Although one of the most famous films produced in the early years of the People’s Republic of China, Xie Jin’s Red Detachment of Women, the second in his socialist feminist “three woman” trilogy, is rarely shown. The film, loosely based on actual events that occurred during the first phase of the Chinese Civil War, depicts the military struggle of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to overthrow the feudal landlord class on the island of Hainan off the southern coast of China around 1930. When two undercover CCP members attempt to pass through the territory of the abusive and brutal Hainan nobleman Nan Batian, they discover a young, enslaved woman named Qionghua being tortured in the basement of Batian’s estate. The two CCP members trick Batian into freeing her. When they arrive in CCP-controlled territory, they suggest Qionghua join a new, all-female paramilitary group the communists are forming on the island. As the Civil War continues, Qionghua and her new comrades in the red detachment of women find themselves on the frontlines of the fight to liberate the island from Batian’s tyrannical grasp.

Presented by CCP