Huang Shuqin

Forever Young is 1983 coming-of-age period film set during the initial rise of the Chinese Communist Party in the 1950s.[7] The film tells three connected stories, one that explores social conflict between students in a girls middle school, another of a blossoming friendship between ill-fated Su Ning and the helpful Yang Qiangyun, and the third regarding the relationship between Catholic believer Hu Mali and members of the Communist Party.[7] According to Xingyang Li, the film is meant to investigate the passion and nostalgia surrounding this time of political change, through the youthful and passionate lens of the young women growing up in this time period.[7]

Zhang Xian's screenplay for the film, published in 1981, was initially met with criticism and therefore ignored by many Chinese directors at the time.[7] Although tasked by the government to work on the film, Huang has stated that her involvement in the film was just as much a choice made by her as it was the government.[7] Huang hoped to capture an authentic recreation of this time period, rather than one of celebration or rejection. As such, she states that any conclusion of what is right or wrong about this time period is meant to be decided by the audience, rather than the film itself.[7]

Li has stated that Forever Young, and its exploration of women's consciousness in patriarchal society, is seen as a precursor to Huang's more explicitly feminist work later in her career, most notably her 1987 film Woman, Demon, Human.[7]

Woman, Demon, Human (Chinese: Ren - Gui - Qing; 《人·鬼·情》) is considered to be the first feminist film in China[6] and is the first of Huang's films to garner international attention. The film tells the story of Qiu Yun, an opera actress who effectively plays male roles, particularly that of Zhong Kui, and her personal struggles over gender identity and conflict resolution within her family life.[1] Scholars such as Shuqin Cui have written that the film portrays its protagonist, based on real-life actress Pei Yanling, as actively struggling with her simultaneous desire for and rejection of female identity.[8]

Cui also felt that although the majority of Qiu Yun's relationships explored in the film are with male figures (her father, teacher, and husband), her difficult search for identity through these connections is informed most distinctly by her fragmented mother-daughter relationship established at the beginning of the film.[8] She also states that this splintered relationship compels the protagonist to search for an alternative role in society outside the realm of traditionally maternal female identity and that Qiuyan's portrayal of male characters in Woman, Demon, Human is meant to dramatize this identity crisis initiated in her youth.[8]

Prior to filming, Huang felt the need to personally visit Pei Yanling to study her life, even going so far as to follow her on tour with her travelling troupe to get a better idea of her day-to-day life.[9] Huang does this before every film she makes, believing it to be necessary to observe and understand life before filming.[10] Despite its feminist reputation, Huang states that she didn't direct Woman, Demon, Human with the intention of making a feminist film.[3]

Woman, Demon, Human was widely acclaimed by critics, receiving grand prizes at the Brasilia and Santa Barbara International Film Festivals, as well as a nomination for Best Directing and win for Best Writing (both for Huang) at the 8th Golden Rooster Awards.[3]

Pan Yuliang, whose life was the basis for the movie A Soul Haunted by Painting.

Huang began work on A Soul Haunted by Painting in the early 1990s, as China moved from a planned economy to a market economy. As the profit motive became the driving force behind film production in China, Huang pursued a more monetarily viable project compared to her previous work.[7] On the subject of the film's box-office success, she stated: "When I was making [The Soul Haunted by Painting] I was going after box office success and I did my best to make it commercial."[7]

The film tells the story of Pan Yuliang, a young woman employed as a prostitute, who eventually climbs her way into becoming a professor for a renowned Chinese institute of learning, and an accomplished artist.[7] A Soul Haunted by Painting was initially banned by the Chinese government due to a nude scene, sparking public debate and furthering publicity for the film. Despite the more commercial elements of this project, Huang describes The Soul Haunted by Painting as an "examination of the despicable national mindset that refuses to recognize the full personhood of women."[7]