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 "title": "A Touch of Sin (天注定)",
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 "excerpt": "A Touch of Sin (天注定) is Jia Zhangke's 2013 four-story drama, based on the Hu Wenhai, Deng Yujiao, Zhou Kehua, and Foxconn cases; it won Cannes Best Screenplay but was never released in mainland China.",
 "snippet": "A Touch of Sin (天注定) is Jia Zhangke's 2013 four-story drama, based on the Hu Wenhai, Deng Yujiao, Zhou Kehua, and Foxconn cases; it won Cannes Best Screenplay but was never released in mainland China.",
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 "markdown": "# A Touch of Sin (天注定)\n\n**A Touch of Sin** (天注定) is a 2013 Chinese drama film directed and written by [Jia Zhangke](https://www.edgepedia.org/jia-zhangke), telling four loosely connected stories of ordinary people in different regions of China who are driven to violence by corruption, humiliation, isolation, and despair.<sup>[1](https://news.cntv.cn/2013/05/15/ARTI1368584239853307_3.shtml)</sup> It was Jia's seventh feature film, starred Jiang Wu, Wang Baoqiang, Zhao Tao, and Luo Lanshan, and won Best Screenplay at the 66th Cannes Film Festival.<sup>[1](https://news.cntv.cn/2013/05/15/ARTI1368584239853307_3.shtml)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[2](https://www.j-ent.com.tw/tw/films/jm-229)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[3](https://ent.sina.com.cn/m/c/2013-05-28/12173930709.shtml)</sup> Although it passed Chinese censorship and received a release permit, its planned mainland release was postponed and the film was never shown theatrically in China.<sup>[4](https://cinephilia.net/28556/)</sup>\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Director and writer | Jia Zhangke; his seventh feature film<sup>[1](https://news.cntv.cn/2013/05/15/ARTI1368584239853307_3.shtml)</sup> |\n| Cast | Jiang Wu, Wang Baoqiang, Zhao Tao, Luo Lanshan<sup>[2](https://www.j-ent.com.tw/tw/films/jm-229)</sup> |\n| Production | China, Japan, and France; 130 minutes; producers Shozo Ichiyama and Jia Zhangke<sup>[2](https://www.j-ent.com.tw/tw/films/jm-229)</sup> |\n| Cannes 2013 | Best Screenplay at the 66th Cannes Film Festival; nominated for the Palme d'Or<sup>[3](https://ent.sina.com.cn/m/c/2013-05-28/12173930709.shtml)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[5](https://bkso.baidu.com/item/%E5%A4%A9%E6%B3%A8%E5%AE%9A/1095784?fromModule=lemma_inlink)</sup> |\n| Golden Horse Awards | Best Editing and Best Original Film Score at the 50th Golden Horse Awards<sup>[2](https://www.j-ent.com.tw/tw/films/jm-229)</sup> |\n| Critical scores | 95% on Rotten Tomatoes (93 reviews); Metascore 77 on Metacritic<sup>[6](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/a_touch_of_sin)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[7](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/a-touch-of-sin/)</sup> |\n| Mainland release | Passed censorship and received a permit, but the planned November 2013 release was postponed and the film was never distributed in China<sup>[4](https://cinephilia.net/28556/)</sup> |\n\n## Spoilers\n\n### The four stories\n\nThe film consists of four stories set in different provinces, running from north to south across China, and Jia described them as covering Shanxi, Chongqing, Hubei, and [Guangdong](https://www.edgepedia.org/guangdong).<sup>[8](https://media.people.com.cn/n/2013/0519/c40606-21531541.html)</sup> Each centers on a character pushed into a violent act.\n\n**Dahai (Jiang Wu)**, a diabetic bachelor in a Shanxi mining village, resents the growing gap between rich and poor and challenges the village boss and officials over a privatized coal mine whose promised profit-sharing never arrived; his resistance blocked at every turn, he takes up a hunting rifle.<sup>[4](https://cinephilia.net/28556/)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[2](https://www.j-ent.com.tw/tw/films/jm-229)</sup>\n\n**San'er (Wang Baoqiang)** is a rootless migrant and professional killer who returns to his estranged wife and child for the Spring Festival; Jia framed this story around loneliness and spiritual emptiness in villages emptied of young workers.<sup>[4](https://cinephilia.net/28556/)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[9](https://ent.ifeng.com/movie/special/66thcannes/zhuanfang/jzk.shtml)</sup>\n\n**Xiaoyu (Zhao Tao)**, a receptionist at a sauna, waits for a married lover and is attacked by an abusive client; Jia identified dignity as the key to this story, in which a victim of violence becomes its perpetrator.<sup>[4](https://cinephilia.net/28556/)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[9](https://ent.ifeng.com/movie/special/66thcannes/zhuanfang/jzk.shtml)</sup> She is the only protagonist whose fate is resolved on screen, because she alone is acquitted; Jia noted the other three characters' outcomes are known from life experience.<sup>[9](https://ent.ifeng.com/movie/special/66thcannes/zhuanfang/jzk.shtml)</sup>\n\n**Xiaohui (Luo Lanshan)**, a young factory worker, moves from a Shenzhen-area assembly line, where he works more than ten hours a day and is forbidden to chat with coworkers, to a nightclub in Guangdong; Jia described this segment as depicting invisible violence, including the pressure of a mother at home demanding money.<sup>[4](https://cinephilia.net/28556/)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[9](https://ent.ifeng.com/movie/special/66thcannes/zhuanfang/jzk.shtml)</sup>\n\n## Real events and sources\n\nThe four stories draw on widely known Chinese social news: the Hu Wenhai gun killings, the Deng Yujiao stabbing case, the Zhou Kehua bank robbery case, and the [Foxconn suicides](https://www.edgepedia.org/foxconn-suicides).<sup>[10](https://www.chinanews.com/yl/2013/08-20/5184815.shtml)</sup> Jia said the impulse for the film began with the Deng Yujiao case, in which a man struck a woman with money, an act he found humiliating.<sup>[11](https://news.hebccw.cn/system/2015/05/15/015533824.shtml)</sup>\n\nJia has said that many of these events first became known through Weibo, China's Twitter-like platform, before traditional media picked them up, and that the experience of receiving many simultaneous news events shaped his choice of a four-story structure.<sup>[9](https://ent.ifeng.com/movie/special/66thcannes/zhuanfang/jzk.shtml)</sup> He stated that the four stories are fictional, assembled from real events, and that the prototypes do not represent the whole film.<sup>[9](https://ent.ifeng.com/movie/special/66thcannes/zhuanfang/jzk.shtml)</sup>\n\n## Style and influences\n\nJia called the film a \"modern chivalry film\" (现代侠义电影) and linked its characters to the classical novel *The Water Margin* and to the wuxia films of King Hu, such as *Dragon Gate Inn* (1966) and *A Touch of Zen* (1969).<sup>[1](https://news.cntv.cn/2013/05/15/ARTI1368584239853307_3.shtml)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[4](https://cinephilia.net/28556/)</sup> Critics have noted the visual echoes: Dahai's hunting rifle recalls Lu Zhishen's staff, San'er's all-black dress comes from the [Peking opera](https://www.edgepedia.org/peking-opera) *Wu Song Fights the Tiger*, and Xiaoyu's red trousers draw on Lin Chong's costume in *Wild Boar Forest*.<sup>[12](https://tg.bass.org.cn/CN/10.13262/j.bjsshkxy.bjshkx.181208)</sup>\n\nThe film's violence marked a departure from Jia's earlier meditative style. Jia said it was the first time he used cinema to think about and understand violence, and that he mixed social realism with wuxia conventions and Hong Kong gangster-film elements.<sup>[10](https://www.chinanews.com/yl/2013/08-20/5184815.shtml)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[13](https://ent.sina.com.cn/m/c/2013-05-30/15353932731.shtml)</sup> He compared the four-panel structure to the great murals of Chinese temples and used extensive [Steadicam](https://www.edgepedia.org/steadicam) movement to give the film a wandering quality.<sup>[4](https://cinephilia.net/28556/)</sup> The Japanese company Office Kitano ([Takeshi Kitano](https://www.edgepedia.org/takeshi-kitano)'s studio) appears in the credits as a production company, and reviewers noted the graphic bloodshed was unusual for Jia.<sup>[8](https://media.people.com.cn/n/2013/0519/c40606-21531541.html)</sup>\n\n## Censorship and release history\n\nThe film passed both content and technical review before Jia brought it to Cannes in May 2013; he said the Cannes print lacked the release seal (the \"dragon mark\") only because of Cannes's technical-testing deadline, and that the festival version was the approved version.<sup>[14](https://ent.sina.com.cn/m/c/2013-05-20/15003924741.shtml)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[9](https://ent.ifeng.com/movie/special/66thcannes/zhuanfang/jzk.shtml)</sup> A mainland release was planned for around November 2013, but in October officials, concerned the film might provoke social unrest in a country with no film rating system, postponed it.<sup>[4](https://cinephilia.net/28556/)</sup> In March 2014 pirated copies circulated online and on underground DVD, and more than 30,000 users had posted reviews of the film on a domestic movie website; the Chinese distributor was left waiting.<sup>[4](https://cinephilia.net/28556/)</sup>\n\n## Reception\n\nAt Cannes the film competed for the [Palme d'Or](https://www.edgepedia.org/palme-dor) and won Best Screenplay, Jia's first Cannes award after three competition entries.<sup>[5](https://bkso.baidu.com/item/%E5%A4%A9%E6%B3%A8%E5%AE%9A/1095784?fromModule=lemma_inlink)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[3](https://ent.sina.com.cn/m/c/2013-05-28/12173930709.shtml)</sup> On Rotten Tomatoes it holds a 95% Tomatometer from 93 reviews, with a critics consensus noting that its stylish violence carries its rough spots; the Popcornmeter audience score is 74%.<sup>[6](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/a_touch_of_sin)</sup> Metacritic assigns it a Metascore of 77, \"generally favorable,\" based on 31 critic reviews.<sup>[7](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/a-touch-of-sin/)</sup> Reviewers highlighted the film's bleak portrait of a China where corruption is endemic and its blend of the director's usual compassion and social analysis with genre violence.<sup>[15](https://www.the-independent.com/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/a-touch-of-sin-film-review-bleak-and-violent-picture-of-a-contemporary-china-9380675.html)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[6](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/a_touch_of_sin)</sup> Jia himself called it the best work of his career up to that point.<sup>[14](https://ent.sina.com.cn/m/c/2013-05-20/15003924741.shtml)</sup>\n\n## References\n\n1. [贾樟柯：在冷酷的现实中保持着温暖的基调, 央视网 (2013)](https://news.cntv.cn/2013/05/15/ARTI1368584239853307_3.shtml)\n2. [天注定, 佳映娛樂 film page](https://www.j-ent.com.tw/tw/films/jm-229)\n3. [贾樟柯摘走编剧奖 《天注定》拿到批文, 新浪娱乐 (2013)](https://ent.sina.com.cn/m/c/2013-05-28/12173930709.shtml)\n4. [贾樟柯访谈：旧与新 (Tony Rayns), Cinephilia / Sight & Sound (2014)](https://cinephilia.net/28556/)\n5. [天注定（2013年贾樟柯执导的剧情电影）, 百度百科](https://bkso.baidu.com/item/%E5%A4%A9%E6%B3%A8%E5%AE%9A/1095784?fromModule=lemma_inlink)\n6. [A Touch of Sin, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/a_touch_of_sin)\n7. [A Touch of Sin Reviews, Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/a-touch-of-sin/)\n8. [《天注定》戛纳媒体放映报道, 人民网 (2013)](https://media.people.com.cn/n/2013/0519/c40606-21531541.html)\n9. [凤凰网独家专访贾樟柯 (2013)](https://ent.ifeng.com/movie/special/66thcannes/zhuanfang/jzk.shtml)\n10. [贾樟柯谈《天注定》 称要做与时代平行的讲述者, 中新网 (2013)](https://www.chinanews.com/yl/2013/08-20/5184815.shtml)\n11. [贾樟柯：命运本身难道是天注定？, 长城网 (2015)](https://news.hebccw.cn/system/2015/05/15/015533824.shtml)\n12. [当代游民群体的影像演义——以贾樟柯的《天注定》为例](https://tg.bass.org.cn/CN/10.13262/j.bjsshkxy.bjshkx.181208)\n13. [《好莱坞报道》：《天注定》被激情驱动, 新浪娱乐 (2013)](https://ent.sina.com.cn/m/c/2013-05-30/15353932731.shtml)\n14. [贾樟柯：《天注定》国内上映不删减, 新浪娱乐 (2013)](https://ent.sina.com.cn/m/c/2013-05-20/15003924741.shtml)\n15. [A Touch Of Sin film review, The Independent (2013)](https://www.the-independent.com/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/a-touch-of-sin-film-review-bleak-and-violent-picture-of-a-contemporary-china-9380675.html)\n\n---\n*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 2010 to 2014 › Psychological and social drama films*\n\n*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n",
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 "credit": "\"A Touch of Sin (天注定)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/a-touch-of-sin. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.",
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 "speakable": "A Touch of Sin is Jia Zhangke's 2013 four-story drama, based on the Hu Wenhai, Deng Yujiao, Zhou Kehua, and Foxconn cases; it won Cannes Best Screenplay but was never released in mainland China."
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