Overview

Dream of the Red Chamber, one of the big four of classic Chinese novels, has been adapted for film and television dozens of times over the past decades. Yet this sui generis Great Wall production daringly transposes the setting to modern-day 1950s. The contemporised story revolves nonetheless around the love triangle between Jia Baoyu and his two cousins. Both girls love him but his heart belongs to only one. The ending, however, is remarkably changed to separation of the lovers as a result of war—the war that was surely still haunting the minds of the filmmakers at the time when the film was made. Not only did Great Wall pour money into building extravagant sets just so to recreate down to the smallest detail the grandeur of the legendary Jia mansion, but the film also boasted of its lavish costume designs for the diverse female cast. (From Hong Kong Film Archive)

Top Cast

Li Li-Hua

林黛玉

Yan Jun

贾宝玉

Ou-Yang Sha-Fei

薛宝钗

L

Luo Lan

Wang Yuan-Long

贾政

Gong Qiuxia

贾母

Ping Fan

薛蟠

Xu Li

Chen Qi

Hsia Meng

Chen Juan-Juan

晴雯

Kau Ping