{ "id": "epdk9487pz", "slug": "dust-in-the-wind-1986-film", "title": "Dust in the Wind (1986 film)", "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.comedy-romance", "label": "Comedy and romantic films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-the-1980s", "label": "Comedies of the 1980s", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-the-1980s" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-the-1980s.comedy-dramas-of-the-1980s", "label": "Comedy-dramas of the 1980s", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-the-1980s.comedy-dramas-of-the-1980s" } ], "geo": [ { "id": "geo.chn.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance", "label": "China · 1946 to 2000: Comedy and romantic films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance", "path": [ { "id": "geo.chn", "label": "China", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t1946", "label": "China · 1946 to 2000", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t1946" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t1946.culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t1946.culture" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t1946.culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t1946.culture.performance" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t1946.culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t1946.culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t1946.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.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance", "label": "Comedy and romantic films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance" } ] } ], "excerpt": "Dust in the Wind (戀戀風塵), 1986 Taiwanese drama by Hou Hsiao-hsien, written by Wu Nien-jen and Chu Tien-wen; childhood sweethearts leave a declining mining town for Taipei; based on Wu's first love.", "snippet": "Dust in the Wind (戀戀風塵), 1986 Taiwanese drama by Hou Hsiao-hsien, written by Wu Nien-jen and Chu Tien-wen; childhood sweethearts leave a declining mining town for Taipei; based on Wu's first love.", "node": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-the-1980s.comedy-dramas-of-the-1980s", "markdown": "# Dust in the Wind (1986 film)\n\n**Dust in the Wind** (戀戀風塵) is a 1986 Taiwanese drama film directed by Hou Hsiao-hsien (侯孝賢), produced by Central Motion Picture Corporation (中影), and written by Wu Nien-jen (吳念真) and [Chu Tien-wen](https://www.edgepedia.org/chu-tien-wen) (朱天文). It follows Ah Yuan and Ah Yun, childhood sweethearts from a mining town who move to Taipei to work, and ends with Ah Yun marrying another man while Ah Yuan is away serving his military conscription.[1](https://ent.sina.com.cn/m/2006-12-26/16371387142.html) • [2](https://giloo.ist/zh-CN/episodes/538/) The story is drawn from screenwriter Wu Nien-jen's own first love.[3](https://www.tfai.org.tw/program/movieDetail/2c95808281fb93890183209e8f790213)\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Original title | 戀戀風塵 (Dust in the Wind) |\n| Director / screenwriters | Hou Hsiao-hsien; screenplay Wu Nien-jen and Chu Tien-wen[1](https://ent.sina.com.cn/m/2006-12-26/16371387142.html) |\n| Production | Central Motion Picture Corporation, 35mm color, 1986[1](https://ent.sina.com.cn/m/2006-12-26/16371387142.html) |\n| Running time | 109 minutes; the restored DCP version runs 113 minutes[4](https://license.movie.com.tw/movie/detail?id=203) • [3](https://www.tfai.org.tw/program/movieDetail/2c95808281fb93890183209e8f790213) |\n| Principal cast | Wang Ching-wen, Shin Shu-fen, Li Tien-lu[4](https://license.movie.com.tw/movie/detail?id=203) |\n| Languages | Mandarin and Taiwanese (Hokkien)[5](https://www.mplus.org.hk/tc/cinema/stair-in-the-dark/dust-in-the-wind/) |\n| Awards | Best Director, Troia International Film Festival, Portugal, 1987; Best Cinematography and Best Music, Nantes Festival, 1987; Best Foreign Language Film Director, Kinema Junpo, 1990[1](https://ent.sina.com.cn/m/2006-12-26/16371387142.html) • [3](https://www.tfai.org.tw/program/movieDetail/2c95808281fb93890183209e8f790213) • [2](https://giloo.ist/zh-CN/episodes/538/) |\n\n## Spoilers\n\n### Story\n\nAh Yuan (阿遠) and Ah Yun (阿雲) grow up as childhood sweethearts in Jiufen (九份), a mining town in northern Taiwan, commuting to school by train. As the mining industry declines, Ah Yuan, unable to afford further schooling after junior high, leaves at fifteen to work as an apprentice in Taipei; Ah Yun follows the next year. City life is hard: Ah Yuan must send money home, support himself, and attend night school in the hope of reaching university. The two care for each other, and their families treat them as an eventual couple, though neither names the feeling.[4](https://license.movie.com.tw/movie/detail?id=203) • [5](https://www.mplus.org.hk/tc/cinema/stair-in-the-dark/dust-in-the-wind/)\n\n**Conscription and separation.** After graduating from night high school, Ah Yuan receives his draft notice and serves on Kinmen, the island garrison off the mainland coast. Before he leaves, Ah Yun gives him 1,096 envelopes, each pre-addressed with her name and a stamp, telling him to write every day; his term is three years, one of them a leap year with an extra February day. The letters continue, then her replies stop. Shortly before his discharge, Ah Yun marries the postman who has been delivering the correspondence. Ah Yuan returns to his hometown, where his grandfather (Li Tien-lu), tending sweet potatoes, talks on about the years while clouds pass over the hills.[4](https://license.movie.com.tw/movie/detail?id=203) • [2](https://giloo.ist/zh-CN/episodes/538/)\n\n## Autobiographical source and production\n\nThe screenplay adapts Wu Nien-jen's own first-love experience, and the film belongs to Hou's cycle of semi-autobiographical youth films: *The Boys from Fengkuei* (1983) drew on Hou's own boyhood, *A Time to Live, A Time to Die* (1985) used his family background, *A Summer at Grandpa's* (1984) came from Chu Tien-wen's childhood, and *Dust in the Wind* carries Wu Nien-jen's story.[6](https://www.chinachg.com/uploadFile/upfile/2017-12/2017-12-06/1512544076538.pdf) Even with a finished script, Hou frequently adjusted to circumstances on location or let the actors improvise.[3](https://www.tfai.org.tw/program/movieDetail/2c95808281fb93890183209e8f790213)\n\nThe crew repeated from Hou's earlier films: Lee Ping-bin (李屏賓) as cinematographer, Liao Ching-sung (廖慶松) as editor, and [Liu Zhen](https://www.edgepedia.org/liu-zhen)-xiang (劉振祥) as art director.[1](https://ent.sina.com.cn/m/2006-12-26/16371387142.html) Wang Ching-wen was cast in his first film role in the lead, and Shin Shu-fen appeared again after *A Time to Live, A Time to Die*; Li Tien-lu, the veteran stage actor who played the grandfather, became a regular in Hou's later films.[7](https://www.wowow.co.jp/detail/106733)\n\n## Setting and social background\n\nThe film depicts young people from the countryside who leave home in the 1960s and 1970s to seek work in the city, reflecting the social conditions of Taiwan at the time.[3](https://www.tfai.org.tw/program/movieDetail/2c95808281fb93890183209e8f790213) The mining town's decline leaves the young no way to make a living at home, and the story unfolds against the period when an agricultural society was turning into an industrial and commercial one.[5](https://www.mplus.org.hk/tc/cinema/stair-in-the-dark/dust-in-the-wind/) • [8](https://movietw.wordpress.com/2016/06/15/%E5%A4%A9%E5%9C%B0%E4%B8%8D%E4%BB%81%E3%80%8A%E6%88%80%E6%88%80%E9%A2%A8%E5%A1%B5%E3%80%8B1986/) Critics have read the film as a portrait of the urban-rural divide and the fate of small people amid Taiwan's economic transformation, with the characters' family and kinship ties acting as both constraint and support.[9](https://m.fx361.com/news/2017/0128/12745147.html) • [10](https://m.fx361.com/news/2021/0226/7596708.html)\n\n## Style\n\nHou's established method governs the film: long takes, fixed camera positions, and empty shots of landscape, at a slow, observational pace.[9](https://m.fx361.com/news/2017/0128/12745147.html) The Golden Horse festival program describes the film's natural-light long takes, framed compositions, and deep-staging mise-en-scène (everything arranged within the shot: staging, sets, composition), made with Lee Ping-bin, Liao Ching-sung, and the musician Chen Ming-chang (陳明章), who wrote the score.[11](https://www.goldenhorse.org.tw/film/programme/films/detail/2846?search_category=FF&search_year=2020) The film contains empty landscape shots that had not appeared in Hou's earlier work, which critics have linked to his admiration for [Yasujirō Ozu](https://www.edgepedia.org/yasujiro-ozu).[12](https://wapbaike.baidu.com/item/%E6%81%8B%E6%81%8B%E9%A3%8E%E5%B0%98/8252160) Hou himself connected the film's outlook to the writer [Shen Congwen](https://www.edgepedia.org/shen-congwen), saying he wanted to look at things the way Shen did, with a cold eye on life and death that nonetheless holds the greatest tolerance and the deepest sorrow.[10](https://m.fx361.com/news/2021/0226/7596708.html)\n\n## Place in Hou Hsiao-hsien's career\n\n*Dust in the Wind* closed the sequence of youth films Hou made after *The Boys from Fengkuei*: *A Summer at Grandpa's*, *A Time to Live, A Time to Die*, and *Dust in the Wind* form what one critic called a book of youth memories that fixed Hou's signature style.[13](https://www.chinanews.com/dxw/2023/11-18/10114283.shtml) Together with *The Boys from Fengkuei* and *A Time to Live, A Time to Die*, it established him as a leading figure of the Taiwan New Cinema movement of the 1980s, alongside Edward Yang.[5](https://www.mplus.org.hk/tc/cinema/stair-in-the-dark/dust-in-the-wind/) • [7](https://www.wowow.co.jp/detail/106733) Three years later Hou won the [Golden Lion](https://www.edgepedia.org/golden-lion) at Venice with *A City of Sadness* (1989), the first best-film award for Taiwan at one of the three major festivals.[11](https://www.goldenhorse.org.tw/film/programme/films/detail/2846?search_category=FF&search_year=2020)\n\nThe film's awards record includes Best Director at the Troia International Film Festival in Portugal in 1987, and Best Cinematography and Best Music at the Nantes Three Continents Festival, also 1987.[1](https://ent.sina.com.cn/m/2006-12-26/16371387142.html) • [3](https://www.tfai.org.tw/program/movieDetail/2c95808281fb93890183209e8f790213) In 1990 the Japanese film magazine *Kinema Junpo* named Hou Best Foreign Language Film Director for the film.[2](https://giloo.ist/zh-CN/episodes/538/) A digital restoration has since circulated in festival and archival exhibition, including screenings by the Taiwan Film and Audiovisual Institute and M+ in Hong Kong.[3](https://www.tfai.org.tw/program/movieDetail/2c95808281fb93890183209e8f790213) • [5](https://www.mplus.org.hk/tc/cinema/stair-in-the-dark/dust-in-the-wind/)\n\n## References\n\n1. [资料：台湾新浪潮导演侯孝贤作品年表, Sina Entertainment (2006)](https://ent.sina.com.cn/m/2006-12-26/16371387142.html)\n2. [恋恋风尘（修复版）, Giloo紀實影音](https://giloo.ist/zh-CN/episodes/538/)\n3. [〖再新電影出發的時候〗戀戀風塵（數位修復版）, Taiwan Film and Audiovisual Institute](https://www.tfai.org.tw/program/movieDetail/2c95808281fb93890183209e8f790213)\n4. [戀戀風塵, 中影授權頁](https://license.movie.com.tw/movie/detail?id=203)\n5. [戀戀風塵 Dust in the Wind, M+](https://www.mplus.org.hk/tc/cinema/stair-in-the-dark/dust-in-the-wind/)\n6. [第一阶段：回顾青春，自成一派 (PDF)](https://www.chinachg.com/uploadFile/upfile/2017-12/2017-12-06/1512544076538.pdf)\n7. [恋恋風塵, WOWOWオンライン](https://www.wowow.co.jp/detail/106733)\n8. [天地不仁《戀戀風塵》1986, 何英傑電影部落格](https://movietw.wordpress.com/2016/06/15/%E5%A4%A9%E5%9C%B0%E4%B8%8D%E4%BB%81%E3%80%8A%E6%88%80%E6%88%80%E9%A2%A8%E5%A1%B5%E3%80%8B1986/)\n9. [影像中的城乡变迁和人物命运——探究侯孝贤的电影《恋恋风尘》, 大众文艺 (2017)](https://m.fx361.com/news/2017/0128/12745147.html)\n10. [探究侯孝贤《恋恋风尘》中年轻人的现实处境, 青年文学家 (2021)](https://m.fx361.com/news/2021/0226/7596708.html)\n11. [戀戀風塵, 台北金馬影展](https://www.goldenhorse.org.tw/film/programme/films/detail/2846?search_category=FF&search_year=2020)\n12. [恋恋风尘（1987年侯孝贤执导台湾电影）, 百度百科](https://wapbaike.baidu.com/item/%E6%81%8B%E6%81%8B%E9%A3%8E%E5%B0%98/8252160)\n13. [东西问·人物｜侯孝贤：镜头远一点，再远一点, 中新网 (2023)](https://www.chinanews.com/dxw/2023/11-18/10114283.shtml)\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 › Comedy and romantic films (individual works) › Comedies of the 1980s › Comedy-dramas of the 1980s*\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/dust-in-the-wind-1986-film", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/dust-in-the-wind-1986-film.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": "\"Dust in the Wind (1986 film)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/dust-in-the-wind-1986-film. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[Dust in the Wind (1986 film)](https://www.edgepedia.org/dust-in-the-wind-1986-film)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/dust-in-the-wind-1986-film](https://www.edgepedia.org/dust-in-the-wind-1986-film). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"Dust in the Wind (1986 film)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/dust-in-the-wind-1986-film. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "Dust in the Wind, 1986 Taiwanese drama by Hou Hsiao-hsien, written by Wu Nien-jen and Chu Tien-wen; childhood sweethearts leave a declining mining town for Taipei; based on Wu's first love." }