a private act of loyalty.

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Video edition
Internet Archive
Original language
No spoken dialogue. Intertitles: Chinese.
This copy runs
97:18
Subtitles
No subtitle track in this language

No spoken dialogue. Intertitles: Chinese. No subtitle track in this language.

Languages and subtitles

No subtitle track in this language

Internet Archive · Daybreak (天明) - Silent, English subtitles · Public domain (PDM)

Cast

DirectorsSun Yu

Historical context

Sun Yu uses the rural-to-urban journey to link personal misfortune with a wider social order. Li Lili’s physical expressiveness carries much of the argument in a film made during Shanghai’s transition from silent to sound production.

Sources and availability

General references identify the work and its copy. A reference beside an editorial section is linked to the claims checked in that section.

Virtual Shanghai · CNRSWikipediaChinese Film ClassicsWikimedia Commons · copyright referenceChina · Copyright Law, Article 23US Copyright Office · foreign works

Work catalogued as public domain in the United States.

The public-domain references concern the original films in the United States. Rights can differ for other countries, editions, restorations, music or translations. Sources are listed on each film page.

Availability checked on September 11, 2026.

Photograph credit

Photographs cropped, resized and optimized as WebP, displayed in monochrome.

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