Youth
Theatrical release poster
Traditional Chinese	芳華
Simplified Chinese	芳华
Literal meaning	Youthfulness
Hanyu Pinyin	fānghuá
Directed by	Feng Xiaogang
Written by	Geling Yan
Produced by	Wang Zhonglei
Starring	Huang Xuan Miao Miao Zhong Chuxi Yang Caiyu
Edited by	Zhang Qi
Distributed by	IM Global[1]
Release dates	September 7, 2017 (2017-09-07) (TIFF) December 15, 2017 (2017-12-15) (China)
Running time	135 minutes
Country	China
Language	Mandarin
Budget	CN¥120 million (US$16.5 million)
Box office	US$235.9 million[2]

Youth (Chinese:芳华) is a 2017 Chinesecoming-of-agedrama film directed byFeng Xiaogang and written byGeling Yan.^[3] The film is based on Yan's semi-autobiographical storyYou Touched Me.^[4]: 260 It was screened in the Special Presentations section at the2017 Toronto International Film Festival.^[5] It was scheduled to be released in China on October 1, 2017,^[6][7][8] but after previews in Beijing and other cities was pulled from the National Day schedule. It was released on 15 December 2017.^[9]

Youth grossed over $235 million worldwide, becoming thesixth highest-grossing Chinese film of 2017.

The film chronicles the lives of a group of idealistic adolescents in a military art troupe in thePeople's Liberation Army during theCultural Revolution. They experience love, lust, betrayal, and sufferings in the background ofMao era songs and dances. Through the narration of Xiao Suizi, the film follows the story of two key characters, Feng Liu and He Xiaoping. Xiaoping is a naive and innocent new recruit fromBeijing, and Feng Liu is a morally impeccable character, whose comrades praise for being a real lifeLei Feng. The pair also participate in theSino-Vietnamese War in 1979 and become heroes for their act of courage.

Xiaoping eventually becomes the target of her roommates bullying for her provincial naive mannerisms. The majority of the acts are spearheaded by Hao Shuwen, the daughter of the regional commander.

After the war, they are honorably discharged from the Army but struggle to make ends meet in theReform-era China while they learn lessons from soul-crushing experiences of love, lust, betrayal, and heartbreak.

• Huang Xuan (黄轩) as Liu Feng (刘峰)
• Miao Miao (苗苗) as He Xiaoping (何小萍)
• Zhong Chuxi (钟楚曦) as Xiao Suizi (萧穗子)
• Yang Caiyu (杨采钰) as Lin Dingding (林丁丁)
• Li Xiaofeng (李晓峰) as Hao Shuwen (郝淑雯)
• Wang Tianchen (王天辰) as Chen Can (陈灿)
• Wang Keru (王可如) as Xiao Balei (小芭蕾)
• Su Yan (苏岩) as the dance teacher
• Zhao Lixin (赵立新) as the commissar
• Sui Yuan (隋源) as Zhuoma (卓玛)
• Zhang Renbo (张仁博) as Zhu Ke (朱克)
• Zhou Fang (周放) as the head nurse
• Xue Qi (薛祺) as Secretary Wu (吴干事)
• Yang Shuo (杨烁) as the military chief
• Tao Hai (陶海) as the Psychiatrist

• Youth atIMDb

• 2017 films
• Chinese coming-of-age drama films
• Films directed by Feng Xiaogang
• Films with screenplays by Geling Yan
• Huayi Brothers films
• Chinese IMAX films
• Films about communism
• Films set in the 1970s
• Sino-Vietnamese War films
• 2010s coming-of-age drama films
• Best Film Asian Film Award winners
• 2017 drama films
• 2010s Mandarin-language films
• 2017 Chinese films
• Films about the People's Liberation Army
• Films about the Cultural Revolution

• Pages with non-numeric formatnum arguments
• CS1 Chinese-language sources (zh)
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Articles containing Chinese-language text
• Template film date with 2 release dates