# A Time to Remember
**A Time to Remember** (红色恋人, *Hong se lian ren*) is a 1998 Chinese drama romance directed by Ye Daying and starring [Leslie Cheung](https://www.edgepedia.org/leslie-cheung), Mei Ting, and Todd Babcock, set in the [Shanghai International Settlement](https://www.edgepedia.org/shanghai-international-settlement) of the 1930s and portraying Communist Party members from the perspective of an American doctor.[1](https://baike.baidu.com/en/item/A%20Time%20to%20Remember/949997) • [2](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0192679/) It premiered in Beijing in 1998 and was released in Mainland China on July 22, 1998.[3](https://doi.org/10.1353/nlh.2003.0011) • [1](https://baike.baidu.com/en/item/A%20Time%20to%20Remember/949997)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Original title | 红色恋人 (*Hong se lian ren*); English title given by Leslie Cheung[1](https://baike.baidu.com/en/item/A%20Time%20to%20Remember/949997) • [2](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0192679/) |
| Director / writers | Ye Daying; screenplay by Qitao Jiang, Mark Adam Kaplan, and Andee Nathanson[2](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0192679/) |
| Principal cast | Leslie Cheung, Mei Ting, Todd Babcock (Dr. Robert Payne)[2](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0192679/) |
| Release | Mainland China July 22, 1998; Hong Kong November 18, 1999; Taiwan November 20, 1999; Malaysia January 7, 2000; Spain January 17, 2003; Mainland re-release September 12, 2023[1](https://baike.baidu.com/en/item/A%20Time%20to%20Remember/949997) |
| Box office | CNY 25 million in Mainland China, the third highest-grossing film of its year there[1](https://baike.baidu.com/en/item/A%20Time%20to%20Remember/949997) |
| Runtime / language | 98 minutes, Mandarin[2](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0192679/) |
| Awards | 5 wins and 9 nominations, including the Cairo Pyramid Silver Award and Golden Rooster Best Editing[1](https://baike.baidu.com/en/item/A%20Time%20to%20Remember/949997) • [2](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0192679/) |
## Spoilers
### Plot and themes
Set in 1930s Shanghai, the film centers on three main characters, a communist leader, his female assistant, and an American doctor, with the doctor doubling as the story's narrator.[3](https://doi.org/10.1353/nlh.2003.0011) Dr. Robert Payne, an American doctor in Shanghai, falls in love with Qiuqiu, the consort of Jin, a communist leader in the Shanghai underground, while Hao Ming is chief of the Guomintang secret police.[2](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0192679/) The Korean Cinematheque synopsis confirms that Qiuqiu falls in love with Jin, a high-ranking communist leader and revolutionary hero of a secret organization, and becomes pregnant with his child.[8](https://www.cinematheque.co.kr/cinema/20000084) Payne later adopts the couple's daughter Mingzhu; in 1950 Payne returns to the United States, and in 1990 Mingzhu travels to the US to help Payne write his memoirs, titled A Time to Remember.[1](https://baike.baidu.com/en/item/A%20Time%20to%20Remember/949997)
According to a retrospective assessment, what the film centers on is not devotion to an abstract cause but the sacrifices some people are willing to undergo on behalf of others.[7](http://www.brns.com/pages3/drama108.html) Scholarship in *New Literary History* (2003) reads the film as a revisionist reinvention of the traditional wartime communist hero in keeping with the ideological and cultural agenda of China's market reforms.[3](https://doi.org/10.1353/nlh.2003.0011)
## Identity and disambiguation
The subject of this article is the 1998 Chinese theatrical film directed by Ye Daying, whose Chinese title is 红色恋人 and whose English title, A Time To Remember, was chosen by Leslie Cheung because he liked the film; two versions were prepared, a foreign-language version and a Mandarin version, with the foreign-language version confirmed as official.[1](https://baike.baidu.com/en/item/A%20Time%20to%20Remember/949997) It is a distinct work from the 2003 American television movie of the same title, in which an artist and single mother returns to her childhood home to reconcile with her mother, who has Alzheimer's disease.[4](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0368382/) It is also distinct from the similarly titled 2004 South Korean romance *A Moment To Remember*, a 117-minute film released November 5, 2004.[5](http://koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/filmsView.jsp?movieCd=20040673)
## Production and credits
**Director and origin.** Ye Daying is the grandson of [Ye Ting](https://www.edgepedia.org/ye-ting), a proletarian revolutionary of the older generation.[1](https://baike.baidu.com/en/item/A%20Time%20to%20Remember/949997) The story originated from interviews Ye Daying conducted while filming *Red Cherry*, where he met many relatives and children of revolutionary martyrs and heard stories about their predecessors' emotional and private lives; a Hollywood screenwriter was later hired because the narrative perspective is an American doctor's recollections.[1](https://baike.baidu.com/en/item/A%20Time%20to%20Remember/949997)
**Credits and companies.** The screenplay is credited to Qitao Jiang, Mark Adam Kaplan, and Andee Nathanson; the producers were Chow Fu-Hung and Huen Ga-Ling; cinematography was by [Zhang Li](https://www.edgepedia.org/zhang-li), editing by Cheng Long, and music by Cheung Chin-Yat.[2](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0192679/) • [6](https://www.hkfilm.net/movrevs/2/time.htm) Production companies were Beijing Dream Image Film Art Production, Beijing Forbidden City Film, and Beijing Xin Ying Lian Film.[2](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0192679/) The film was shot entirely on location in Shanghai and its outskirts.[7](http://www.brns.com/pages3/drama108.html)
## Release and reception
The film opened in Mainland China on July 22, 1998, followed by Hong Kong on November 18, 1999, Taiwan on November 20, 1999, Malaysia on January 7, 2000, and Spain on January 17, 2003; the Korean Cinematheque records a Korean release on January 29, 2000.[1](https://baike.baidu.com/en/item/A%20Time%20to%20Remember/949997) • [8](https://www.cinematheque.co.kr/cinema/20000084) In Hong Kong it was rated IIB for violence and screened with dialogue mixing English and Mandarin.[6](https://www.hkfilm.net/movrevs/2/time.htm) • [7](http://www.brns.com/pages3/drama108.html)
**Awards.** At the 22nd [Cairo International Film Festival](https://www.edgepedia.org/cairo-international-film-festival) (1998) it won the Pyramid Silver Award and Mei Ting won Best Actress; it won Best Editing (Cheng Long) at the 18th Golden Rooster Awards with a Best Feature Film nomination, and Mei Ting won Best Actress at the 5th Huabiao Awards in 1999.[1](https://baike.baidu.com/en/item/A%20Time%20to%20Remember/949997) IMDb records 5 wins and 9 nominations in total.[2](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0192679/)
**Critical response.** A contemporary Hong Kong review criticized the film as more outright and blatant than usual in pushing political messages, to the point that Western audiences would probably quickly become bored or insulted.[6](https://www.hkfilm.net/movrevs/2/time.htm) A NetEase review cited by the Baidu Baike entry credited the film with challenging stereotypical impressions of revolutionary heroes by bringing them down from their pedestals to live like ordinary people.[1](https://baike.baidu.com/en/item/A%20Time%20to%20Remember/949997) As of December 11, 2023, Douban rated the film 7.1 from 19,325 ratings.[1](https://baike.baidu.com/en/item/A%20Time%20to%20Remember/949997)
## By the numbers
The film grossed CNY 25 million at the Mainland box office, the third highest-grossing film of its year in China.[1](https://baike.baidu.com/en/item/A%20Time%20to%20Remember/949997) It runs 98 minutes.[2](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0192679/) Its award record stands at 5 wins and 9 nominations.[2](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0192679/) On Douban it held a 7.1 score from 19,325 ratings as of December 11, 2023.[1](https://baike.baidu.com/en/item/A%20Time%20to%20Remember/949997)
## How it compares with its contemporaries
A retrospective review found the film most reminiscent not of any Mainland Chinese or American effort but of Hong Kong director Yim Ho's *Red Dust* (1990), for its political undertones, emotional emphasis, and pre-Communist Shanghai setting.[7](http://www.brns.com/pages3/drama108.html) Within late-1990s Chinese cinema, scholarship places the film among works that reinvent the traditional wartime communist hero in keeping with the ideological and cultural agenda of China's market reforms.[3](https://doi.org/10.1353/nlh.2003.0011)
## Legacy and availability
The film was re-released in Mainland China on September 12, 2023, supported by a re-release trailer on August 11, 2023 and a poster plus re-release trailer on August 28, 2023.[1](https://baike.baidu.com/en/item/A%20Time%20to%20Remember/949997) Its Douban standing of 7.1 from 19,325 ratings dates from December 11, 2023.[1](https://baike.baidu.com/en/item/A%20Time%20to%20Remember/949997)
## References
1. [A Time to Remember (1998 film directed by Ye Daying), Baidu Baike](https://baike.baidu.com/en/item/A%20Time%20to%20Remember/949997)
2. [A Time to Remember (1998), IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0192679/)
3. [A Time to Remember: The Reinvention of the Communist Hero in Post-Communist China, New Literary History (2003)](https://doi.org/10.1353/nlh.2003.0011)
4. [A Time to Remember (2003 TV Movie), IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0368382/)
5. [A Moment To Remember (2004), Korean Film Council](http://koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/filmsView.jsp?movieCd=20040673)
6. [A Time to Remember, HK Film review](https://www.hkfilm.net/movrevs/2/time.htm)
7. [A Time to Remember film review, brns.com](http://www.brns.com/pages3/drama108.html)
8. [타임 투 리멤버 (A Time To Remember), Korean Cinematheque](https://www.cinematheque.co.kr/cinema/20000084)
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*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 1990s › Drama films late 1990s › Released 1995 to 1998*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license