A Withered Tree Meets Spring

A critical hit during one of China’s most politically charged periods, Zheng’s follow-up to his 1959 anniversary epics merged Soviet-style socialist realism with his own breakthroughs in film technique, specifically his use of continuous camera movement in the spirit of traditional Chinese scrolls. Tractor-kino at its finest, the film revolves around two rural lovers—one struck with a deadly disease—and their eventual survival thanks to socialist medical advances.

• Director: Zheng Jun-li
• Cast: You Jia, Zhihua Hu, Shangguan Yunzhu, Qianli Qian, Hongsheng Liu, Jiang Tianliu, Shiming Zhi, Wu Yunfang