Farewell My Concubine is a 1993 Chinese historical drama film directed by Chen Kaige, starring Leslie Cheung, Gong Li and Zhang Fengyi. Adapted for the screen by Lu Wei based on the novel by Lilian Lee, the film is set in a politically tumultuous 20th-century China, from the early days of the Republic of China to the aftermath of the Cultural Revolution. It chronicles the troubled relationships between two Peking opera actors and lifelong friends Cheng Dieyi (Cheung) and Duan Xiaolou (Zhang), and Xiaolou's wife Juxian (Gong).

Plot

In the winter of 1924, Douzi, a boy endowed with feminine features, is taken by his prostitute mother to an all-boys Peking opera troupe supervised by Master Guan. When Guan rejects Douzi from the troupe because of his vestigial sixth finger, Douzi's mother cuts the extra finger off, returns him to the troupe with his hand still bleeding, and abandons him. Douzi is befriended by a fellow student, Shitou.

Awards