Release, runtime and language

2003 · 110 mins · Chinese

Directed by

Huang Jian-Zhong

Starring

Tao Zeru, Yang Kun, Xia Zongyou, Zhu Decheng, Shi Lan, Wang Zhenrong

Though filmed in 1995, the movie was banned until 2004. It adapts Su Tong’s novel about a cunning, amoral country boy who arrives in a bustling 1930s metropolis and takes a job at a rice emporium. Initially marginalized, he quickly masters the trade, rises through the ranks and ultimately becomes its boss by marrying the owner’s daughter. Firmly.