Manchurian essayist and novelist Xiao Hong was one of the most radical Chinese female writers of the early 20th century. Through the seismic shift from dynastic imperial rule to a modern state, Hong survives poverty, family chaos, the Japanese invasion in the 1930s, and post-war trauma.

Xiao Hong became a literary giant by conveying the struggles of working class Manchuria in a lyrical blend of fiction and nonfiction. Ann Hui takes a similarly multifaceted approach, introducing self-reflexive character portraits to the film’s sprawling story to paint a rich, insightful biopic.