# The best Chinese-language films

Based mainly on Douban's top-rated Chinese-language films (Farewell My Concubine first, at 9.6), plus international festival prizes: the most admired films from mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

- 24 votes · 24 items
- Jun 4, 2024 · reelfan_xian
- https://even.best/en/l/438/the-best-chinese-language-films

## Top 20

1. **Infernal Affairs** (3 · ▲3 ▼0) — Andrew Lau and Alan Mak, 2002. Tony Leung and Andy Lau as moles planted by the police and the triads.
2. **Raise the Red Lantern** (3 · ▲3 ▼0) — Zhang Yimou, 1991. Gong Li as the fourth concubine in a vast family compound; Silver Lion in Venice.
3. **Farewell My Concubine** (2 · ▲2 ▼0) — Chen Kaige, 1993. Half a century in the lives of two Peking opera actors; 9.6 on Douban and the Palme d'Or.
4. **Happy Together** (2 · ▲2 ▼0) — Wong Kar-wai, 1997. Leslie Cheung and Tony Leung in Buenos Aires; Best Director at Cannes.
5. **East evil and west poison** (2 · ▲2 ▼0) — Wong Kar-wai's 1994 martial arts film, adapted from characters from Jin Yong's "The Legend of the Condor Heroes".
6. **To Live** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — Zhang Yimou, 1994. Ge You and Gong Li in the ups and downs of Fugui's family; Grand Prix at Cannes, 9.3 on Douban.
7. **A Chinese Odyssey Part Two: Cinderella** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — Jeffrey Lau, 1995. Stephen Chow's Joker and the fairy Zixia; its lines are still quoted today.
8. **In the Heat of the Sun** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — Jiang Wen, 1994. A Beijing boy's summer during the Cultural Revolution; Xia Yu won Best Actor in Venice.
9. **In the Mood for Love** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — Wong Kar-wai, 2000. 1962 Hong Kong and the restrained love of Chow Mo-wan and Su Li-zhen.
10. **Let the Bullets Fly** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — Jiang Wen, 2010. A bandit posing as county governor against the tyrant Huang Silang in Republican-era China.
11. **Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — Ang Lee, 2000. Wuxia above the bamboo forest; Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film.
12. **Ne Zha** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — Jiaozi, 2019. An animated retelling of the Nezha legend; China's top box-office film of the year.
13. **Yi Yi** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Edward Yang, 2000. The daily life of a Taipei family; Best Director at Cannes.
14. **A Brighter Summer Day** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Edward Yang, 1991. A nearly four-hour epic based on a real 1961 teenage murder in Taipei.
15. **Eat Drink Man Woman** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Ang Lee, 1994. An old Taipei chef and his three daughters at Sunday dinner.
16. **Comrades: Almost a Love Story** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Peter Chan, 1996. Leon Lai and Maggie Cheung over ten years from Hong Kong to New York.
17. **A City of Sadness** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Hou Hsiao-hsien, 1989. The Lin family around the 228 Incident; Golden Lion in Venice.
18. **Days of Being Wild** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Wong Kar-Wai's 1990 work, starring Leslie Cheung, won the Hong Kong Film Awards Best Film.
19. **blue kite** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Tian Zhuangzhuang's 1993 work tells the story of a Beijing family's fate in the 1950s and 1960s.
20. **Devils on the Doorstep** (-1 · ▲0 ▼1) — Jiang Wen, 2000. Villagers and a Japanese prisoner at the end of the war; Grand Prix at Cannes.
21. **Chungking Express** (-1 · ▲0 ▼1) — Wong Kar-wai, 1994. Two Hong Kong love stories, with Takeshi Kaneshiro and Faye Wong.
22. **King of Comedy** (-1 · ▲0 ▼1) — Stephen Chow and Lee Lik-chi, 1999. A struggling extra and a hostess, Liu Piaopiao.
23. **Dying to Survive** (-1 · ▲0 ▼1) — Wen Muye, 2018. Based on real events about smuggled Indian generic cancer drugs; it fuelled debate on drug prices.
24. **Hoh Xil** (-1 · ▲0 ▼1) — Lu Chuan's 2004 work tells the story of a mountain patrol team protecting Tibetan antelopes.

How is this ranking ordered? By people's votes: each ▲ adds a point and each ▼ takes one away. Anyone can vote and add what is missing.