Great films adapted from Chinese novels

Farewell My Concubine (1993)

Directed by: Chen Kaige

Adapted from Farewell My Concubine by Lilian Lee

Awards: Palme d'Or at 46th Cannes International Film Festival (the only Chinese film to win this award thus far), Golden Globe Awards for Best Foreign Language Film

Nine-year-old Douzi was sold into a Peking Opera troupe in the winter of 1924. He has a hard time in the troupe, getting warmth only from Shitou, a few years his senior. A decade later, the duo are inseparable as partners on stage as Chen Dieyi and Duan Xiaolou, and developed a more-than-friends relationship off stage. They vowed to each other that they will play Farewell My Concubine, a piece they are most well known for, for the rest of their lives. The tragedy unfolds when Duan decides to marry a prostitute and begins to alienate himself from Chen.

Chinese figures in Venice	16 Chinese films with a Cannes Award	Chinese at the Oscars