| A City of Sadness | |
|---|---|
 Taiwanese film poster | |
| Chinese | 悲情城市 |
| Literal meaning | City of sadness |
| Hanyu Pinyin | bēiqíng chéngshì |
| Directed by | Hou Hsiao-hsien |
| Written by | Wu Nien-jen Chu T’ien-wen |
| Produced by | Chiu Fu-sheng |
| Starring | Tony Leung Chiu-wai Xin Shufen Chen Sung-young Jack Kao Li Tian-lu |
| Cinematography | Chen Hwai-en |
| Edited by | Liao Ching-sung |
| Music by | S.E.N.S. |
Production company | 3-H Films |
| Distributed by | Era Communications (Int'l rights) |
Release dates |
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Running time | 157 minutes |
| Country | Taiwan |
| Languages | Taiwanese Mandarin Japanese Cantonese Shanghainese |
A City of Sadness (Chinese:悲情城市;pinyin:Bēiqíng chéngshì) is a 1989 Taiwanesehistorical drama directed byHou Hsiao-hsien. It tells the story of the Lin family embroiled in the "White Terror" that was wrought on theTaiwanese people by theKuomintang government (KMT) after their arrival frommainland China in the late 1940s, during which thousands of Taiwanese and recent exiles from the Mainland were rounded up, shot, and/or sent to prison. The film was the first to deal openly with the KMT's authoritarian misdeeds after its 1945 takeover ofTaiwan, which had been relinquished followingJapan's defeat inWorld War II, and the first to depict theFebruary 28 Incident of 1947, in which thousands of people were massacred by the KMT.
A City of Sadness was the first (of three) Taiwanese films to win theGolden Lion award at theVenice Film Festival, and is often considered Hou's masterpiece.[1] The film was selected as the Taiwanese entry for theBest Foreign Language Film at the62nd Academy Awards, but was not accepted as a nominee.[2]
This film is regarded as the second installment in theWu Nien-jen trilogy as well as the first installment in a loose trilogy of Hsiao-Hsien's films that deal with Taiwanese history, which also includesThe Puppetmaster (1993) andGood Men, Good Women (1995). These films are collectively called the "Taiwan Trilogy" by academics and critics.[3]
AsEmperor Hirohito announcesJapan's unconditional surrender in World War II, the Lin family headed by Lin Ah-lu (Li Tian-lu) is in Keelung, a coastal town nearTaipei, to celebrate the opening of their nightclub and gambling house called ‘Little Shanghai’, operated by the first son, Wen-hsiung (Chen Sung-young). The same day, the young nurse Hinomi (Hsin Shu-fen) arrives to take her new position at Kinguichu Miners’ Hospital, where her brother Hinoe has asked his friend, Wen-ching (Tony Leung), the deaf fourth son of the Lin family, to meet her.
As the Japanese are leaving the island, Hinomi parts with her friend, Shizuko (Nakamura Ikuyo), and spends time with Hinoe (Wu Yi-fang) and his socialist friends. Wen-liang, the Lin family’s third son (Jack Kao) returns to Taiwan, shellshocked from his experience serving in the Japanese army. Once he recovers, he links up with Taiwanese gangster ‘Red Monkey’ (Ai Tsu-tu) and a Shanghainese mob, who convince him to take part in a smuggling operation which involves Wen-hsiung’s shipping business. Red Monkey introduces Ah-ga (Kenny Cheung), the brother of Wen-hsiung’s concubine to the bar hostess Ah-tsun, and attempts to involve him in the distribution of counterfeit Japanese money. Shortly thereafter, Red Monkey is killed and the money disappears. Wen-hsiung inadvertently discovers Ah-ga, Wen-liang, and their gangster friends from Shanghai have used his ships and storehouse to smuggle illegal goods, and demands they halt their criminal activities.
Later in a gambling house, Wen-liang recognises Ah-tsun, now under the ‘protection’ of one of the mainland gangsters, Kim-tsua, and unsuccessfully demands she provide his share of Red Monkey's money, leading to the gangsters to beat Wen-liang up. Despite an attempt at mediation, the Shanghai gang use their mainland connections to denounce the Lin brothers as Japanese collaborators. While Wen-hsiung escapes, Wen-liang is arrested by Nationalist soldiers. Wen-hsiung and Ah-ga organise a meeting with the Shanghai gangsters to obtain his release. However, Wen-liang has been tortured in jail, and suffers brain damage as a result.
Hinomi and Wen-ching develop a special friendship as she spends more time with the Lin household. She also befriends Ah-shue (Huang Tsien-ru), one of Wen-hsiung’s daughters.
TheFebruary 28 Incident of 1947 occurs, in which thousands of Taiwanese protesting against Kuomintang rule, are massacred. AsChen Yi, the chief executive of Taiwan, declaresmartial law, Hinomi and Hinoe seek refuge in their parents’ ancestral home, but their father orders Hinoe to find another hiding place. From Hinomi's correspondence with Ah-shue, she learns Wen-ching was arrested at the Kinguichu Miners' Hospital. In prison, Wen-ching learns the Kuomintang are conducting summary trials and executions. He is released and visits the widow of one of his cellmates who was executed, before tracking down Hinoe, who has married and joined an anti-Kuomintang guerilla group in the mountains. Wen-ching attempts to join Hinoe, who refuses and tells Wen-ching Hiromi loves him. Upon Wen-ching's return to the Lin family house, he finds Hinomi involved in domestic chores there.
Wen-ching informs Hiromi he found Hinoe during his trip. Wen-hsiung, restless on account of having closed the business after the events of February and March, scolds him for not proposing to Hinomi and storms out of the house to gamble with Ah-ga. In the gambling house, Ah-ga confronts one of the gangsters responsible for Wen-liang’s arrest, and a fight ensues in which Wen-hsiung is killed. Shortly after Wen-hsiung’s funeral, Hinomi and Wen-ching marry, and Hinomi gives birth to a boy, Ah-chien.
The couple continue to provide covert funding to Hinoe's resistance group, but the government soon defeats and executes almost all of the guerilla forces, including Hinoe. A survivor informs Wen-ching of this, but Hinomi notes they have nowhere to flee to. Wen-ching is arrested and disappeared by the government for his involvement with the guerillas soon after. In a letter to Ah-shue, Hinomi writes she has searched for news of Wen-ching around Taipei, but cannot find him.
During the Japanese colonial period (1895–1945), Taiwan had limited contact with mainland China. Thus, when control of Taiwan was transferred to the Republic of China (ROC), led by the Kuomintang (KMT) government at the end of the Second World War, the people of Taiwan faced major political, social, cultural, and economic adjustments. Cultural and social tensions built up between the Taiwanese and mainlanders during these years. Political distrust also intensified between Taiwanese elites and the Provincial Administration headed by Governor Chen Yi.
Meanwhile, in the late 1940s, the Nationalist government was engaged in a civil war against the Communists on the mainland. The Chinese economy deteriorated rapidly, and the post-war economic situation in Taiwan worsened daily. An increasing number of illegal activities took place across the Taiwan Strait, and social disturbances—resulting from unemployment, food shortages, poverty, and housing issues—became imminent.[4]
One of the restrictions implemented at the time was the ban of cigarette trading. The immediate story begins in the front of a tea house in Taipei the day before, on February 27, 1947, when agents from the Tobacco Monopoly Bureau confiscated a Taiwanese female cigarette vendor's illegal cigarettes as well as her money, and then beat her over the head with a pistol while attempting to arrest her. An angry crowd swarmed the agents, prompting one official to open fire on the crowd, killing a bystander. The news triggered mass protests the following morning on February 28; more people were killed by the police and it quickly turned into a large-scale riot.[5]While many local Taiwanese took this as an opportunity to seek revenge on mainlanders, Governor Chen Yi issued martial law and requested Nationalist troops to be sent over from mainland to suppress the incident. For the following 38 years, Taiwan was placed under martial law in a period that is now known as the "White Terror" period. Consequently, a generation of Taiwanese local elites were arrested and killed. It was estimated that between 10,000 and 20,000 people died as a result of the 2/28 incident, with more people dying or going missing during the White Terror. The trauma of 2/28 haunted Taiwan's politics and society and soured the relationship between the Taiwanese and mainlanders for several decades.[4]
| No. | Name |
|---|---|
| 01 | 悲情城市～A City Of Sadness |
| 02 | Hiromi～Flute Solo |
| 03 | 文清のテーマ |
| 04 | Hiromiのテーマ |
| 05 | 悲情城市～Variation 2 |
| 06 | 凛～Dedicated To Hou Hsiao-Hsien |
Sourced from Xiami Music.[6]
A City of Sadness was filmed on location inJiufen, a former Japanese and declined gold mining town that continued to operate in the postwar period until the 1960s. Jiufen is located in the northeast of Taiwan, an area isolated from the rest of Taipei County and Yilan County. There are only rough county roads and a local commuter railway line connecting Jiufen to the outside world, which designated a low priority for urban revitalization and land development.[citation needed] Jiufen's hillside communities were constructed before the modern zoning codes were put in place, and therefore provided a small Taiwanese town feeling and atmosphere that symbolizes the historical period that is presented in the plot ofA City of Sadness.[7]
Hou remembers Jiufen fondly as he traveled to Jiufen through a tourist gaze when he was young. The shooting of the scenes of train travel to Jiufen particularly evoked his nostalgic rhetoric and joyful memories of a high school trip to Jiufen with his school friends. Hou noted that the train in Taiwan is a very important mode of transportation and he would ride the train a lot. It is very hard for him to forget the connection between him and the trains, so the train tracks appear multiple times in the film.[7]
The film's release brought widespread attention to its shooting locations, particularly Jiufen and Jinguashi. These former mining towns, once in decline, became popular tourist destinations in the 1990s, largely due to the film’s portrayal of their nostalgic atmosphere and historical landscape.[8]
By the 1980s, the New Taiwanese Cinema movement was moving towards not just creating films for the people of Taiwan, but also for a larger, international audience. Directors Hou Hsiao-hsien andEdward Yang noted that they wanted to emulate the popularity ofHong Kong cinema, which revolved around high quality productions with strong star power to back it up.[3] InA City of Sadness, Hou relied primarily on foreign investment, particularly from Japan. Japanese technology, techniques, and facilities were used in the post-production and resulted in what critic and producer Zhan Hongzhi described as an aspect of "high-quality" that could draw in international viewership.[3] Another aspect of this plan was star power, reflected in one of the principal characters, Wen-ching, being played by then rising Hong Kong film starTony Leung.[3] The intention behind this was to increaseHong Kong andOverseas Chinese viewership. The film also used an array of different languages, chieflyTaiwanese Hokkien,Cantonese,Japanese, andShanghainese as a way to promote the cultural diversity of the cast and reflectively, of Taiwan to a global audience, which stands in contrast to many earlier films being only in Mandarin Chinese, due to thegovernments promotion of Mandarin as the national language.[3]
Hou Hsiao-hsien was interested in creating a film that could tell a story about a family, specifically during the 228 Incident and the White Terror by a few reasons. He cited how the death ofChiang Ching-kuo in 1988 and the lifting of martial law the year prior made it an appropriate time to address the 228 Incident, which Hou felt had been covered up by the government. He noted how books were not available on the subject and he wanted to provide a vantage point about the story through the lens of a family.[9]
Hou Hsiao-hsien wrote:
"Everybody knew about the 228 Incident. Nobody would say anything, at least in public, but behind closed doors everyone was talking about it, especially in theTangwai Movement [..] The 228 Incident was already known, so I was more interested in filming a time of transition, and the changes in a family during a change in regime. This was the main thing I wanted to capture...There's been too much political intervention. We should go back to history itself for a comprehensive reflection, but politicians like to use this tragedy as an ATM, making a withdrawal from it whenever they want. It's awful. So no matter what point of view I took with the film, people would still criticize it. I was filming events that were still taboo, I had a point of view, and no matter what, I was filming from the point of view of people and a family... Of course it's limited by the filmmaker's vision and attitude. I can only present a part of the atmosphere of the time."[9]
According to scriptwriter Chu Tien-Wen's book, the original premise of the film was the reunion of an ex-gangster (which Hou Hsiao-Hsien intended to castChow Yun-fat for the role) and his former lover (supposedly played byYang Li-Hua, the top Taiwanese Opera actress in real-life) in 1970s. Hou and Chu then extended the story to involve substantial flashbacks of the calamity of the woman's family in late 1940s (where the woman was the teenage daughter of Chen Song-Yong's character). They then abandoned the former premise and instead focused on the 1940s' story.
"A City of Sadness" is the first film that Hou Hsiao-hsien conducted extensive historical research on, focusing on reconstructing the emotional landscape and atmosphere of postwar Taiwan. By turning private, intimate family experiences into collective memory, the film indirectly reflects the political reality of the late 1940s. Although it engages with the past, it is not trapped by it. Audiences of different generations and backgrounds have found ways to connect with the characters, prompting diverse interpretations and critical reflection.[10]
The movie includes many Chinese dialects, such asSouthern Min,Cantonese andShanghainese, which make this film pellucid for different groups of people.Ming-Yeh T. Rawnsley explains that "by representing the political reality of the late 1940s indirectly,A City of Sadness deals with the past, but is not trapped by the past, and is able to achieve a sense of objectiveness and authenticity."[4] The use of dialects and historical facts can make audiences have a connection to characters within the film, and ensure the objectiveness and authenticity. The film also functions as a form of resistance as those with less power are able to diminish claims by other classes.
Wen-ching'sdeafness andmuteness began as an expedient way to disguise Tony Leung's inability to speak Taiwanese (or Japanese—the language taught in Taiwan's schools during the 51-year Japanese rule), but wound up being an effective means to demonstrate the brutal insensitivity of Chen Yi's ROC administration.[11] As he communicated through other means (photographs, pen and paper) he is often playing the role of an observer. His inability to speak could mirror Taiwan being silenced by its oppressors.
Sound plays an important role in the film as the opening scene is shot in darkness, with the only sound being Emperor Hirohito on the radio broadcast. Throughout the film, the use of Japanese language is cultural, as it represents the experiences of the Taiwanese and their cultural identity. Most of the characters would not be able to understand much Japanese as they would not have lived through 51 years of Japanese rule. This is why the native characters speak Taiwanese with some Japanese words mixed into their speech.[12]
Hou Hsiao‑Hsien's film narrative style is extremely rare in the history of film. His style shows a characteristic called self‑restraint.A City of Sadness is the most obvious representative of his film narrative style. Hou Hsiao‑Hsien often uses the defined frame in his film shooting process. For example, the most typical example inA City of Sadness is the scene shot in the hospital lobby. The restriction of the camera to a predetermined axis and the geometry of the space, the space is not only divided into a graphic plane, but the size and shape of the screen itself also changes according to the different narratives. This picture‑in‑picture composition emphasizes the graphic quality of the picture.[13]
Hou Hsiao‑hsien frequently uses long takes inA City of Sadness, with an average shot length of around 43 seconds. These extended shots reduce visual interruption and enhance the film’s realism and emotional depth. By allowing scenes to unfold slowly, Hou draws viewers into the characters' world and emphasizes a sense of historical observation. The long takes also reflect the film’s contemplative tone and the silenced experiences of its characters.[14]
The film frequently uses silence and visual expression to convey themes of oppression and trauma. Wen‑ching's muteness is not only a character trait but also a symbolic device reflecting the silenced voices of Taiwanese people during the White Terror. Hou Hsiao‑hsien uses non‑verbal cues—such as gestures, facial expressions, and spatial composition—to substitute for spoken dialogue in many emotionally charged scenes.[15]
The violent scenes in the incident unfold mainly on a train. Taiwanese protesters resist the Mainlander‑led regime in a blunt way: they question travelers first in Minnan (Hokkien) and then in Taiwanese, and anyone unable to answer is assumed to be an outsider and beaten. Wen‑ching was deaf and dumb, so he could not respond, yet he had normal hearing before he was eight. Relying on his remaining memory, he shouted in Taiwanese, “Me, Taiwanese”, which became his only line in the film and also became a meaningful expression of identity. The identity of Taiwanese can help him escape the danger of the riots, but it also further deepens the contradiction between Taiwanese and outsiders.[16]
The editing of the film avoids the conventional montage school techniques and direct camera impact and passion, looking for a unique charm and grand momentum. It adopts different methods of slow single‑scene progress and fast transition connection, so that the freely narrated story has both omissions and jumps, and the speed is staggered and just right. Therefore, the film implies a special sense of desolation, and its historical complex is vividly expressed in a particularly vigorous style.[17]
A City of Sadness was a major commercial success in Taiwan, but critics were largely ambivalent toward the work. Having been advertised as a film about theFebruary 28 Incident but never explicitly depicting the event, the film was consequently criticized as politically ambiguous, as well as overly difficult to follow.[18] It was also criticized for not depicting the events of February 28 well, instead presenting the events in a subtle and elliptical manner.[19] It is now widely considered a masterpiece,[20] and has been described as "probably the most significant film to have emerged out ofTaiwan's New Cinema."[18]
Richard Brody ofThe New Yorker argued, "Hou's extraordinarily controlled and well-constructedlong takes blend revelation and opacity; his favorite trope is to shoot through doorways, as if straining to capture the action over impassable spans of time."[21] InTime Out, Tony Rayns wrote, "Loaded with detail and elliptically structured to let viewers make their own connections, [...] Hou turns in a masterpiece of small gestures and massive resonance; once you surrender to its spell, the obscurities vanish."[22]Jonathan Rosenbaum lauded Hou as "a master of long takes and complexframing, with a great talent for passionate (though elliptical and distanced) storytelling."[23] In theChicago Tribune,Dave Kehr declared, "A City of Sadness is a great film, one that will be watched as long as there are people who care about the movies as an art."[24]
Thereview aggregator websiteRotten Tomatoes reported that 100% of critics have given the film a positive review based on 13 reviews, with an average rating of 9.30/10.[25] In theBritish Film Institute's 2012Sight & Sound poll, 14 critics and two directors namedA City of Sadness one of the ten greatest films ever made, placing it at #117 in the critics' poll and #322 in the directors' poll.[26]
Ping-hui Liao was disappointed that the film did not take advantage of the democratization of Taiwan in the 1980s to produce a film with more aggressive political message. However, Long-ren Qi argues Hou’s work has sparked debates and recognition of Taiwan’s nationalist past. The film is now widely considered a masterpiece, and has been described as "probably the most significant film to have emerged out of Taiwan's New Cinema."[27][28]
Critics have noted how this film (as well as the other 2 films that form the trilogy) started a larger discussion into memory and reconciliation for the 228 Incident and the White Terror on Taiwan. Sylvia Lin commented that "literary, scholarly, historical, personal, and cinematic accounts of the past have mushroomed, as the people in Taiwan feel the urgent need to remember, reconstruct, and rewrite that part of their history.”[29] June Yip noted that the Taiwan Trilogy marked a “autobiographical impulse” to reclaim the history that was now acceptable with the lifting of martial law.[30] Another critic, Jean Ma, also noted the method of displaying trauma by Hou felt "real" and could connect to global audiences everywhere from the "Truth and Reconciliation Commission of South Africa, the desaparecidos of Argentina, and the Armenian massacre as instances in which memory bears the ethical burden of a disavowed or denied history."[30]
A City of Sadness has been touted as one of the few films to bringTaiwanese Hokkien to prominence and to a global audience. The usage of Taiwanese Hokkien in the film has been noted to be in direct conflict with the then-rule regardingnational language in Taiwan. The Taiwanese language policy about promoting Mandarin made making films in other minority dialects and languages limited to only a third of the total script.A City of Sadness however, was filmed mostly in Taiwanese Hokkien. Hou Hsiao-hsien's film was allowed by theGovernment Information Office (the office responsible for government censorship/media) to send a copy of the rough cut to Japan for post-production where it was processed and sent directly to the Venice Film Festival without being authenticated by Taiwanese censors from the GIC.[31] The winning of the Golden Lion andGolden Horse Awards marked a first for Chinese-speaking films, but also were controversial, sinceA City of Sadness violated then rules about national language usage in films. The success of the film however, renewed interest in Taiwanese Hokkien and became part of theTaiyu Language Movement and started a resurgence of films from Taiwan that utilized minority languages such asHakka alongside otherTaiwanese indigenous languages.
The term "City Of Sadness" has been used to describe the state of Hong Kong after the2014 Umbrella Movement by scholars. Academic Tina L. Rochelle has associated the term with how Hong Kong's trajectory mirrors the trajectory of Taiwan during the 228 Incident and the White Terror.[32] Much like in the case of the 228 Incident, the Umbrella movement was fueled by building resentment of the way Hong Kong citizens were being treated after the1997 handover of Hong Kong to the People's Republic of China. The cause of anger with citizens was the deterioration of freedoms and rights, the increased feeling of policing, and the imposition of a foreign power's sovereignty over a newly integrated location. This is a characteristic Rochelle highlights as similar in both Taiwan and Hong Kong and is what makes Hong Kong a "modern City of Sadness."[32]
Hou Hsiao‑hsien’s "A City of Sadness" (1989) was digitally restored in 2023.[33] A screening of the film took place at the Louis Zoo Cinema, Hong Kong Arts Centre.[34] The 4K restored version ofA City of Sadness was hosted at the Melbourne Taiwan Film Festival 2025.[35]
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