{ "id": "ep7bz7j8f7", "slug": "the-horse-thief", "title": "The Horse Thief (盗马贼)", "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-1986-1989", "label": "Released 1986 to 1989", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical.drama-films-1980s.yr-1986-1989" } ], "geo": [ { "id": "geo.chn.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical", "label": "China · 1946 to 2000: Drama and biographical films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t1946.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.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.drama-biographical", "label": "Drama and biographical films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical" } ] } ], "excerpt": "The Horse Thief (盗马贼, Dao ma zei) is Tian Zhuangzhuang's 1986 Fifth Generation drama from Xi'an Film Studio: a 1923-set Tibetan-language story of herder Norbu, banished for theft, whose faith collapses; restored in 4K and shown at Cannes Classics 2019.", "snippet": "The Horse Thief (盗马贼, Dao ma zei) is Tian Zhuangzhuang's 1986 Fifth Generation drama from Xi'an Film Studio: a 1923-set Tibetan-language story of herder Norbu, banished for theft, whose faith collapses; restored in 4K and shown at Cannes Classics 2019.", "node": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical.drama-films-1980s.yr-1986-1989", "markdown": "# The Horse Thief (盗马贼)\n\n**The Horse Thief** (盗马贼, also romanized *Dao ma zei*) is a 1986 Chinese drama film directed by Tian Zhuangzhuang (田壮壮) and produced by the Xi'an Film Studio. Set in 1923 on the Tibetan plateau, it follows a poor herder, Norbu, who turns to horse stealing to survive, is banished by his tribe, and is destroyed by illness, exile, and his own return to theft. The film is regarded as a key work of China's Fifth Generation of filmmakers and is noted for its avant-garde style, its use of Tibetan actors and the Tibetan language, and its treatment of faith, fate, and death.[1](https://www.firstfilm.org.cn/movies/film-library/%E7%9B%97%E9%A9%AC%E8%B4%BC/) • [2](https://www.cfa.org.cn/cfa/ljwm/dt/2020102811530588514/index.html)\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Director / studio | Tian Zhuangzhuang; Xi'an Film Studio, completed 1986[1](https://www.firstfilm.org.cn/movies/film-library/%E7%9B%97%E9%A9%AC%E8%B4%BC/) |\n| Running time / format | 88 minutes; color, 35 mm anamorphic widescreen, 2.35:1[1](https://www.firstfilm.org.cn/movies/film-library/%E7%9B%97%E9%A9%AC%E8%B4%BC/) • [3](https://www.cfa.org.cn/eportal/ui?articleKey=b3b44659d8c8460c82ef1d06d107144c&columnId=dff72cbf756343beaa670f4eb8477d15&pageId=a3e59022b4fa48c9bb2705d88bc19218) |\n| Setting | 1923, Tibetan plateau; a herder driven into horse theft and robbery is expelled by his tribe[1](https://www.firstfilm.org.cn/movies/film-library/%E7%9B%97%E9%A9%AC%E8%B4%BC/) |\n| Principal cast | Tseshang Rinzhin (才项仁增) as Norbu; Dan Jiji (旦枝姬) as his wife Dolma[4](https://www.rediancefilms.com/film.php-31.html?id=4) |\n| Key crew | Script: Zhang Rui; cinematography: Hou Yong and Zhao Fei; art design: Huo Jianqi; music: Qu Xiaosong[4](https://www.rediancefilms.com/film.php-31.html?id=4) |\n| Recognition | Grand prize at the Swiss Third World Film Festival (Fribourg); ranked first among 1990s films in Martin Scorsese's personal list[5](https://static.pyiffestival.com/upload/file/20230530/8f7b894c4e2a41479bb96978445e462b.pdf) • [2](https://www.cfa.org.cn/cfa/ljwm/dt/2020102811530588514/index.html) |\n| Restoration | 4K restoration by the China Film Archive; Mandarin version premiered at the 2018 Beijing International Film Festival, Tibetan 4K 48-frame version at Cannes Classics in 2019[6](https://www.chinawriter.com.cn/n1/2018/0412/c404003-29920550.html) • [7](https://www.xinhuanet.com/world/2019-05/18/c_1124511702.htm) |\n\n## Spoilers\n\n### Plot\n\nThe story is set in 1923. Norbu, a Tibetan herder, wanders the plateau and is forced by poverty to steal horses for a living. To help his sick son Zhaxi, he and accomplices rob a shipment of gifts that the government is sending to a monastery, intending to offer the stolen goods to the monastery as a votive gift for the boy. When the robbery is discovered, the tribe's chief, who refuses to hand Norbu over to the authorities, expels Norbu and his family from the tribe. Norbu, his wife Dolma, and the child drift across the grasslands. Zhaxi's condition worsens despite Norbu's devout prayers, and the boy dies. Soon after, Dolma becomes pregnant again, but hardship does not leave the family.[1](https://www.firstfilm.org.cn/movies/film-library/%E7%9B%97%E9%A9%AC%E8%B4%BC/) • [8](https://baike.so.com/doc/6501895-6715610.html)\n\nThe English-language synopsis from the film's sales agent adds the ending: Norbu sells his beloved horse to feed the newborn, sneaks into a horse pen one winter night out of longing for it, and is beaten nearly to death as a suspected thief. He returns limping to find the aunt who raised him dead, killed by a wolf, and in desperation steals horses again, ending his life while being pursued; in another account he crawls with his last strength to the sky burial ground (Tibetan site where corpses are left for vultures).[3](https://www.cfa.org.cn/eportal/ui?articleKey=b3b44659d8c8460c82ef1d06d107144c&columnId=dff72cbf756343beaa670f4eb8477d15&pageId=a3e59022b4fa48c9bb2705d88bc19218) • [4](https://www.rediancefilms.com/film.php-31.html?id=4)\n\nOne Chinese academic source dates the story to 1934 rather than 1923; most festival and sales sources, including the film's own synopsis, give 1923.[9](https://www2.xzmu.edu.cn/wyzx/getcontent?id=38484&url=show) • [4](https://www.rediancefilms.com/film.php-31.html?id=4)\n\n## Production and style\n\nThe film was shot in 1985 on the Sangke grasslands in Gannan, Tibet, with non-professional Tibetan performers speaking Tibetan.[1](https://www.firstfilm.org.cn/movies/film-library/%E7%9B%97%E9%A9%AC%E8%B4%BC/) • [10](https://www.tibetcul.com/UploadFiles/news/2016/10/201610211259347746.pdf) It was adapted by screenwriter Zhang Rui, then an editor at the magazine *Feitian*, from his own story \"The Story of the Horse Thief,\" which had won the 1984 Youth Literature Award.[8](https://baike.so.com/doc/6501895-6715610.html)\n\nTian's treatment departed from the source's framing. According to a later account, his reworking of the script turned what had been a sharply critical picture of the old society into a film centered on religion, and the film leaves causal connections open, inviting viewers to supply links through association rather than plot progression.[8](https://baike.so.com/doc/6501895-6715610.html) In his own director's statement, Tian described the film as being about the struggle between people and gods, life and death, fate and faith: it depicts a person's rebellion against nature and religion, his collapse in that futile rebellion, and his disappearance. He called the film his autobiography and that of his generation, and said he made it in a state of despair.[1](https://www.firstfilm.org.cn/movies/film-library/%E7%9B%97%E9%A9%AC%E8%B4%BC/)\n\nA Japanese review noted that although the film has the tragic storyline of a poor Tibetan horse thief, the camera keeps its attention on the Tibetan natural landscape and the distinctive life of the mountain dwellers, comparing this quality to Chen Kaige's debut *Yellow Earth* while observing that *The Horse Thief* devotes itself more purely to recording the landscape before it.[11](https://eiga.com/movie/47157/)\n\n## Reception and release history\n\nThe film provoked sustained controversy in Chinese film circles. In 1986 the journal *Film Art* organized a heated discussion of it, with critics questioning its discontinuous narrative, the non-logical relationship between religious scenes and the characters' actions, and the tension between the character's viewpoint and the director's viewpoint; Tian responded confidently.[12](https://chinafilmnews.cn/Html/2022-12-14/10532.html) The film won the grand prize at the Swiss Third World Film Festival, and the Japanese critic Tadao Sato called Tian \"the most talented and outstanding Chinese film director of our time.\"[5](https://static.pyiffestival.com/upload/file/20230530/8f7b894c4e2a41479bb96978445e462b.pdf) • [13](https://www.virtualshanghai.net/Asset/Source/bnBook_ID-1950_No-01.pdf) Martin Scorsese later placed it first among the films of the 1990s in his personal ranking.[2](https://www.cfa.org.cn/cfa/ljwm/dt/2020102811530588514/index.html)\n\nRelease dates varied by market: Japan received the film on 21 November 1987,[11](https://eiga.com/movie/47157/) and Hong Kong premiered it on 18 August 1988, where it earned HK$111,179.00.[14](https://www.hkfact.com/movie/7061) The Tibetan director Pema Tseden, interviewed about Tibetan-themed cinema, called it a very special film for its time, made by a Fifth Generation director when most Tibetan-themed work came from third- or fourth-generation filmmakers, but argued that despite its artistic value it did not reflect Tibetan life as Tibetans themselves observed it, being more an expression of the director's experimental intent than of lived reality.[15](https://m.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_12918857)\n\n## Restoration\n\nThe China Film Archive completed a 4K restoration from the 35 mm original camera negative, guided by Tian and cinematographer Hou Yong. The Mandarin-dubbed 4K version premiered at the 8th Beijing International Film Festival in April 2018, the archive's first independently completed 4K restoration, marking its move from 2K to 4K technology.[6](https://www.chinawriter.com.cn/n1/2018/0412/c404003-29920550.html) • [4](https://www.rediancefilms.com/film.php-31.html?id=4)\n\nThe Tibetan-language version had a separate history. Tian said the original Tibetan print had been lost abroad; the archive traced it through the French embassy, the Cinémathèque française, and the Japanese scholar Kariya Toshifumi, and finally recovered a Tibetan sound file from the film's French distributor. The recovered track was rebuilt into 5.1 surround sound, with dialogue, effects, ambience, and music separated onto individual tracks and processed separately.[16](https://www.cfa.org.cn/cfa/ljwm/dt/2020102811530530262/index.html)\n\nThe Tibetan 4K restoration, converted to 48 frames per second using high-frame-rate technology, premiered in the Cannes Classics section of the 72nd Cannes Film Festival on 17 May 2019, the first mainland-Chinese independently restored film selected for that section. Tian, Hou Yong, and archive representative Zuo Heng appeared on stage before an audience of more than 400.[7](https://www.xinhuanet.com/world/2019-05/18/c_1124511702.htm) • [2](https://www.cfa.org.cn/cfa/ljwm/dt/2020102811530588514/index.html) After the Cannes screening, several overseas distributors expressed interest, and a North American distributor whose predecessor had released the film some thirty years earlier sought to release it again.[17](https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_6587039)\n\n## References\n\n1. [盗马贼, FIRST Youth Film Festival film library](https://www.firstfilm.org.cn/movies/film-library/%E7%9B%97%E9%A9%AC%E8%B4%BC/)\n2. [中国电影资料馆4K修复《盗马贼》亮相戛纳, China Film Archive](https://www.cfa.org.cn/cfa/ljwm/dt/2020102811530588514/index.html)\n3. [Daoma zei / The Horse Thief (4K), China Film Archive](https://www.cfa.org.cn/eportal/ui?articleKey=b3b44659d8c8460c82ef1d06d107144c&columnId=dff72cbf756343beaa670f4eb8477d15&pageId=a3e59022b4fa48c9bb2705d88bc19218)\n4. [The Horse Thief 4K, Rediance](https://www.rediancefilms.com/film.php-31.html?id=4)\n5. [Tian Zhuangzhuang biography, Pingyao International Film Festival (PDF)](https://static.pyiffestival.com/upload/file/20230530/8f7b894c4e2a41479bb96978445e462b.pdf)\n6. [电影《黄土地》《盗马贼》完成\"4K\"修复, China Writer Net / People's Daily](https://www.chinawriter.com.cn/n1/2018/0412/c404003-29920550.html)\n7. [中国电影《盗马贼》4K修复版戛纳首映, Xinhua](https://www.xinhuanet.com/world/2019-05/18/c_1124511702.htm)\n8. [盗马贼 (1986年田壮壮执导的影片), 360百科](https://baike.so.com/doc/6501895-6715610.html)\n9. [西藏当代文学研究中心, Tibet Minzu University](https://www2.xzmu.edu.cn/wyzx/getcontent?id=38484&url=show)\n10. [《盗马贼》：哀而不伤的深静哲思, tibetcul.com (PDF)](https://www.tibetcul.com/UploadFiles/news/2016/10/201610211259347746.pdf)\n11. [盗馬賳：作品情報・キャスト・あらすじ, 映画.com](https://eiga.com/movie/47157/)\n12. [田壮壮2022年的电影絮语, 中国电影报](https://chinafilmnews.cn/Html/2022-12-14/10532.html)\n13. [Chinese film history source, Virtual Shanghai (PDF)](https://www.virtualshanghai.net/Asset/Source/bnBook_ID-1950_No-01.pdf)\n14. [盗马贼, HKFACT](https://www.hkfact.com/movie/7061)\n15. [《气球》导演万玛才旦访谈, The Paper](https://m.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_12918857)\n16. [藏语4K修复版《盗马贼》首次亮相国际舞台, China Film Archive](https://www.cfa.org.cn/cfa/ljwm/dt/2020102811530530262/index.html)\n17. [《哈利·波特》确认复映，关于老片修复你知道多少？, The Paper](https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_6587039)\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 1986 to 1989*\n\n*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: 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/the-horse-thief", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/the-horse-thief.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": "\"The Horse Thief (盗马贼)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/the-horse-thief. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[The Horse Thief (盗马贼)](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-horse-thief)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/the-horse-thief](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-horse-thief). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"The Horse Thief (盗马贼)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/the-horse-thief. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "The Horse Thief is Tian Zhuangzhuang's 1986 Fifth Generation drama from Xi'an Film Studio: a 1923-set Tibetan-language story of herder Norbu, banished for theft, whose faith collapses; restored in 4K and shown at Cannes Classics 2019." }