{ "id": "epp7qqh6j3", "slug": "nuan", "title": "Nuan (暖)", "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.romantic-drama-films-2000s", "label": "Romantic drama films 2000s", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical.drama-films-2000s.romantic-drama-films-2000s" } ], "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": "Nuan (暖), also released in Japan as Furusato no Kaori, is a 2003 Chinese drama by Huo Jianqi adapted from Mo Yan's novella White Dog and the Swing, starring Guo Xiaodong, Li Jia, and Teruyuki Kagawa; it won the Tokyo festival's Golden Kirin and the Golden Rooster Best Picture award.", "snippet": "Nuan (暖), also released in Japan as Furusato no Kaori, is a 2003 Chinese drama by Huo Jianqi adapted from Mo Yan's novella White Dog and the Swing, starring Guo Xiaodong, Li Jia, and Teruyuki Kagawa; it won the Tokyo festival's Golden Kirin and the Golden Rooster Best Picture award.", "node": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical.drama-films-2000s.romantic-drama-films-2000s", "markdown": "# Nuan (暖)\n\n**Nuan** (暖, \"Warm\") is a 2003 Chinese drama film directed by Huo Jianqi (霍建起), adapted from the novella *White Dog and the Swing* (白狗秋千架) by the writer [Mo Yan](https://www.edgepedia.org/mo-yan) (莫言). It stars Guo Xiaodong, Li Jia, and the Japanese actor Teruyuki Kagawa, and it won the Golden Kirin, the top prize of the 16th Tokyo International Film Festival, together with the Best Actor award for Kagawa, before taking Best Picture at China's 23rd Golden Rooster Awards.[1](https://movie.douban.com/subject/1308498//) • [2](https://ent.sina.com.cn/2003-11-11/0905231101.html) • [3](https://movie.douban.com/awards/golden-rooster/23/nominees?k=a)\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Director / source | Directed by Huo Jianqi; adapted from Mo Yan's novella *White Dog and the Swing* (白狗秋千架)[1](https://movie.douban.com/subject/1308498//) |\n| Cast | Guo Xiaodong as Lin Jinghe, Li Jia as Nuan, Teruyuki Kagawa as the mute[1](https://movie.douban.com/subject/1308498//) |\n| Premiere | 4 November 2003, Tokyo International Film Festival; 109 minutes, Mandarin[4](https://asianwiki.com/Nuan) |\n| Tokyo honors | Golden Kirin (Best Film) and Best Actor (Kagawa), selected from 15 competition films; jury president Gong Li[2](https://ent.sina.com.cn/2003-11-11/0905231101.html) |\n| Golden Rooster Awards | Best Picture and Best Screenplay (Si Wu), 23rd edition, 2003[3](https://movie.douban.com/awards/golden-rooster/23/nominees?k=a) |\n| Other awards | Outstanding Feature Film, 10th Huabiao Awards; Best Film, 11th Beijing Student Film Festival, both 2004[5](https://fanhall.com/if02796.html) |\n| Audience rating | 8.0 on Douban from 24,281 users[1](https://movie.douban.com/subject/1308498//) |\n\n## Spoilers\n\n### Story\n\nThe film is a story of returning to a first love lost in the Chinese countryside.[4](https://asianwiki.com/Nuan) Lin Jinghe (Guo Xiaodong), who has worked in Beijing, takes leave and goes back to his home village after ten years away. At the bridge he meets his former first love, Nuan (Li Jia), now lame and married to a mute man (Teruyuki Kagawa) whose household is not well off. As the two reminisce, the film moves back more than a decade to show how the young lovers came together and how they parted.[6](https://www.cinespot.com/hkmreviews/%E6%9A%96)\n\nIn the flashback period, Nuan is beautiful, sings and dances well, and the villagers expect her to leave the countryside. A touring provincial opera troupe brings a young martial performer into her life, who promises to send for her but never returns. Jinghe, who loves her, tries to console her and urges her to keep studying for the university entrance exam, but he cannot take the performer's place in her heart. A swing accident removes her remaining chance to leave, and Jinghe, who before going to the city promised he would come back for her, does not. Ten years on, Nuan and the mute have been married seven years with a six-year-old daughter, and Jinghe is left with deep guilt.[5](https://fanhall.com/if02796.html)\n\n## Production\n\nHuo Jianqi's earlier film *Postmen in the Mountains* (那山那人那狗) had been a success in Japan, and Japanese financing allowed him to make *Nuan*.[6](https://www.cinespot.com/hkmreviews/%E6%9A%96) The story is set in a small old village in Jiangxi Province, and the film's imagery of layered greens and the village swing was noted by critics as part of Huo's quiet, lyrical style.[6](https://www.cinespot.com/hkmreviews/%E6%9A%96)\n\nKagawa Teruyuki, a popular Japanese actor who had appeared in *Devils on the Doorstep*, played the mute, a role with no lines; the silence also covered the fact that he did not speak Chinese.[2](https://ent.sina.com.cn/2003-11-11/0905231101.html) His performance as a simple, kind deaf-mute villager won the Best Actor award at Tokyo.[7](https://yule.sohu.com/90/51/article215455190.shtml)\n\n## Festival success and Chinese release\n\nAt the closing of the 16th Tokyo International Film Festival in November 2003, *Nuan* took the two top honors, the Golden Kirin for Best Film and Best Actor for Kagawa, from a field of 15 competition films, and received 80,000 US dollars in prize money. [Gong Li](https://www.edgepedia.org/gong-li), presiding over the jury, presented the trophies.[2](https://ent.sina.com.cn/2003-11-11/0905231101.html) • [7](https://yule.sohu.com/90/51/article215455190.shtml) The film went on to win Best Picture and Best Screenplay at the 23rd Golden Rooster Awards, with Huo Jianqi nominated for Best Director there.[3](https://movie.douban.com/awards/golden-rooster/23/nominees?k=a) In 2004 it received an Outstanding Feature Film award at the 10th Huabiao Awards and Best Film at the 11th Beijing Student Film Festival.[5](https://fanhall.com/if02796.html)\n\nIts commercial path in China was harder. Like *Postmen in the Mountains* before it, the film struggled to secure cinema release at home; trade reports in 2004 described theaters declining the art film and distribution stalling outside major cities.[6](https://www.cinespot.com/hkmreviews/%E6%9A%96) • [5](https://fanhall.com/if02796.html) Sources differ on the mainland release date: Douban lists 27 February 2004, while Sogou Baike lists 18 May 2004.[1](https://movie.douban.com/subject/1308498//) • [8](https://baike.sogou.com/m/v786431.htm?g_ut=3) In Japan, where Huo's reputation was strong, the film was released under the title *Furusato no Kaori* (故郷の香り, \"The Scent of Home\") and later given a full theatrical run.[1](https://movie.douban.com/subject/1308498//) • [5](https://fanhall.com/if02796.html)\n\n## Reception and interpretation\n\nOn Douban the film holds a rating of 8.0 from 24,281 users, ranking better than 90 percent of romance films and 84 percent of drama films on the platform.[1](https://movie.douban.com/subject/1308498//) Critics have read the film alongside *A Mongolian Tale* (1995) as part of a current of \"educated youth\" (zhiqing) nostalgia and guilt in Chinese cinema of the 1990s and early 2000s.[9](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/367661725_Nostalgia_and_Guilt_in_the_Educated_Youth_Films_A_Mongolian_Tale_1995_and_Nuan_2003) A Hong Kong review compared its treatment of a past that cannot be recovered to *The Umbrellas of Cherbourg* and *The Bridges of Madison County*, and noted the ambiguity of Jinghe's narration, in which nostalgia for the old days coexists with a condescending gaze toward the village life he left.[6](https://www.cinespot.com/hkmreviews/%E6%9A%96) Scholarly criticism has also placed the film in a tradition of male-centered rural narratives in which the man figures as the enlightened outsider and the woman as the natural, unmarked countryside.[10](https://en.lnu.edu.cn/__local/8/4B/40/683D4AE8C3B0ED6F39F20100E90_63EA975F_A74A89.pdf)\n\n## References\n\n1. [暖 (2003), Douban](https://movie.douban.com/subject/1308498//)\n2. [霍建起东京夺得\"金麒麟\"，金羊网-新快报 via Sina Entertainment, 11 November 2003](https://ent.sina.com.cn/2003-11-11/0905231101.html)\n3. [第23届中国电影金鸡奖 (2003) 获奖名单, Douban Awards](https://movie.douban.com/awards/golden-rooster/23/nominees?k=a)\n4. [Nuan, AsianWiki](https://asianwiki.com/Nuan)\n5. [暖, 现象网 (fanhall)](https://fanhall.com/if02796.html)\n6. [暖 review, Cinespot 動映地帶](https://www.cinespot.com/hkmreviews/%E6%9A%96)\n7. [《暖》擒金麒麟获东京电影节最佳影片奖、优秀男演员奖, Sohu Entertainment, 11 November 2003](https://yule.sohu.com/90/51/article215455190.shtml)\n8. [暖, Sogou Baike](https://baike.sogou.com/m/v786431.htm?g_ut=3)\n9. [Zhun Gu, \"Nostalgia and Guilt in the 'Educated Youth' Films: A Mongolian Tale (1995) and Nuan (2003)\" (2023)](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/367661725_Nostalgia_and_Guilt_in_the_Educated_Youth_Films_A_Mongolian_Tale_1995_and_Nuan_2003)\n10. [Gender and male discourse in Chinese film scholarship (PDF)](https://en.lnu.edu.cn/__local/8/4B/40/683D4AE8C3B0ED6F39F20100E90_63EA975F_A74A89.pdf)\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 › Romantic drama films 2000s*\n\n*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 15, 2026; Oct 21, 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/nuan", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/nuan.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": "\"Nuan (暖)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/nuan. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[Nuan (暖)](https://www.edgepedia.org/nuan)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/nuan](https://www.edgepedia.org/nuan). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"Nuan (暖)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/nuan. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "Nuan, also released in Japan as Furusato no Kaori, is a 2003 Chinese drama by Huo Jianqi adapted from Mo Yan's novella White Dog and the Swing, starring Guo Xiaodong, Li Jia, and Teruyuki Kagawa; it won the Tokyo festival's Golden Kirin and the Golden Rooster Best Picture award." }