Yellow Earth

Yellow Earth
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Chen Kaige
Written by	Chen Kaige Zhang Ziliang
Starring	Wang Xueqi
Music by	Zhao Jiping
Cinematography	Zhang Yimou
Release date	1984
Running time	89 minutes
Country	China
Language	Mandarin

Yellow Earth (simplified Chinese: 黄土地; traditional Chinese: 黃土地; pinyin: Huáng tǔdì) is a 1984 Chinese drama film. It was the directorial debut for Chen Kaige. The film's notable cinematography is by Zhang Yimou. At the 24th Hong Kong Film Awards ceremony on 27 March 2005, a list of 100 Best Chinese Motion Pictures was tallied, and Yellow Earth came in fourth. The film was produced by Guangxi Film Studio (simplified Chinese: 广西电影制片厂; traditional Chinese: 廣西電影製片廠; pinyin: Guǎngxī Diànyǐngzhìpiàn Chǎng).

Zhang Yimou, a colleague of Chen, photographed the film. Richard James Havis, author of Changing the Face of Chinese Cinema: An Interview with Chen Kaige, said that the film was the first Chinese film "at least since the 1949 Communist Liberation, to tell a story through images rather than dialog." Therefore, the film attracted controversy in China. Havis added that the film "was also equivocal about the Communist Party's ability to help the peasants during the Communist revolution", a position which differed from that espoused by the propaganda films that were produced after 1949."

Yellow Earth is set in Shaanxi, a province of central China, in early spring 1939. The Chinese Communist Party and the Kuomintang have stopped fighting one another and are working together to overwhelm the invading Japanese. The provinces are divided into Kuomintang-controlled areas and Communist-controlled areas. Shaanxi is divided into three sections: the northern and southern parts are controlled by the Kuomintang, and the middle by the Communists. Because of their co-operation, navigation between the areas is permitted.