General · EdgepediaOctober 3, 20265 min read

A Little Red Flower (送你一朵小红花)

A Little Red Flower (送你一朵小红花) is a 2020 Chinese drama film directed by Han Yan (韩延) about two families coping with cancer, starring Yi Yangqianxi (易烊千玺) as the teenage patient Wei Yihang and Liu Haocun (刘浩存) as Ma Xiaoyuan, the girl who draws him out of his isolation¹^•². It opened in China on December 31, 2020, and became the second installment of Han Yan's planned "life trilogy" (生命三部曲), following his 2015 cancer drama Go Away Mr. Tumor (滚蛋吧！肿瘤君)³.

Key fact	Detail
Director	Han Yan, his second cancer-themed feature after Go Away Mr. Tumor³
Release	December 31, 2020, in China¹
Leads	Yi Yangqianxi as Wei Yihang; Liu Haocun as Ma Xiaoyuan¹
Box office	760 million yuan in the first four days, with a Douban rating of 7.6⁴; over 700 million yuan across the three-day New Year holiday, a record for that slot⁵
Awards	34th Golden Rooster Awards (2021): Liu Haocun won Best Newcomer; Han Yan nominated for Best Director²
Theme song	"Song for You: A Little Red Flower," written, composed, and sung by Zhao Yingjun (赵英俊)²
Filming locations	Qingdao and Rizhao, Shandong⁶

Spoilers

Plot and characters

Wei Yihang is a teenager who has undergone brain surgery and lives in fear of a relapse; he is withdrawn, defensive, and keeps the world at a distance⁷. At a farewell gathering for a fellow patient he meets Ma Xiaoyuan, the daughter of a repair-shop owner, who is also a cancer patient². Her optimism gradually moves him to open up, and he receives the "little red flower" that gives the film its title, a mark of encouragement and hope⁸.

The flower itself is drawn on Wei Yihang's hand by Ma Xiaoyuan. Critics reading the film describe it as a seed of hope planted in his mind, a gesture of comfort that carries the film's message of living earnestly in the face of hardship⁹.

Unlike Go Away Mr. Tumor, which follows a single patient, the film gives roughly equal weight to the two families. Reviewers noted that it portrays the cancer community and their relatives as a group portrait: parents who sacrifice for their children, and strangers in patient groups who support one another¹⁰. One commentary summarized its premise as showing that fighting cancer is not one person's struggle but a sustained effort by whole families and society around them¹¹.

Production and the "life trilogy"

Han Yan conceived the film while still working on Go Away Mr. Tumor. That film, adapted from the cartoonist Xiong Dun's real story, left him with material he could not fit in, particularly the patient's relationship with her parents, and he wanted a work centered on the family circle rather than the individual⁸. He drafted a story outline within months of the earlier film's release but deliberately delayed production, saying such a film could not be mass-produced and required accumulated life experience⁶.

The pandemic's role. Han Yan said he had planned to wait another year or so before shooting, but the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the schedule, filling in the emotional reserves he felt he still lacked⁸. He also connected the film's reception to the moment of its release: audiences in 2020, he suggested, were less avoidant of cancer stories than they had been five years earlier, and the film's New Year timing matched the mood of seeing off a difficult year⁸.

The film was shot on location in Qingdao and Rizhao in Shandong province, with scenes chosen for their everyday, lived-in quality⁶.

Reception

The film earned 760 million yuan in its first four days of release and held a Douban rating of 7.6⁴. Its three-day New Year holiday total passed 700 million yuan, a record for that holiday slot at the time⁵. Han Yan admitted the box office exceeded his expectations, since he had assumed audiences would shy away from a cancer story⁸.

Critical response. Reviewers generally praised the film's restraint: it does not dwell on misery or manufacture pathos, but depicts love and hope among ordinary families⁴. A China Federation of Literary and Art Circlets commentary highlighted its group portrait of the cancer community and the comfort the title gesture offers to suffering individuals¹⁰.

Criticism centered on the film's optimism. Some commentators argued that its positive energy filters out the darker realities of illness and poverty in China, where cancer remains a disease that can bankrupt families, and that the film's uplifting spirit floats free of those material conditions¹². Others noted that the film's plain, unpolished style, including family scenes shot on a phone within the story, matched its subject even where individual plot devices felt contrived¹³.

At the 34th Golden Rooster Awards in 2021, Liu Haocun won Best Newcomer for her role, and Han Yan was nominated for Best Director².

The theme song and Zhao Yingjun

The theme song, "Song for You: A Little Red Flower," was written, composed, and sung by Zhao Yingjun². Han Yan said the film's message was contained in its lyrics, "I send you a little red flower, to reward you for feeling every struggle of fate"¹⁴. Shortly after one critic finished writing about the film, Zhao Yingjun died of cancer at the age of 43, a coincidence widely noted in Chinese commentary on the film⁹.

Place in Han Yan's career

The film sits second in Han Yan's "life trilogy." The first, Go Away Mr. Tumor (2015), follows an individual patient; the second widens the lens to families and the community of patients; the third, Love Will Tear Us Apart-era plans aside, Han Yan described as drawing on themes he could not fully express in A Little Red Flower³^•⁸. He has said his recurring focus on life and death stems from his own fear of these subjects, and that making films is his way of answering them: the first film helped him organize his thoughts on death, the second came from experiencing how illness torments a family after becoming a parent¹⁵.

References

Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Drama and biographical films (individual works) › Drama films 2020 to 2022

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 21, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026

Notice something wrong?