Spring in a Small Town

Spring in a Small Town
Chinese	小城之春
Mandarin	Xiǎochéng zhī chūn
Directed by	Fei Mu
Written by	Short story: Li Tianji
Starring	Wei Wei Zhang Hongmei Li Wei
Production company	Wenhua Film Company
Distributed by	United States (DVD): Cinema Epoch
Release date	1948
Running time	98 min.
Country	China
Language	Mandarin

Spring in a Small Town is a Chinese film released in 1948 and directed by Fei Mu. The film was based on a short story by Li Tianji (Chinese: 李天濟; pinyin: Lǐ Tiānjì), and was produced by the Wenhua Film Company.

Though its reputation suffered after 1949 in mainland China after the Communist revolution, within the last 20 years it had become known as one of the greatest Chinese films ever made. The original negative of the film is kept at the China Film Archive.

Taking place in a ruined family compound after the Sino-Japanese War, the film tells the story of the once prosperous Dai family. The husband and patriarch, Liyan (Shi Yu) is an invalid, and spends his days in the courtyard nostalgic for the past. His marriage to Yuwen (Wei Wei) has long been rendered loveless, though both still feel concern for the other. Liyan's young teenage sister Xiu (Zhang Hongmei), meanwhile, is too young to remember the past, and stays cheerful and playful in the ruins of her home. Lao Huang (Cui Chaoming) is an old faithful servant of the Dai family.

Into this dreary but unchanging existence comes an unexpected visit from Liyan's childhood friend Zhang Zhichen (Li Wei), a doctor from Shanghai and a former flame of Yuwen before she met her husband. The rest of the film details the love quadrangle among Yuwen, Liyan, Zhichen and Xiu. Yuwen is conflicted between her love for Zhichen and her loyalty to her husband and his family. Liyan loves his wife, but feels unworthy of her and ashamed of himself. Xiu, newly turned sixteen, develops romantic feelings for Zhichen - who himself is conflicted between his love for Yuwen and his loyalty to his friend. That Yuwen and Zhichen still love each other soon became apparent to Liyan and Xiu. Liyan attempts suicide, but is resuscitated by Zhichen. Zhichen departs, and Huang and Xiu walk him off to the train station. He promises to return in a year. Yuwen, watching from the wall, is joined by her husband by her side as Zhichen departs.

Made after the war and the so-called "Solitary Island" period of Shanghai film-making, Spring in a Small Town, unlike its leftist predecessors of the 1930s, was a more intimate affair with only tangential references to the politics of the day. Indeed, the film can be distinguished from those earlier works by its more mature treatment of inter-personal conflicts, particularly in the sense that there are no villains or antagonists except for time and circumstance. Even the husband, who ostensibly stands between Zhou Yuwen and Zhang Zhichen's love, is an inherently decent and good human being.