{ "id": "epcv4tg4s8", "slug": "red-cherry", "title": "Red Cherry (红樱桃)", "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": 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"culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.war-historical.war-action-and-adventure.war-action-films-released-through-1999.yr-1963-1998", "label": "Released 1963 to 1998", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.war-historical.war-action-and-adventure.war-action-films-released-through-1999.yr-1963-1998" } ], "geo": [ { "id": "geo.eeu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.war-historical", "label": "Eastern Europe · 1946 to 2000: War and historical films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.eeu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.war-historical", "path": [ { "id": "geo.eeu", "label": "Eastern Europe", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.eeu" }, { "id": "geo.eeu.t1946", "label": "Eastern Europe · 1946 to 2000", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.eeu.t1946" }, { "id": "geo.eeu.t1946.culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.eeu.t1946.culture" }, { "id": "geo.eeu.t1946.culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.eeu.t1946.culture.performance" }, { "id": "geo.eeu.t1946.culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.eeu.t1946.culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "geo.eeu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.eeu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "geo.eeu.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.eeu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "geo.eeu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.war-historical", "label": "War and historical films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.eeu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.war-historical" } ] }, { "id": "geo.chn.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "China · 1946 to 2000: 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", "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" } ] } ], "excerpt": "Red Cherry (红樱桃, Hong ying tao) is a 1995 Chinese war drama directed by Ye Daying about Chinese orphans in WWII Soviet Russia; China's biggest 1995 domestic hit, Golden Rooster Best Picture, based partly on Zhu Min.", "snippet": "Red Cherry (红樱桃, Hong ying tao) is a 1995 Chinese war drama directed by Ye Daying about Chinese orphans in WWII Soviet Russia; China's biggest 1995 domestic hit, Golden Rooster Best Picture, based partly on Zhu Min.", "node": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.war-historical.war-action-and-adventure.war-action-films-released-through-1999.yr-1963-1998", "markdown": "# Red Cherry (红樱桃)\n\n**Red Cherry** (红樱桃; also released as *Hong ying tao*, Russian: Красная вишня) is a 1995 Chinese war drama directed by Ye Daying (叶大鹰), telling the story of two Chinese orphans sent to a Soviet international children's school near Moscow on the eve of the German invasion of the [Soviet Union in World War II](https://www.edgepedia.org/soviet-union-in-world-war-ii).[1](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114243/) • [2](https://www.firstfilm.org.cn/en/movies-en/film-library-en/red-cherry-2/) It was one of the few Chinese films of its period to place Chinese protagonists on the European battlefield of the war, and it became one of China's biggest domestic box-office hits of 1995.[3](https://www.sfgate.com/movies/article/Red-Cherry-Rises-to-the-Top-Heroic-Chinese-2836486.php) • [4](https://m.1905.com/m/film/feature/60501.shtml)\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Director and writers | Directed by Ye Daying; written by Jiang Qitao, Wei Lu, and Ye Daying[1](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114243/) |\n| Stars | Guo Keyu as Chuchu and Xu Xiaoli as Luo Xiaoman, both first-time film actors; Igor Ledogorov as Principal Watkin[1](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114243/) • [5](https://cinema.eiga.com/movie/50849/) |\n| Setting | Winter 1940, the Ivanov International Children's Institute near Moscow, in Soviet territory[2](https://www.firstfilm.org.cn/en/movies-en/film-library-en/red-cherry-2/) |\n| Production | Filming began in 1992, was suspended after the prologue when funding ran out at 27 million RMB, and resumed in 1995; all exteriors were shot in Russia[1](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114243/) • [4](https://m.1905.com/m/film/feature/60501.shtml) |\n| Languages | Russian, German, and Mandarin; about 70% of the dialogue is Russian[1](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114243/) • [6](https://www.inewsweek.cn/cover/2024-04-17/21789.shtml) |\n| Box office | Reported as a 40-million-RMB record for a domestic film in 1995 by one account, and as over 50 million RMB by others[7](https://news.sina.cn/sa/2005-10-28/detail-ikknscsi8124788.d.html) • [8](https://www3.xinhuanet.com/ent/20211102/b63a64c5cf8d46029f2c245db19202cf/c.html) |\n| Major awards | Golden Rooster Best Picture (1996); Hundred Flowers Best Picture and Best Actress; Shanghai International Film Festival Best Actress; China's entry for Best Foreign Language Film at the 68th Academy Awards[9](https://bkso.baidu.com/item/%E7%BA%A2%E6%A8%B1%E6%A1%83/66351?fromModule=lemma_inlink) • [10](https://etd.ohiolink.edu/acprod/odb_etd/ws/send_file/send?accession=osu1469178422&disposition=inline) |\n\n## Spoilers\n\n### Plot\n\nIn the winter of 1940, the Chinese orphans Chuchu (郭柯宇, Guo Keyu), a 13-year-old girl, and Luo Xiaoman (罗小蛮, Xu Xiaoli), a 12-year-old boy, are sent to the Ivanov International Children's Institute near Moscow. At a Russian-language speech examination, Chuchu tells the school that her revolutionary parents had not wanted her and that her father died at an execution ground.[5](https://cinema.eiga.com/movie/50849/) In the summer of 1941, children at a summer camp in Belarus are caught by the German invasion; the teacher Vera is shot, and the camp becomes a prisoner-of-war camp.[5](https://cinema.eiga.com/movie/50849/)\n\nThe two children are separated. Chuchu falls into the hands of General von Dietrich, a German officer who was a physician before the war and considers himself an artist; fascinated by her appearance, he has her bound and anesthetized while he tattoos an elaborate design across her back, its centerpiece a Nazi swastika that she cannot see.[3](https://www.sfgate.com/movies/article/Red-Cherry-Rises-to-the-Top-Heroic-Chinese-2836486.php) Luo Xiaoman remains in Moscow, becomes a street child, and later works as a \"black messenger\" delivering notices of soldiers' deaths, acting as a father figure to the orphan girl Nadia.[2](https://www.firstfilm.org.cn/en/movies-en/film-library-en/red-cherry-2/) • [11](https://www.allcinema.net/cinema/27543) In 1944, as Germany's defeat approaches, the general releases Chuchu and kills himself; Luo Xiaoman dies in an explosion before Nadia's eyes. After the war, Chuchu, cursing the tattoo, burns her own back, and the Party center arranges skin-graft surgery; the operation does not succeed, and she returns to Beijing, lives unmarried, and dies at 65.[5](https://cinema.eiga.com/movie/50849/)\n\n## Basis and background\n\nThe film appeared in 1995, the 50th anniversary of the victory over fascism and of China's victory in the War of Resistance, when many war-themed films were released. Rather than depicting combat on Chinese soil like *Nanjing Massacre* or *The July 7 Incident*, it moved the story to Russia and told what its publicity called the story of \"the descendants of martyrs and revolutionary forebears.\"[7](https://news.sina.cn/sa/2005-10-28/detail-ikknscsi8124788.d.html)\n\n**Real prototype.** Promotion at the time identified Zhu Min (朱敏), daughter of [Zhu De](https://www.edgepedia.org/zhu-de), as the prototype for Chuchu; her Russian name was Chiying, meaning \"red hero,\" and she entered the Ivanovo International Children's Institute in the Soviet Union at 14. The filmmakers consulted Zhu Min during production, explaining that the main content was true but that some parts were invented for art, including the Nazi-mark tattoo; she agreed.[7](https://news.sina.cn/sa/2005-10-28/detail-ikknscsi8124788.d.html) Director Ye Daying, grandson of the general [Ye Ting](https://www.edgepedia.org/ye-ting), said the \"red complex\" the media attributed to him was not something he pursued deliberately.[7](https://news.sina.cn/sa/2005-10-28/detail-ikknscsi8124788.d.html)\n\n## Production\n\nFilming began in 1992. After the prologue was shot, spending had reached 27 million RMB, and with the remaining funds unsecured the production stopped; it resumed only in 1995 when the money was in place, at which point Ye Daying recast the male lead, finding Xu Xiaoli in Hangzhou, while Guo Keyu continued as the female lead.[1](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114243/) • [9](https://bkso.baidu.com/item/%E7%BA%A2%E6%A8%B1%E6%A1%83/66351?fromModule=lemma_inlink) All exteriors were shot near Moscow, where winter temperatures often fell to minus 20 to 30 degrees Celsius; Guo Keyu, wrapped in sacking and thrown into snow and icy water, completed every setup.[4](https://m.1905.com/m/film/feature/60501.shtml) The film is described as the first Chinese film with every shot taken abroad.[4](https://m.1905.com/m/film/feature/60501.shtml)\n\nGuo Keyu was 15 and in her third year of junior high school in Beijing when she was cast; Ye Daying, unable to find his Chuchu, saw a black-and-white photograph of her in a newspaper, called her in for a screen test, and decided on her immediately. The shooting stretched across roughly three years.[8](https://www3.xinhuanet.com/ent/20211102/b63a64c5cf8d46029f2c245db19202cf/c.html) A television series, *Blood-Red Heart* (血色童心), was shot in parallel under the same director, with Mei Ting and Lu Yi in the leads; the film-and-series double production was later cited as a successful model.[7](https://news.sina.cn/sa/2005-10-28/detail-ikknscsi8124788.d.html)\n\n## Release and box office\n\nThe film premiered at the 19th China Film Festival 95 and the second Shanghai International Film Festival in 1995, and opened in Japan on February 3, 1996 and in Hong Kong on November 1, 1996.[5](https://cinema.eiga.com/movie/50849/) • [1](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114243/)\n\n**A hard sell that became a phenomenon.** At a 1995 purchasing fair in Wuyishan attended by film companies from 19 southern cities, not a single copy was ordered, largely because about 70% of the dialogue was in Russian.[6](https://www.inewsweek.cn/cover/2024-04-17/21789.shtml) Gao Jun of the Beijing Film Company then staged what was, in mainland China of 1995, an unprecedented premiere-rights auction, with no auction law yet in force; the Dizhi (Geology) [Auditorium](https://www.edgepedia.org/auditorium) won exclusive first-run rights for 520,000 yuan against a reserve of 150,000. Ten days of advance screenings earned 700,000 yuan, and with the following ten days the total reached 1.3 million yuan, exceeding the per-film house record of the imported blockbusters and igniting a nationwide run.[6](https://www.inewsweek.cn/cover/2024-04-17/21789.shtml) In Beijing the film placed second among the year's top ten; in Shanghai it earned 7.8 million yuan, the highest single-film domestic total of 1995 in that market; in [Guangzhou](https://www.edgepedia.org/guangzhou) it took 2.37 million yuan, more than any American film released there from 1995 to 1997.[7](https://news.sina.cn/sa/2005-10-28/detail-ikknscsi8124788.d.html)\n\nAccounts of the national total differ: the New Beijing News interview with the director records a 40-million-yuan record for a domestic film, while Xinhua and 1905.com put it above 50 million, second only to [Jiang Wen](https://www.edgepedia.org/jiang-wen)'s *In the Heat of the Sun* that year.[7](https://news.sina.cn/sa/2005-10-28/detail-ikknscsi8124788.d.html) • [8](https://www3.xinhuanet.com/ent/20211102/b63a64c5cf8d46029f2c245db19202cf/c.html) *Red Cherry* was also the first domestic Chinese film released on the revenue-sharing (fenzhang) distribution model used for imported blockbusters; *In the Heat of the Sun* and *Shanghai Triad* followed on the same terms.[6](https://www.inewsweek.cn/cover/2024-04-17/21789.shtml) In the United States its gross was $44,846.[1](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114243/)\n\n## Awards and reception\n\nAt the 16th Golden Rooster Awards in 1996 the film won Best Picture and Best Sound Recording, with nominations for Best Director, Best Actress, Best Cinematography, and Best Music; at the 19th Hundred Flowers Awards it won Best Picture and Best Actress for Guo Keyu; at the second Shanghai International Film Festival Guo Keyu won Best Actress and the film was nominated for the Golden Goblet for Best Picture; and at the fifth Pyongyang International Film Festival of Non-Aligned and Other Developing Countries it won the Torch Gold Prize, with further acting and directing awards there.[9](https://bkso.baidu.com/item/%E7%BA%A2%E6%A8%B1%E6%A1%83/66351?fromModule=lemma_inlink) The government selected it as China's entry for Best Foreign Language Film at the 68th Academy Awards.[10](https://etd.ohiolink.edu/acprod/odb_etd/ws/send_file/send?accession=osu1469178422&disposition=inline)\n\nContemporary Chinese critics noted the film's double character. The scholar Tao Dongfeng, in a 1995 discussion published in *Film Art*, described it as morally discomforting, oppressive, and shocking, yet watchable and pleasing as a viewing experience, observing that some evil things, such as the general tattooing a symbol of violence on a girl's body, are beautiful from an aesthetic perspective.[10](https://etd.ohiolink.edu/acprod/odb_etd/ws/send_file/send?accession=osu1469178422&disposition=inline) The film scholar [Dai Jinhua](https://www.edgepedia.org/dai-jinhua) argued that moving the story abroad let the film avoid the confusions of the domestic context, and that casting the globally recognized villain, the Nazi, absorbed the violence and eroticism of its imagery into something framed as justice and ultimate concern.[7](https://news.sina.cn/sa/2005-10-28/detail-ikknscsi8124788.d.html) The American critic Peter Stack, reviewing the US release for the *San Francisco Chronicle*, called it a harrowing, tragic survival story, audacious in its depiction of violence and bold in showing nudity formerly taboo in mainland Chinese films.[3](https://www.sfgate.com/movies/article/Red-Cherry-Rises-to-the-Top-Heroic-Chinese-2836486.php) On IMDb the film holds a rating of 7.0/10 from about 786 votes.[1](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114243/)\n\n## Legacy\n\nThe film's commercial methods left a mark on the industry: the premiere-rights auction and the adoption of revenue-sharing distribution for a domestic film are cited as precedents that Chinese distribution learned from in the mid-1990s.[6](https://www.inewsweek.cn/cover/2024-04-17/21789.shtml) For Guo Keyu, the role brought three best-actress titles in 1995, at the Shanghai, Hundred Flowers, and [Pyongyang](https://www.edgepedia.org/pyongyang) festivals, making her at the time the youngest winner of a best-actress award at an international A-category festival after Xia Yu's corresponding actor award; she then withdrew from acting for years before returning to public attention on the reality show *See You Again* in 2021.[8](https://www3.xinhuanet.com/ent/20211102/b63a64c5cf8d46029f2c245db19202cf/c.html) Ye Daying followed it with *A Time to Remember* (红色恋人, 1998), written with the same collaborator Jiang Qitao.[12](https://static.nfnews.com/content/202309/04/c8064932.html) The film has been periodically broadcast on CCTV-6's movie channel, most recently in scheduled airings in 2024 and 2025.[9](https://bkso.baidu.com/item/%E7%BA%A2%E6%A8%B1%E6%A1%83/66351?fromModule=lemma_inlink)\n\n## References\n\n1. [Red Cherry (1995), IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114243/)\n2. [RED CHERRY, FIRST International Film Festival film library](https://www.firstfilm.org.cn/en/movies-en/film-library-en/red-cherry-2/)\n3. [Peter Stack, \"'Red Cherry' Rises to the Top,\" San Francisco Chronicle, June 6, 1997](https://www.sfgate.com/movies/article/Red-Cherry-Rises-to-the-Top-Heroic-Chinese-2836486.php)\n4. [红樱桃 幕后花絮, 1905电影网](https://m.1905.com/m/film/feature/60501.shtml)\n5. [レッドチェリー 作品情報・あらすじ, 映画.com](https://cinema.eiga.com/movie/50849/)\n6. [\"大片30年，我们的回忆杀,\" 中国新闻周刊 (inewsweek.cn), 2024](https://www.inewsweek.cn/cover/2024-04-17/21789.shtml)\n7. [\"《红樱桃》4000万票房背后的'秘诀',\" 新京报 via Sina, 2005](https://news.sina.cn/sa/2005-10-28/detail-ikknscsi8124788.d.html)\n8. [\"再见郭柯宇,\" 文汇报 via Xinhua, 2021](https://www3.xinhuanet.com/ent/20211102/b63a64c5cf8d46029f2c245db19202cf/c.html)\n9. [红樱桃（1995年叶大鹰执导的剧情片）, 百度百科](https://bkso.baidu.com/item/%E7%BA%A2%E6%A8%B1%E6%A1%83/66351?fromModule=lemma_inlink)\n10. [The Others: Desire, Anxiety (Ohio State University dissertation, citing Tao Dongfeng 1996)](https://etd.ohiolink.edu/acprod/odb_etd/ws/send_file/send?accession=osu1469178422&disposition=inline)\n11. [レッドチェリー, allcinema](https://www.allcinema.net/cinema/27543)\n12. [张国荣《红色恋人》重映，导演叶大鹰专访, 南方都市报, 2023](https://static.nfnews.com/content/202309/04/c8064932.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 › War and historical films (individual works) › War action and adventure › War action films released through 1999 › Released 1963 to 1998*\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", "same_as": [], "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/red-cherry", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/red-cherry.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": "\"Red Cherry (红樱桃)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/red-cherry. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[Red Cherry (红樱桃)](https://www.edgepedia.org/red-cherry)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/red-cherry](https://www.edgepedia.org/red-cherry). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"Red Cherry (红樱桃)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/red-cherry. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "Red Cherry is a 1995 Chinese war drama directed by Ye Daying about Chinese orphans in WWII Soviet Russia; China's biggest 1995 domestic hit, Golden Rooster Best Picture, based partly on Zhu Min." }