New Year's Coin (Ya Suiqian) dir. Zhang Shichuan sc. Xia Yan With Gong Qiuxia, Hu Rongrong, Li Minghui, Li Lilian, Gong Jianong Shanghai: Mingxing Film, 1937.

click here for the video The plot rotates around a silver coin which Mr. He gives to his granddaughter, Rongrong, as New Year's 'lucky money'. After Rongrong spends the money on firecrackers the coin travels through all segments of 1930s Shanghai society, revealing economic crisis and social inequalities. The coin acquires different values in each owner's hands. For a poor lady it is a precious coin to be saved in a bank; for a gangster it is the means to pay prostitutes. For Xiuxia, Rongrong's cousin, it provides a means of paying a friend's overdue rent. This decision symbolizes Xiuxia's desire to leave her miserable dance-hall life and redeem herself by joining the ranks of workers. The film ends with Mr. He giving more money to Rongrong as a New Year's gift, but this time it is a Nationalist dollar bill not a silver coin. Written by the underground Communist Xia Yan, the film emphasizes the contrast between the rampant poverty of the urban slums and the decadent lifestyle of bourgeois households. To avoid government censorship, the film lists Hong Shen instead of Xia Yan as its screenwriter. However, because it features extensive song and dance, and the child star Hu Rongrong (nicknamed the 'Chinese Shirley Temple'), the film has not been given as much attention as other contemporary leftist films by official mainland film historiography.

Big Road Boatman Crossroads Godness Little Toys Mulan Joins Army New Woman New Year's Coin Orphan Island Plunder of Peach Sing Song Girl Singing Midnight Song of China Song of Fishermen Spring Silkworms Street Angel Three Modern Girls Twin Sister Wild Flowr

Website designed and maintained by Jean Su, Webmaster for the Chinese Cinema Web_based learning center at UCSD. Send questions, comments, and suggestions about this website to: jisu@ucsd.edu. Copyright ©2003 Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.