{ "id": "epvmg13n5y", "slug": "kuei-mei-a-woman", "title": "Kuei-mei, a Woman (我这样过了一生)", "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-1980s", "label": "Drama films 1980s", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical.drama-films-1980s" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical.drama-films-1980s.yr-1980-1985", "label": "Released 1980 to 1985", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical.drama-films-1980s.yr-1980-1985" } ], "geo": [ { "id": "geo.asia.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical", "label": "Asia (other) · 1946 to 2000: Drama and biographical films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical", "path": [ { "id": "geo.asia", "label": "Asia (other)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t1946", "label": "Asia (other) · 1946 to 2000", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t1946" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t1946.culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t1946.culture" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t1946.culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t1946.culture.performance" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t1946.culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t1946.culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "geo.asia.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.asia.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t1946.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.asia.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical" } ] } ], "excerpt": "Kuei-mei, a Woman (我这样过了一生, 我這樣過了一生) is a 1985 Taiwanese drama by Chang Yi, adapted from Xiao Sa's novella Xiafei zhi Jia, starring Yang Hui-shan; it won four 1985 Golden Horse Awards and spans 25 years of a mainlander woman's life in Taipei.", "snippet": "Kuei-mei, a Woman (我这样过了一生, 我這樣過了一生) is a 1985 Taiwanese drama by Chang Yi, adapted from Xiao Sa's novella Xiafei zhi Jia, starring Yang Hui-shan; it won four 1985 Golden Horse Awards and spans 25 years of a mainlander woman's life in Taipei.", "node": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical.drama-films-1980s.yr-1980-1985", "markdown": "# Kuei-mei, a Woman (我这样过了一生)\n\n**Kuei-mei, a Woman** (我這樣過了一生) is a 1985 Taiwanese drama directed by Chang Yi (張毅), adapted from [Xiao Sa](https://www.edgepedia.org/xiao-sa)'s (蕭颯) novella *Xiafei zhi Jia* (霞飛之家), which follows a mainland-born woman's struggle to hold her family together in Taipei over roughly 25 years of Taiwan's postwar transformation[1](https://www.tfai.org.tw/en/cinema/detail/2c9680829428366a019468fe2a8600b7). It won four awards at the 22nd Golden Horse Awards in 1985: Best Feature Film, Best Director, Best Leading Actress, and Best Adapted Screenplay[2](https://tcmb.culture.tw/zh-tw/detail?id=621632&indexCode=Culture_Object).\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Director / year | Chang Yi (張毅), Taiwan, 1985[1](https://www.tfai.org.tw/en/cinema/detail/2c9680829428366a019468fe2a8600b7) |\n| Source | Adapted from Xiao Sa's novella *Xiafei zhi Jia* (霞飛之家), winner of the 1980 United Daily News novella award; screenplay by Xiao Sa and Chang Yi[3](https://opinion.cw.com.tw/blog/profile/509/article/10137) • [4](https://www.twreporter.org/a/saturday-features-film-taiwan-new-cinema-feminism-issue) |\n| Cast | Yang Hui-shan (楊惠珊) as Kuei-mei; Lee Li-chun (李立群) as her husband Hou Yung-nien[5](https://license.movie.com.tw/movie/detail?id=220) |\n| Golden Horse Awards 1985 | Best Feature Film, Best Director, Best Leading Actress, Best Adapted Screenplay[2](https://tcmb.culture.tw/zh-tw/detail?id=621632&indexCode=Culture_Object) |\n| Other recognition | Best Director, 1986 Asia Pacific Film Festival; screened at International Film Festival Rotterdam 2015 in a restored version[1](https://www.tfai.org.tw/en/cinema/detail/2c9680829428366a019468fe2a8600b7) |\n| Story span | From Kuei-mei's arrival in Taiwan in her twenties to her death of cancer at 54, about 25 years[6](https://www.opentix.life/event/1577577360975241218) |\n| Production | Central Motion Picture Corporation; producer Hsu Kuo-liang; cinematography Yang Wei-han; sound Tu Duu-chih[7](https://iffr.com/en/iffr/2015/films/kuei-mei-a-woman) |\n\n## Spoilers\n\n### Story\n\nKuei-mei escapes the [Chinese Civil War](https://www.edgepedia.org/chinese-civil-war) in the 1950s and arrives in Taiwan alone, taking refuge with a cousin[5](https://license.movie.com.tw/movie/detail?id=220). Through an introduction she marries Hou Yung-nien, a widower with three children who works at a hotel, and discovers after the wedding that he gambles compulsively and loses every time; he is dismissed from his job for gambling[3](https://opinion.cw.com.tw/blog/profile/509/article/10137) • [8](https://theweereview.com/review/kuei-mei-a-woman/). After she gives birth to twins, the household cannot survive on his earnings, and she takes up piecework at home[3](https://opinion.cw.com.tw/blog/profile/509/article/10137).\n\n**The Japan years.** To earn more, Kuei-mei takes a domestic-service position in Japan, but the employer allows her to bring only two of the couple's five children, forcing her to choose between her stepchildren and her own[5](https://license.movie.com.tw/movie/detail?id=220). In the novella this episode is set in the United States, where she learns to make chocolate and apple pies that later become signatures of her restaurant; the film moved the destination to Japan[3](https://opinion.cw.com.tw/blog/profile/509/article/10137).\n\n**Xiafei zhi Jia.** Back in Taipei, Kuei-mei opens a restaurant named Xiafei zhi Jia (霞飛之家, \"House of Xiafei\"), named for the Shanghai avenue where relatives had lived, and builds it through her own labor[3](https://opinion.cw.com.tw/blog/profile/509/article/10137). Once the family's finances stabilize, new troubles arrive: her husband has an affair, and her eldest daughter becomes pregnant outside marriage, and Kuei-mei quietly takes responsibility for each crisis[1](https://www.tfai.org.tw/en/cinema/detail/2c9680829428366a019468fe2a8600b7). As the children grow up, she is diagnosed with cancer, and the restaurant she founded becomes an object of contention among her children and their spouses[5](https://license.movie.com.tw/movie/detail?id=220). In the film's ending, her daughter Zheng-fang, who had planned to study abroad, chooses to take over the restaurant, a decision the critic [Li Cheng](https://www.edgepedia.org/li-cheng)-liang reads as the daughter's understanding of her mother's life[3](https://opinion.cw.com.tw/blog/profile/509/article/10137).\n\n## Social canvas\n\nThe film ties one woman's life to Taiwan's economic history. Kuei-mei's trajectory, from poverty to prosperity, from an agricultural to an industrial and commercial society, parallels the island's growth into one of the four \"Asian tiger economies,\" and the story touches on American aid, home-based subcontracting, modern factories, and trade with the United States and [Japan](https://www.edgepedia.org/japan-epzdpsev89)[9](https://tyff.taoyuancf.org.tw/index.php/film/%E6%88%91%E9%80%99%E6%A8%A3%E9%81%8E%E4%BA%86%E4%B8%80%E7%94%9F) • [10](https://www.scff.sg/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/SCFF-2019-Book-All-2103-Final.pdf). The restaurant itself registers the change: its menu shifts from Chinese rice dishes such as beef stew over rice to Western cuisine, and from filling meals to refined taste, which the National Culture Memory Bank account reads as a symbol of Taipei's transformation[2](https://tcmb.culture.tw/zh-tw/detail?id=621632&indexCode=Culture_Object).\n\nThe film is also read as a record of the mainlander (waishengren) experience from a woman's perspective. Commentary of the early 1980s had focused on mainlander veterans; this film instead centers a mainlander woman who struggles to survive in Taiwan and finally puts down roots there[3](https://opinion.cw.com.tw/blog/profile/509/article/10137).\n\n## Place in Taiwan New Cinema\n\nChang Yi (1951–2020) was one of the directors of the Taiwan New Cinema movement, which began with the 1982 omnibus *In Our Time* made with Edward Yang, Tao Te-chen, and Ko I-chen[3](https://opinion.cw.com.tw/blog/profile/509/article/10137). *Kuei-mei, a Woman* is the second work of what is called his \"women's film trilogy,\" together with *Jade Love* (玉卿嫂) and *My Love* (我的愛)[9](https://tyff.taoyuancf.org.tw/index.php/film/%E6%88%91%E9%80%99%E6%A8%A3%E9%81%8E%E4%BA%86%E4%B8%80%E7%94%9F). The International Film Festival Rotterdam program describes it as a social realist epic spanning three decades and notes its feminist approach, while observing that it remained little known in the West[7](https://iffr.com/en/iffr/2015/films/kuei-mei-a-woman).\n\n**Performance.** Yang Hui-shan, previously known for \"social realist\" genre films such as *Revenge of the Woman*, played Kuei-mei across decades of aging and won the Golden Horse Best Actress award, her second in as many years[9](https://tyff.taoyuancf.org.tw/index.php/film/%E6%88%91%E9%80%99%E6%A8%A3%E9%81%8E%E4%BA%86%E4%B8%80%E7%94%9F) • [8](https://theweereview.com/review/kuei-mei-a-woman/). For the role she gained 15 kilograms, then lost the weight again[7](https://iffr.com/en/iffr/2015/films/kuei-mei-a-woman).\n\n## Adaptation\n\nThe film departs from the novella in several ways. Xiao Sa, who co-wrote the screenplay, said she wanted to rework material she was unsatisfied with, and scholars note that her influence over the final cut was limited by her position as a young woman writer working under a director who was her husband[4](https://www.twreporter.org/a/saturday-features-film-taiwan-new-cinema-feminism-issue). The film also added a correspondence with Kuei-mei's fiancé left behind in mainland China, who has meanwhile married and had children, a thread made topical by the cross-strait family-visiting debates of the mid-1980s[3](https://opinion.cw.com.tw/blog/profile/509/article/10137).\n\n## Restoration and later circulation\n\nA digitally restored version, listed by Central Motion Picture Corporation among its restoration catalog, circulated from 2015, when the film screened at the International Film Festival Rotterdam[7](https://iffr.com/en/iffr/2015/films/kuei-mei-a-woman) • [5](https://license.movie.com.tw/movie/detail?id=220). Restored screenings in Taiwan have framed it as a milestone of the island's cinematic images of women, showing a woman raising five children without depending on a man[11](https://www.culture.ntpc.gov.tw/fuzhong15_chi/xmdoc/cont?sid=0P083461846013658199&xsmsid=0N017524762043605251).\n\n## References\n\n1. [我這樣過了一生 Kuei-mei, a Woman, Taiwan Film and Audiovisual Institute](https://www.tfai.org.tw/en/cinema/detail/2c9680829428366a019468fe2a8600b7)\n2. [第22屆金馬獎「最佳劇情片」《我就這樣過了一生》, 國家文化記憶庫](https://tcmb.culture.tw/zh-tw/detail?id=621632&indexCode=Culture_Object)\n3. [李政亮, 《我這樣過了一生》，1980年代的外省族群記事──悼張毅導演, 獨立評論@天下 (2020)](https://opinion.cw.com.tw/blog/profile/509/article/10137)\n4. [陳穎, 台灣新電影的女性主義麻煩與苦女再現, 報導者 (2023)](https://www.twreporter.org/a/saturday-features-film-taiwan-new-cinema-feminism-issue)\n5. [我這樣過了一生, 中影版權](https://license.movie.com.tw/movie/detail?id=220)\n6. [我這樣過了一生 Kuei-mei, a Woman, OPENTIX兩廳院文化生活](https://www.opentix.life/event/1577577360975241218)\n7. [Kuei-mei, a Woman, International Film Festival Rotterdam 2015](https://iffr.com/en/iffr/2015/films/kuei-mei-a-woman)\n8. [Kuei-Mei, a Woman, The Wee Review (2020)](https://theweereview.com/review/kuei-mei-a-woman/)\n9. [我這樣過了一生, 桃園光影電影館](https://tyff.taoyuancf.org.tw/index.php/film/%E6%88%91%E9%80%99%E6%A8%A3%E9%81%8E%E4%BA%86%E4%B8%80%E7%94%9F)\n10. [Singapore Chinese Film Festival 2019 catalogue](https://www.scff.sg/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/SCFF-2019-Book-All-2103-Final.pdf)\n11. [2025年3月映後文字紀錄：我這樣過了一生, 府中15](https://www.culture.ntpc.gov.tw/fuzhong15_chi/xmdoc/cont?sid=0P083461846013658199&xsmsid=0N017524762043605251)\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 1980s › Released 1980 to 1985*\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/kuei-mei-a-woman", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/kuei-mei-a-woman.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": "\"Kuei-mei, a Woman (我这样过了一生)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/kuei-mei-a-woman. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[Kuei-mei, a Woman (我这样过了一生)](https://www.edgepedia.org/kuei-mei-a-woman)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/kuei-mei-a-woman](https://www.edgepedia.org/kuei-mei-a-woman). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"Kuei-mei, a Woman (我这样过了一生)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/kuei-mei-a-woman. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "Kuei-mei, a Woman is a 1985 Taiwanese drama by Chang Yi, adapted from Xiao Sa's novella Xiafei zhi Jia, starring Yang Hui-shan; it won four 1985 Golden Horse Awards and spans 25 years of a mainlander woman's life in Taipei." }