New Woman (Xin Nuxing) dir. Cai Chusheng sc. Sun Shiyi With Ruan Lingyu, Zheng Junli, Yin Xu, Wang Naidong Shanghai: Lianhua Film C., 1934.

click here for the video This film was inspired by the suicide of an actress named Ai Xia and was intended as a criticism of the social injustice, particularly the way women were treated in 1930s China. But its negative portrayal of the journalists resulted in a big controversy which many believed contributed indirectly to Ruan Lingyu's suicide soon after the film's release. Wei Ming is a music teacher in an all-girl school. Before she came to Shanghai she had had a love affair with a man who later left her after she had become pregnant. In her spared time, Wei writes fiction and one of her novels entitled *The Tomb of Love* is under consideration by a publisher. At first, the chief editor rejects her manuscript without even reading it. Only after learning that the author is a woman, and a pretty woman at that, he decides to publish it with the authorUs photo on the cover. Meanwhile, a board member of her school, Dr. Wang, whose wife happens to be Wei's former classmate, makes a pass on Wei. When rejected, he uses his power to pressure the school principal to fire Wei. Wei's financial situation further deteriorates when her sister brings her sick daughter to Shanghai. The hospital refuses to help the child unless Wei pays the deposit. In a desperate attempt to save her daughter's life, Wei is talked into "selling" herself for one night. But when she is led into the inner chamber of a brothel, she finds the customer sitting there is no other than Dr. Wang! Humiliated and outraged, Wei explodes in hysteria and attacks Wang. Before long, Dr. Wang leaks the news that Wei was seen in a brothel to a journalist. Soon, the scandalous story appears in the newspapers. Wei, having just lost her daughter, is further devastated by the vicious attacks and commits suicide.

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