Flowers of Shanghai

For the novel the film is based on, see Shanghai Flowers.

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 (吳ご語ご) 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. The film was selected as the Taiwanese entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 71st Academy Awards.

Flowers of Shanghai
DVD Cover
Chinese	海上うながみ花はな
Literal meaning	Shanghai flower
Hanyu Pinyin	Hǎishàng Huā
Directed by	Hou Hsiao-hsien
Screenplay by	Chu Tʽien-wen
Story by	Han Bangqing Eileen Chang (translation and commentary)
Based on	The Sing-song Girls of Shanghai (Chinese: 海上かいじょう花はな列傳れつでん、海上かいじょう花はな列れつ传)
Produced by	Shozo Ichiyama Yang Teng-kuei
Starring	Tony Leung Chiu-Wai Annie Shizuka Inoh Michiko Hada Michelle Reis Shuan Fang Jack Kao
Cinematography	Pin Bing Lee
Edited by	Ching-Song Liao
Music by	Yoshihiro Hanno
Release date	1998 (1998)
Running time	113 minutes
Country	Taiwan
Languages	Shanghainese Cantonese

Plot

The film is set in the elegant brothels of Shanghai, called Changsan Shuyu (長三ちょうぞう書しょ寓ぐう; "Flower Houses"), in 1884. The story is about the prostitutes in these houses, known as "shi sen" or "flower girls," who are top-notch prostitutes, depicting in great detail their relationships with the wealthy patrons, which are semi-monogamous and often last for a long period of time, and the daily activities in the houses.

The main prostitutes in the film are Crimson, Jasmin, Jade, Pearl and Emerald. Crimson belongs to the Huifang Enclave (薈芳里さと), while Jasmin works at the East Hexing Enclave (東ひがし合あい興きょう里さと). Jade and her friend Pearl work in the Gongyang Enclave (公おおやけ陽ひ里さと), and Emerald resides in the Shangren Enclave (尚なお仁じん里さと). The film explores the relationships between the wealthy patrons and the prostitutes.

Master Wang leaves the prostitute Crimson at the end of their "four-or-five" year relationship after he is refused her hand in marriage. He falls for the younger prostitute Jasmin, angering Crimson. However, Master Wang still has feelings for Crimson. When he finds out she is having an affair with an actor, he launches into a drunken rage. He agrees to marry Jasmin and departs for Guangdong after receiving a promotion. It is later revealed in conversation between other characters that Jasmin had an affair with Wang's nephew.

Another prostitute, Jade, has been given a promise by her lover, the young and immature Master Zhu, that if they cannot be married together, they will die together. When it is apparent that the marriage will not occur, she gives Zhu opium in an attempt to poison him before attempting to drink opium herself.

Emerald yearns for freedom from life in a brothel and is supported by Luo, one of her patrons. As a child, she was bought for $100 by her auntie who insists that freedom costs many times that value ($3,000); the negotiation goes on throughout the film. With the help of Master Hong and Luo, Emerald negotiates a satisfactory price and achieves her independence.

Regarding the English title of the film, the meaning of "sing-song girls" does not refer to singing girls who sing for a living. Eileen Chang's commentary on the Mandarin text makes it clear: "Xiansheng" or "Xi sang" in Wu is pronounced as "sing song". That is probably why the title is translated as "sing-song girls" - not the translation of "singing girl". The term "singing girl" was a new term from the late 1920s to the 1930s, after there were dancing girl.

Cast

Actor	Character	Notes
Tony Leung Chiu-wai	Master Wang (王おう蓮れん生せい)
Michiko Hada	Crimson (沈小紅べに)	Dubbing by Pauline Chan
Michelle Reis	Emerald (黃き翠みどり鳳おおとり)
Carina Lau	Pearl (周しゅう雙そう珠たま)
Vicky Wei (魏ぎ筱惠)	Jasmin (張ちょう蕙貞)
Hsuan Fang	Jade (周しゅう雙そう玉だま)
Jack Kao	Master Luo (羅ら子こ富とみ)
Rebecca Pan	Huang (黃き二に姐あね)
Simon Chang	Zhu Shuren (朱しゅ淑人よしと)
Luo Tsai-erh	Master Hong (洪ひろし善ぜん卿きょう)
Annie Shizuka Inoh	Golden Flower (諸しょ金きむ花はな)
Hsu Ming	Master Tao (陶とう雲くも甫はじめ)
Xu Tian-Xiang	Tao Yu Fu (陶とう玉たま甫はじめ)
Hsu An-an
Firebird Lu	Vagabond #2
Cheung Shui Chit	Xiao Liuer (小柳こやなぎ兒じ)
Che Hin
Hsu Hui Ni	Crystal's younger sister
Lin Yu-han	Treasure (周しゅう雙そう寶たから)

Production

According to the screenwriter Chu Tʽien-wen, Flowers of Shanghai was originated with Hou Hsiao-Hsien's intention to create a collection of art production resources for Taiwan cinema with the assistance of art director Hwarng Wern-ying (黃き文ぶん英えい), as he did for sound recording with Tu Duu-Chi (杜もり篤あつ之これ) .

Hou Hsiao-Hsien originally intended to shoot Flowers of Shanghai in China, but the application was not approved by the Chinese government. The production was forced to be completed in Taiwan, which is why the film has no outdoor scenes. Without proper locations that could be the background for the period, the film was all shot in the studio.

Hou Hsiao-hsien's long shots are used to their fullest potential in this film. The nearly two-hour film consists of only less than forty shots. The long takes are edited by using fade-ins and fade-outs imitating the rhythm of breathing, which also allow the viewers to have enough time to fully appreciate the recreation of old Shanghai on screen.

Ah Cheng (Zhong Acheng, 鍾阿城じょう) was responsible for sourcing and ordering most of the costumes and props for the film from China. He proposed to Hou that the film should not use electric bulbs but be lit with candles to give the room a warm and nostalgic atmosphere.

Awards

Awards	Category	Recipient(s)	Result
1st Taipei Film Festival	Best Director	Hou Hsiao-hsien	Won
	Taiwan Feature Film - Best Art Direction	Hwarng Wern-ying	Won
35th The Golden Horse Awards	Best Feature Film	Flowers of Shanghai	Nominated
	Best Director	Hou Hsiao-hsien	Nominated
	Best Art Direction	Hwarng Wern-ying Tsao Chih Wei	Won
	Best Makeup & Costume Design	Hwarng Wern-ying, Sung Min Hui, Chen Pu Hai, Liao Su Jen	Nominated
	Jury Prize	Flowers of Shanghai	Won
The 51st Cannes Film Festival	The Palme d'Or	Flowers of Shanghai	Nominated

The film won for Best Director and Best Art Director (Wen-Ying Huang) at the Asia-Pacific Film Festival in 1998, and the next year the director won the Golden Crow Pheasant at the International Film Festival of Kerala. It was nominated for the Golden Palm at Cannes but did not win.

Critical reception

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 93% based on 14 reviews. On Metacritic, the film has an average weighted score of 73 out of 100 based on 11 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Film critic J. Hoberman, like Jonathan Rosenbaum, called Hou Hsiao-hsien the best director of the '90s, and hailed Flowers of Shanghai as one of Hou's three masterpieces from that decade.

Jeffrey Anderson finds the film incredibly beautiful, despite the need for "multiple viewings and incredible patience."

While Jeremy Heilman did not want to call it Hou's best film, he considered it his prettiest. Kent Jones called the film innovative.

See also

• Sing-song girls
• List of submissions to the 71st Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film
• List of Taiwanese submissions for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film

External links

• Flowers of Shanghai at IMDb
• HK cinemagic entry
• Flowers of Shanghai: Inside the Dream an essay by Jean Ma at the Criterion Collection