The Red Detachment of Women

The events take place on Hainan Island in the nineteen thirties. Wu Qionghua works there as a housemaid. The household belongs to a landlord. The man’s name is Nan Batian. He treats her badly and beats her. One day a guest comes to the house. He presents himself as a merchant returned from overseas. He is in fact Hong Changqing of the Red Army. He intervenes in what he sees there and takes her out of it. Wu Qionghua wants to become a soldier. She joins a detachment made up of women. She trains and she fights. After Hong Changqing dies she takes command of the detachment. Zhu Xijuan and Wang Xingang appear in the hundred and ten minute film, a Chinese production Xie Jin finished in 1961.