# The best Chinese-language films of the 1990s

From Days of Being Wild and A Brighter Summer Day to Chungking Express, Farewell My Concubine and The Wedding Banquet: the 1990s films in the Hong Kong Film Awards' 2005 poll of the Best 100 Chinese Motion Pictures, in order.

- 19 votes · 15 items
- Dec 21, 2025 · 陈琳
- https://even.best/en/l/4609/the-best-chinese-language-films-of-the-1990s

## Top 15

1. **The Mission (1999)** (3 · ▲3 ▼0) — Johnnie To. Five bodyguards protect a triad boss. 14th.
2. **Farewell My Concubine (1993)** (3 · ▲3 ▼0) — Chen Kaige. Two Peking Opera actors across half a century. Palme d'Or. 55th.
3. **A Chinese Odyssey (1995)** (2 · ▲2 ▼0) — Jeffrey Lau. Stephen Chow's Joker and Zixia, in two parts. 19th.
4. **Days of Being Wild (1990)** (1 · ▲2 ▼1) — Wong Kar-wai. Leslie Cheung's Yuddy looks for his birth mother. 3rd of the hundred.
5. **A Brighter Summer Day (1991)** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — Edward Yang. Teenagers in 1960s Taipei and a killing. 12th.
6. **Comrades: Almost a Love Story (1996)** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — Peter Chan. Leon Lai and Maggie Cheung as two mainlanders making a living in Hong Kong. 28th.
7. **Made in Hong Kong (1997)** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — Fruit Chan. Drifting teenagers on a housing estate on the eve of the handover. 36th.
8. **Once Upon a Time in China (1991)** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — Tsui Hark. Jet Li as Wong Fei-hung. 43rd.
9. **The Story of Qiu Ju (1992)** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — Zhang Yimou. Gong Li as a peasant woman seeking justice. Golden Lion at Venice. 45th.
10. **In the Heat of the Sun (1994)** (0 · ▲1 ▼1) — Jiang Wen. A teenager in a Beijing army compound during the Cultural Revolution. 17th.
11. **Chungking Express (1994)** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Wong Kar-wai. Two heartbroken cops. 22nd.
12. **Center Stage (1992)** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Stanley Kwan. Maggie Cheung as 1930s silent star Ruan Lingyu. 44th.
13. **C'est la vie, mon chéri (1993)** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Derek Yee. A down-and-out musician and a sick young woman fall in love. 61st.
14. **The Wedding Banquet (1993)** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Ang Lee. A gay man stages a fake wedding for his parents. Golden Bear. 62nd.
15. **Ashes of Time (1994)** (-1 · ▲0 ▼1) — Wong Kar-wai. A wuxia prequel with characters from Jin Yong. 35th.

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.