Red Sorghum

A grand work that encompasses the fate of China from the 1920s to the 1970s through the story of one family in Gaomi County against the backdrop of difficult political events: the atrocities of the Japanese, the struggle for land, the Civil War, and the Great Leap Forward under the leadership of Mao Zedong. The narrator, a descendant of the heroes of the novel, recalls the tragedy of his grandmother, who was given in marriage to a wealthy distillery owner, how people lost their humanity in the struggle against one another, yet still found the strength to unite and experience true feelings. The film adaptation of «Red Sorghum» by Zhang Yimou in 1988 became one of the first Chinese films recognized in the West.