Scenes of City Life is a 1935 Chinese comedy-drama film directed by Yuan Muzhi. It is also translated as Cityscape. It is noted for being the first film directed by Yuan, as well as the first film appearance of Jiang Qing (or Lan Ping, as she then called herself), who later became Mao Zedong's fourth wife. The film deals with themes of struggle under a capitalist system. It belongs to a type of Shanghai films from the 1930s, that typically involved music, cinema, fashion, advertising, which contributed to the "Shanghai mystique" and took pride in the city's sophistication.

Plot

At a rural country station, Li Menghua, his sister Zhang Xiaoyun, and their parents pay to look through a Western peep-show box, which projects a dazzling montage of Shanghai's neon lights, automobiles, and fashionable crowds.^[1] Enthralled, the family imagines themselves living within this vibrant metropolis. Menghua lands a job at a local newspaper and harbors unspoken love for Xiaoyun, who becomes infatuated with Wang Junshan, an affluent tea merchant. Xiaoyun's desire for luxury leads her to pawn family heirlooms and coax Wang's assistant into buying her an expensive dress. Meanwhile, Menghua—determined to prove his devotion—sells a love letter to fund a dance invitation, only to witness Xiaoyun leave with Wang.