{ "id": "epg2srngzf", "slug": "blind-mountain", "title": "Blind Mountain", "updated": "2026-11-01", "topic_path": [ { "id": "culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture" }, { "id": "culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical", "label": "Drama and biographical films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical.drama-films-2000s", "label": "Drama films 2000s", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical.drama-films-2000s" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical.drama-films-2000s.biographical-and-historical-drama-films", "label": "Biographical and historical drama films 2000s", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical.drama-films-2000s.biographical-and-historical-drama-films" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical.drama-films-2000s.biographical-and-historical-drama-films.yr-2006-2009", "label": "Released 2006 to 2009", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical.drama-films-2000s.biographical-and-historical-drama-films.yr-2006-2009" } ], "geo": [ { "id": "geo.chn.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical", "label": "China · 2001 to 2020: Drama and biographical films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical", "path": [ { "id": "geo.chn", "label": "China", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t2001", "label": "China · 2001 to 2020", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t2001" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t2001.culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t2001.culture" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t2001.culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t2001.culture.performance" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t2001.culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t2001.culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical", "label": "Drama and biographical films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical" } ] } ], "excerpt": "Blind Mountain (盲山, aka 回家路) is Li Yang's 2007 Chinese drama about college graduate Bai Xuemei, sold as a wife to a remote village; it played Cannes Un Certain Regard and has domestic and original endings.", "snippet": "Blind Mountain (盲山, aka 回家路) is Li Yang's 2007 Chinese drama about college graduate Bai Xuemei, sold as a wife to a remote village; it played Cannes Un Certain Regard and has domestic and original endings.", "node": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical.drama-films-2000s.biographical-and-historical-drama-films.yr-2006-2009", "markdown": "# Blind Mountain\n\n**Blind Mountain** (盲山; also known as 回家路) is a 2007 Chinese drama film written, directed, produced, and self-financed by Li Yang, about a young female college graduate who is tricked and sold as a \"wife\" to a bachelor in a remote mountain village in northwest China.[1](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/f/mang-shan/) • [2](https://www.baike.com/wikiid/7170986649500696580) It premiered at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival in the Un Certain Regard section, where it was nominated for the Un Certain Regard Prize, and opened in mainland China on 23 November 2007.[3](https://movie.douban.com/subject/2063528/) • [4](https://wapbaike.baidu.com/item/%E7%9B%B2%E5%B1%B1/4338072)\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Director and writer | Li Yang, who also produced, edited, and played the trafficker who sells the heroine[1](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/f/mang-shan/) • [5](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSBdGCfApjw) |\n| Premise | Bai Xuemei (Huang Lu), a 22-year-old college graduate seeking work, is sold for 7,000 yuan to a villager, Huang Degui, and held in forced marriage; her identity card is taken from her[6](https://ent.sina.com.cn/m/c/2007-10-23/02471759737.shtml) |\n| Festival | Un Certain Regard, 2007 Cannes Film Festival; nominated for the Un Certain Regard Prize[3](https://movie.douban.com/subject/2063528/) |\n| Release | Cannes screening 20 May 2007; Hong Kong 25 October 2007; mainland China 23 November 2007[3](https://movie.douban.com/subject/2063528/) • [4](https://wapbaike.baidu.com/item/%E7%9B%B2%E5%B1%B1/4338072) |\n| Running time | 95 minutes (theatrical) / 103 minutes (DVD)[3](https://movie.douban.com/subject/2063528/) |\n| Financing | Self-financed with 4 million yuan after the original investor withdrew; Li borrowed from his brother and mother and mortgaged his house[7](https://www.1905.com/mdb/film/58881/) |\n| Reception | Douban score 8.8 from 202,533 users, rated better than 97% of drama films on the site[3](https://movie.douban.com/subject/2063528/) |\n\n## Spoilers\n\n- **Two endings:** The original version ends with the heroine attacking her husband with a cleaver; the domestic release ends with her eventual rescue[3](https://movie.douban.com/subject/2063528/) • [6](https://ent.sina.com.cn/m/c/2007-10-23/02471759737.shtml)\n\n### Plot and subject\n\nThe story is set in the early 1990s in a remote village in northwest China, announced by an opening title card.[7](https://www.1905.com/mdb/film/58881/) Bai Xuemei, a recent college graduate who has not yet found work and is eager to earn money for her family, follows a man posing as a medicine businessman and a woman named Hu to what she believes is a job opportunity. She is drugged, wakes up in an unfamiliar village, and realizes she has been sold to Huang Degui for 7,000 yuan; her identity card is taken from her. When she appeals to the family that bought her, she is coldly refused, and her refusal to submit brings violence from the household.[2](https://www.baike.com/wikiid/7170986649500696580) • [6](https://ent.sina.com.cn/m/c/2007-10-23/02471759737.shtml)\n\nThe film follows her repeated escape attempts and their failure. Villagers, including local officials who come to collect taxes and fees, refuse to intervene, treating her captivity as a family matter. The Cannes festival synopsis describes her life as one of rape, beating, and enslavement with no hope of escape because of the villagers' apathy and selfishness, and notes that when help finally arrives it is only the beginning of another tragedy.[1](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/f/mang-shan/) • [6](https://ent.sina.com.cn/m/c/2007-10-23/02471759737.shtml)\n\n### Two endings\n\nThe film exists in versions with different endings. In the original version, Bai Xuemei attacks her husband with a cleaver; the version released in mainland China instead ends with her eventual rescue by police.[3](https://movie.douban.com/subject/2063528/) • [6](https://ent.sina.com.cn/m/c/2007-10-23/02471759737.shtml) The domestic cut runs 95 minutes and the DVD version 103 minutes.[3](https://movie.douban.com/subject/2063528/)\n\n## Production\n\n**Research and method.** Li Yang said he wanted a documentary style to faithfully recreate the reality of rural life in China and to give an account of the problem of human trafficking.[8](https://archives.cinemas-asie.com/en/movies/item/2672-blind-mountain.html) To build the script he conducted extensive interviews with formerly trafficked women, police departments, anti-trafficking officials, and even retired traffickers, gathering first-hand material, and he again used the approach of his debut film: real locations and non-professional local performers appearing as themselves.[6](https://ent.sina.com.cn/m/c/2007-10-23/02471759737.shtml) The dialogue is in Sichuan and Shaanxi dialects.[3](https://movie.douban.com/subject/2063528/) Li said the subject came from a report he saw in China in 1996, when the head of the [All-China Women's Federation](https://www.edgepedia.org/all-china-womens-federation), Peng Peiyun, attended a public trial in tears.[9](https://bkso.baidu.com/item/%E7%9B%B2%E5%B1%B1/4338072?fromModule=lemma_inlink)\n\n**Financing.** Before shooting began the original investor withdrew, and Li Yang raised 4 million yuan himself, borrowing money from his younger brother and then his mother and mortgaging his house.[7](https://www.1905.com/mdb/film/58881/) The production companies were Beijing Kunpeng Xingyun Cultural Development and Tang Splendour Films, with [StudioCanal](https://www.edgepedia.org/studiocanal) handling international sales.[10](https://hkmdb.com/db/movies/view.mhtml?display_set=big5&id=12968) • [11](https://www.screendaily.com/cannes-2007-the-line-up/4032074.article)\n\n**Casting.** Huang Lu, then a university student, was cast as Bai Xuemei after Li Yang saw her performance in the film *Result* and brought the script to her; she accepted after reading it. It was her screen debut.[4](https://wapbaike.baidu.com/item/%E7%9B%B2%E5%B1%B1/4338072) • [12](https://fest.afi.com/2007/world-cinema-2007/blind-mountain-mang-shan/) Li Yang himself appears as the trafficker who sells her.[5](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSBdGCfApjw)\n\n## Context in Li Yang's career\n\nBlind Mountain is the second film in what critics call Li Yang's \"blind trilogy\": *Blind Shaft* (盲井, 2003), *Blind Mountain* (2007), and *Blind Way* (盲道, 2018).[13](https://www.kci.go.kr/kciportal/ci/sereArticleSearch/ciSereArtiView.kci?sereArticleSearchBean.artiId=ART002439676) After *Blind Shaft*, which won the Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Contribution at the 53rd [Berlin International Film Festival](https://www.edgepedia.org/berlin-international-film-festival) but was shot without government permission and banned in China, Li Yang was barred from making films for three years; he completed *Blind Mountain* in 2007.[14](https://www.inewsweek.cn/2/2018-02-02/731.shtml) • [15](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2003/nov/03/china) Li said the character 盲 (blind) describes a psychological blindness rather than physical blindness, and that the film is not about the transaction itself but about why the woman cannot escape and about the indifference of onlookers.[7](https://www.1905.com/mdb/film/58881/)\n\nThe film received a nomination for the Un Certain Regard Prize at Cannes and a nomination for the 8th Chinese Film Media Awards' annual tribute film.[3](https://movie.douban.com/subject/2063528/) Its commercial reach was small: recorded box office totaled $43,347 worldwide as of March 2024, including $23,451 in Hong Kong.[4](https://wapbaike.baidu.com/item/%E7%9B%B2%E5%B1%B1/4338072)\n\n## Later resonance\n\nIn early 2022 Li Yang announced that he would not pursue copyright fees against people sharing pirated copies of the film, saying he wanted to help combat the buying and selling of women and to free trafficked women.[5](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSBdGCfApjw) The film's subject, the abduction and sale of women in rural China, has remained a recurring point of reference in discussion of the practice.[11](https://www.screendaily.com/cannes-2007-the-line-up/4032074.article)\n\n## References\n\n1. [Mang Shan (Blind Mountain), Festival de Cannes](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/f/mang-shan/)\n2. [盲山, 快懂百科](https://www.baike.com/wikiid/7170986649500696580)\n3. [盲山 (2007), 豆瓣](https://movie.douban.com/subject/2063528/)\n4. [盲山（2007年李杨执导的剧情电影）, 百度百科](https://wapbaike.baidu.com/item/%E7%9B%B2%E5%B1%B1/4338072)\n5. [《盲山》中国电影 2007 导演李杨, YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSBdGCfApjw)\n6. [《盲井》导演李杨新作《盲山》广东率先公映, 新浪娱乐/南方都市报](https://ent.sina.com.cn/m/c/2007-10-23/02471759737.shtml)\n7. [盲山 Blind Mountain (2007), 1905电影网](https://www.1905.com/mdb/film/58881/)\n8. [Blind Mountain, Festival des Cinémas d'Asie de Vesoul](https://archives.cinemas-asie.com/en/movies/item/2672-blind-mountain.html)\n9. [盲山, 百度百科](https://bkso.baidu.com/item/%E7%9B%B2%E5%B1%B1/4338072?fromModule=lemma_inlink)\n10. [盲山 (2007), Hong Kong Movie Database](https://hkmdb.com/db/movies/view.mhtml?display_set=big5&id=12968)\n11. [Cannes 2007: the line-up, Screen Daily](https://www.screendaily.com/cannes-2007-the-line-up/4032074.article)\n12. [Blind Mountain (Mang Shan), AFI FEST 2007](https://fest.afi.com/2007/world-cinema-2007/blind-mountain-mang-shan/)\n13. [Lee Kun-seok (2019). Chinese Independent Movie Director Li Yang and His World of Movie. The Journal of Chinese Cultural Studies 43](https://www.kci.go.kr/kciportal/ci/sereArticleSearch/ciSereArtiView.kci?sereArticleSearchBean.artiId=ART002439676)\n14. [导演李杨：浮出地表以后, 中国新闻周刊网](https://www.inewsweek.cn/2/2018-02-02/731.shtml)\n15. [Xan Brooks (2003). Going underground, The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2003/nov/03/china)\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 2000s › Biographical and historical drama films 2000s › Released 2006 to 2009*\n\n*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: 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", "same_as": [], "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/blind-mountain", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/blind-mountain.md", "license": { "name": "Edgepedia Community License 1.0", "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license", "summary": "Free with credit, commercial use included. AI training is open to everyone. For other uses, organizations over USD 100M in revenue or 100M monthly users license separately.", "spdx": "LicenseRef-Edgepedia-Community-1.0" }, "credit": "\"Blind Mountain\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/blind-mountain. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[Blind Mountain](https://www.edgepedia.org/blind-mountain)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/blind-mountain](https://www.edgepedia.org/blind-mountain). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"Blind Mountain\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/blind-mountain. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "Blind Mountain is Li Yang's 2007 Chinese drama about college graduate Bai Xuemei, sold as a wife to a remote village; it played Cannes Un Certain Regard and has domestic and original endings." }