Flowers of Shanghai

Flowers of Shanghai
DVD Cover
Chinese海上花
Literal meaningShanghai flower
Hanyu PinyinHǎishàng Huā
Directed byHou Hsiao-hsien
Screenplay byChu Tʽien-wen
Story by
Based onThe Sing-song Girls of Shanghai (Chinese: 海上花列傳、海上花列传)
Produced byShozo Ichiyama
Yang Teng-kuei
StarringTony Leung Chiu-Wai
Annie Shizuka Inoh
Michiko Hada
Michelle Reis
Shuan Fang
Jack Kao
CinematographyPin Bing Lee
Edited byChing-Song Liao
Music byYoshihiro Hanno
Release date
  • 1998 (1998)
Running time
113 minutes
CountryTaiwan
LanguagesShanghainese
Cantonese

Flowers of Shanghai is a 1998 Taiwanese drama film directed by Hou Hsiao-hsien. It is based on the novel The Sing-song Girls of Shanghai (1892) by Han Bangqing, which was originally written in the Wu language (吳語) and translated into Mandarin Chinese by Eileen Chang. The film stars Tony Leung as a wealthy patron and Michiko Hada, Annie Shizuka Inoh, Shuan Fang, Jack Kao, Carina Lau, Rebecca Pan, Michelle Reis and Vicky Wei as "flower girls" in four high-end Shanghai brothels. It was voted the third best film of the 1990s in the Village Voice Film Poll conducted in 1999.[1] The film was selected as the Taiwanese entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 71st Academy Awards.[2][3]

  1. ^ "Combustible Celluloid - The Best Films of the 1990s". www.combustiblecelluloid.com. Retrieved 7 April 2023.
  2. ^ Margaret Herrick Library, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
  3. ^ "45 Countries Submit Films for Oscar Consideration". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. 19 November 1998. Archived from the original on 19 February 1999. Retrieved 20 October 2015.