No subtitle track in this language
Wikimedia Commons · United Photoplay Service · Public domain
No spoken dialogue. Intertitles: Chinese. No subtitle track in this language.
Audience rating
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Synopsis
To make a living, Huiying remarries and brings her daughter with her. The daughter, Xiaomei, becomes a singer under a musician's guidance. When Huiying's former husband returns from Southeast Asia, the family's hidden past resurfaces. Xiaomei's suffering after marriage forces her mother to travel to her aid, and both women begin to reconsider the ties between marriage, money and family affection.
Cast
DirectorsBu Wancang
Historical context
The film connects a Shanghai family with the lives of Chinese workers in Southeast Asia. Through the marriages of two generations, it questions the class dependence behind a comfortable life. Songs express suffering within the story, while the selected copy retains the narrative form of silent-film intertitles.
Sources and availability
The synopsis and editorial text were written for this collection. The references below were cross-checked to identify the film and its copy; each editorial section identifies its reference.
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.
- Li Zhuozhuo — Liangyou (The Young Companion), issue 92, 1934; original color-tinted cover photograph of Lai Cheuk-cheuk (Li Zhuozhuo), via Wikimedia Commons. · Public domain — PD-China and PD-1996
- Jin Yan — Unknown photographer, 1930s; Wikimedia Commons. · Public domain — PD-China and PD-1996
- Chen Yanyan — Liangyou (The Young Companion), issue 96, October 1934; Chen Yanyan is the standing actress, as identified by the English Wikipedia caption; via Wikimedia Commons. · Public domain — PD-China and PD-1996
