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OPEN CLASSIC CINEMA · 614

The Goddess

193479 minChina

Video edition: YouTube
Original language: No spoken dialogue. Intertitles: Chinese.
This copy runs: 78:30
Subtitles: Subtitles embedded in the picture

Languages and subtitles

Subtitles embedded in the picture

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Synopsis

A mother in Shanghai works at night to pay for her young son’s future. A violent man takes control of her earnings, while prejudice threatens the boy’s place at school. She fights to preserve the ordinary life she wants for him in a city that judges her occupation more readily than it recognizes her care.

Cast

Ruan Lingyu

Zhang Zhizhi

Li Keng

Li Junpan

DirectorsWu Yonggang

Historical context

Wu Yonggang’s directorial debut makes the mother’s point of view central to its critique of social hypocrisy. Ruan Lingyu’s restrained gestures and the contrast between street and home give the silent drama much of its force.

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 · CNRS Wikipedia Chinese Film Classics Wikimedia Commons · copyright reference China · Copyright Law, Article 23 US Copyright Office · foreign works Internet Archive · film copy Wikimedia Commons · film copy

Work catalogued as public domain in the United States.

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Availability checked on September 11, 2026.

Photograph credit

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

Ruan Lingyu — Chen Jiazhen (陈嘉震), 1935, 中国电影女明星照相集; Wikimedia Commons. · Public domain — PD-China and PD-1996

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