{ "id": "ep8c46bp56", "slug": "soul-mate-2016-film", "title": "Soul Mate (七月与安生) (2016 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.coming-of-age-films", "label": "Coming-of-age films", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.coming-of-age-films" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.coming-of-age-films.coming-of-age-films-released-2010-onward", "label": "Coming-of-age films released 2010 onward", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.coming-of-age-films.coming-of-age-films-released-2010-onward" } ], "geo": [ { "id": "geo.chn.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "China · 2001 to 2020: 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", "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" } ] } ], "excerpt": "Soul Mate (七月与安生, Soulmate) is a 2016 Mandarin drama directed by Derek Tsang, adapted from Annie Baby's novella, starring Zhou Dongyu and Ma Sichun, who tied for the 2016 Golden Horse Best Actress award.", "snippet": "Soul Mate (七月与安生, Soulmate) is a 2016 Mandarin drama directed by Derek Tsang, adapted from Annie Baby's novella, starring Zhou Dongyu and Ma Sichun, who tied for the 2016 Golden Horse Best Actress award.", "node": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.coming-of-age-films.coming-of-age-films-released-2010-onward", "markdown": "# Soul Mate (七月与安生) (2016 film)\n\n**Soul Mate** (七月与安生) is a 2016 Mandarin-language drama film directed by Derek Tsang Kwok-cheung (曾国祥), adapted from the novella of the same title by the Chinese writer formerly known as Annie Baby (now named Qing Shan). It follows two girls, Qiyue (July) and Ansheng, whose close friendship from age thirteen is broken when both fall in love with the same man, and it stars [Zhou Dongyu](https://www.edgepedia.org/zhou-dongyu), Ma Sichun, and Toby Lee[1](https://hkmdb.com/db/movies/view.mhtml?display_set=eng&id=19072) • [2](https://bc.cinema.com.hk/filmfestival/hkaff2016/brochure.pdf).\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Director / producers | Derek Tsang; produced by Peter Chan (陈可辛) and Jojo Hui Yuet-chun (许月珍)[1](https://hkmdb.com/db/movies/view.mhtml?display_set=eng&id=19072) |\n| Source | Adapted from Annie Baby's (安妮宝贝, now Qing Shan) novella *Qiyue and Ansheng*, first published in 2001[2](https://bc.cinema.com.hk/filmfestival/hkaff2016/brochure.pdf) • [3](https://paper.people.com.cn/rmrbhwb/page/2016-07/30/11/rmrbhwb2016073011.pdf) |\n| Cast | Zhou Dongyu (安生), Ma Sichun (七月), Toby Lee (李程彬, as Su Jiaming)[1](https://hkmdb.com/db/movies/view.mhtml?display_set=eng&id=19072) |\n| Format | 110 minutes, Mandarin, drama/romance, rated IIA in Hong Kong[4](https://www.fdc.gov.hk/tc/publication/HK_Film_Industry_Info2016_Preview.pdf) |\n| Release | China 14 September 2016; Hong Kong 27 October 2016; Hong Kong gross HK$1,158,421[4](https://www.fdc.gov.hk/tc/publication/HK_Film_Industry_Info2016_Preview.pdf) • [5](https://www.1905.com/mdb/film/2233017/info/) |\n| Budget | USD 8 million[6](https://www.wepictures.com/upload/files/production/20190305145720_6.pdf) |\n| Awards | Zhou Dongyu and Ma Sichun tied for Golden Horse Best Actress 2016; 7 Golden Horse nominations and 12 Hong Kong Film Award nominations[7](https://www.chengchengfilm.com/soul-mate) |\n\n## Spoilers\n\n### Story and source\n\nThe film traces a friendship that begins when the two girls enter secondary school. Qiyue is quiet like still water, a well-behaved daughter; Ansheng is rebellious and free-spirited, from a single-parent family, and leaves school early to make her own way. Despite their opposite temperaments they become inseparable, and each becomes the other's closest companion through adolescence[2](https://bc.cinema.com.hk/filmfestival/hkaff2016/brochure.pdf) • [5](https://www.1905.com/mdb/film/2233017/info/).\n\nAt eighteen they both fall in love with the same young man, Su Jiaming (苏家明). To protect the friendship, Ansheng leaves home and drifts from place to place, and the two women keep in touch through postcards; the triangle strains the friendship and rewrites the course of both lives over the following decade[2](https://bc.cinema.com.hk/filmfestival/hkaff2016/brochure.pdf) • [8](https://video.friday.tw/movie/detail/26655).\n\nThe adaptation departs from a simple love-triangle plot by framing the story as a novel being written. In the present-day storyline, Qiyue has died and Ansheng is raising Qiyue's child while writing their shared history as fiction, with the past unfolding in flashbacks; the film's structure intercuts present and past across more than a decade of story time[9](https://media.people.com.cn/n1/2017/0424/c412274-29230838.html) • [5](https://www.1905.com/mdb/film/2233017/info/). Chinese critics read the film as a story of two girls growing up and each longing to become the other while struggling to be herself, rather than a conventional youth romance[10](https://wapbaike.baidu.com/item/%E4%B8%83%E6%9C%88%E4%B8%8E%E5%AE%89%E7%94%9F/17891598?structureClickId=17891598&structureId=9e811c1415569d312a92e57e).\n\nThe source novella was published in 2001 by Annie Baby, whose real name is Li Jie; born in 1974 in Ningbo, Zhejiang, she began publishing fiction online in 1998 and later adopted the pen name Qing Shan[3](https://paper.people.com.cn/rmrbhwb/page/2016-07/30/11/rmrbhwb2016073011.pdf) • [6](https://www.wepictures.com/upload/files/production/20190305145720_6.pdf).\n\n## Production\n\nDerek Tsang had previously co-directed *Lover's Discourse* (2010), which was nominated for Best New Director at the 2010 Golden Horse Awards; *Soul Mate* was his first solo feature as director[11](https://www.goldenhorse.org.tw/film/about/archive/detail/1400?r=en) • [12](https://www.spill.hk/creativity/movies/soul-mate-review/). The screenplay is credited to Lam Wing-sum (林咏琛), Li Yuan (李媛), Xu Yi-meng (许伊萌), and Wu Nan (吴楠), with cinematography by Jake Pollock and Fisher Yu Jing-ping[1](https://hkmdb.com/db/movies/view.mhtml?display_set=eng&id=19072). Filming took place in Nanjing, Shanghai, Suichang, Beijing, and Russia[5](https://www.1905.com/mdb/film/2233017/info/).\n\nThe theme song, \"(It's not a crime) It's just what we do\", was written and performed by Dou Jingtong (窦靖童), in her first work for film[6](https://www.wepictures.com/upload/files/production/20190305145720_6.pdf) • [2](https://bc.cinema.com.hk/filmfestival/hkaff2016/brochure.pdf). The original score is by Peter Kam (金培达) and Yusuke Hatano (波多野裕介)[4](https://www.fdc.gov.hk/tc/publication/HK_Film_Industry_Info2016_Preview.pdf).\n\n## Release\n\nThe film opened in mainland China on 14 September 2016, the [Mid-Autumn Festival](https://www.edgepedia.org/mid-autumn-festival) holiday period, earning 9.97 million yuan on its first day. As competing holiday releases squeezed its screening share from 17.5% to 10.8%, its daily takings nonetheless nearly doubled to 18.28 million yuan, and on the third day it took in about 18.5 million yuan while the overall national market fell, making it the only Mid-Autumn release whose box office rose rather than declined[13](https://ent.sina.com.cn/m/c/2016-09-17/doc-ifxvyqvy6583236.shtml?from=wap). Its Douban score rose from 6.7 before release to 7.7 during the opening days[13](https://ent.sina.com.cn/m/c/2016-09-17/doc-ifxvyqvy6583236.shtml?from=wap).\n\nIt reached Hong Kong on 27 October 2016, where it ran until 11 January 2017 and grossed HK$1,158,421[4](https://www.fdc.gov.hk/tc/publication/HK_Film_Industry_Info2016_Preview.pdf). It was the opening film of the 2016 Hong Kong Asian Film Festival and screened at festivals including the Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival and the Osaka Asian Film Festival[2](https://bc.cinema.com.hk/filmfestival/hkaff2016/brochure.pdf) • [14](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6054290/releaseinfo/) • [15](https://www.piecsmakow.pl/film.do?id=429&lang=en). A North American theatrical release began in September 2016 across AMC and other circuits in New York, Los Angeles, Toronto, Vancouver, and other cities[7](https://www.chengchengfilm.com/soul-mate).\n\n## Reception and awards\n\nAt the 53rd Golden Horse Awards in 2016, Zhou Dongyu and Ma Sichun tied for Best Actress, a result the film's North American distributor describes as the first such tie at the award; the film received seven Golden Horse nominations in total, including Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay[7](https://www.chengchengfilm.com/soul-mate) • [11](https://www.goldenhorse.org.tw/film/about/archive/detail/1400?r=en). At the 36th Hong Kong Film Awards in 2017 it received 12 nominations, including Best Film and Best Director, and Peter Kam won Best Original Film Score[7](https://www.chengchengfilm.com/soul-mate) • [5](https://www.1905.com/mdb/film/2233017/info/). It was named Film of the Year at the 2016 Weibo Film Night, won Best Director from the Hong Kong Directors' Guild and Best Actress from the Hong Kong Film Critics Society, and Tsang won Best Hong Kong/Taiwan Director at the 8th China Film Director's Guild Awards[7](https://www.chengchengfilm.com/soul-mate) • [15](https://www.piecsmakow.pl/film.do?id=429&lang=en).\n\nOn Rotten Tomatoes the film holds a 100% critics' score from nine reviews and a 79% audience score; critics highlighted its female-centered storytelling and its picture of contemporary urban China[16](https://static.rottentomatoes.com/m/soulmate_2016). On Douban it rated 7.5/10 from about 674,000 users as of September 2025[10](https://wapbaike.baidu.com/item/%E4%B8%83%E6%9C%88%E4%B8%8E%E5%AE%89%E7%94%9F/17891598?structureClickId=17891598&structureId=9e811c1415569d312a92e57e).\n\n## Later adaptations\n\nA 53-episode television series of the same title, adapted from the same novella and starring Shen Yue, Chen Duling, Xiong Ziqi, Zou Tingwei, and Liang Jingkang, began production in Ningbo in 2018 and aired in 2019[17](https://www.nbgdjt.com/38/38jtdt/1661.shtml) • [18](https://www.iqiyi.com/a_19rrgxjfol.html).\n\n## References\n\n1. [Soul Mate (2016), Hong Kong Movie Database](https://hkmdb.com/db/movies/view.mhtml?display_set=eng&id=19072)\n2. [Hong Kong Asian Film Festival 2016 brochure, Soul Mate opening film page](https://bc.cinema.com.hk/filmfestival/hkaff2016/brochure.pdf)\n3. [人民日报海外版, 2016年7月30日, 文化万象](https://paper.people.com.cn/rmrbhwb/page/2016-07/30/11/rmrbhwb2016073011.pdf)\n4. [香港电影发展局, 2016年上映的首轮香港电影片目资料表](https://www.fdc.gov.hk/tc/publication/HK_Film_Industry_Info2016_Preview.pdf)\n5. [七月与安生 详细资料, 1905电影网](https://www.1905.com/mdb/film/2233017/info/)\n6. [Soul Mate Production Notes, We Pictures](https://www.wepictures.com/upload/files/production/20190305145720_6.pdf)\n7. [Soul Mate 七月与安生, Cheng Cheng Films](https://www.chengchengfilm.com/soul-mate)\n8. [七月與安生, friDay影音](https://video.friday.tw/movie/detail/26655)\n9. [孤独的蝶变与灵魂的交融——评电影《七月与安生》, 人民网](https://media.people.com.cn/n1/2017/0424/c412274-29230838.html)\n10. [七月与安生（2016年电影）, 百度百科](https://wapbaike.baidu.com/item/%E4%B8%83%E6%9C%88%E4%B8%8E%E5%AE%89%E7%94%9F/17891598?structureClickId=17891598&structureId=9e811c1415569d312a92e57e)\n11. [Soul Mate, Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival archive](https://www.goldenhorse.org.tw/film/about/archive/detail/1400?r=en)\n12. [《七月與安生》影評, SPILL](https://www.spill.hk/creativity/movies/soul-mate-review/)\n13. [《七月》口碑飘红 周冬雨马思纯双生情深, 新浪娱乐](https://ent.sina.com.cn/m/c/2016-09-17/doc-ifxvyqvy6583236.shtml?from=wap)\n14. [Soulmate (2016) Release info, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6054290/releaseinfo/)\n15. [Soul Mate, Five Flavours Asian Film Festival 2017 archive](https://www.piecsmakow.pl/film.do?id=429&lang=en)\n16. [SoulMate (2016), Rotten Tomatoes](https://static.rottentomatoes.com/m/soulmate_2016)\n17. [宁波影视艺术公司出品的电视剧《七月与安生》开机, 宁波广播电视集团](https://www.nbgdjt.com/38/38jtdt/1661.shtml)\n18. [七月与安生 电视剧, 爱奇艺](https://www.iqiyi.com/a_19rrgxjfol.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 › Coming-of-age films › Coming-of-age films released 2010 onward*\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/soul-mate-2016-film", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/soul-mate-2016-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": "\"Soul Mate (七月与安生) (2016 film)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/soul-mate-2016-film. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[Soul Mate (七月与安生) (2016 film)](https://www.edgepedia.org/soul-mate-2016-film)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/soul-mate-2016-film](https://www.edgepedia.org/soul-mate-2016-film). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"Soul Mate (七月与安生) (2016 film)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/soul-mate-2016-film. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "Soul Mate is a 2016 Mandarin drama directed by Derek Tsang, adapted from Annie Baby's novella, starring Zhou Dongyu and Ma Sichun, who tied for the 2016 Golden Horse Best Actress award." }