{ "id": "epx8tfavc9", "slug": "the-story-of-a-small-town", "title": "The Story of a Small Town (小城故事)", "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-1970s", "label": "Drama films 1970s", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical.drama-films-1970s" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical.drama-films-1970s.yr-1975-1979", "label": "Released 1975 to 1979", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical.drama-films-1970s.yr-1975-1979" } ], "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 Story of a Small Town (小城故事) is a 1979 Taiwanese drama by Li Hsing, produced by Ta Chung Motion Picture Company, set in Sanyi's woodcarving community, winner of four 1979 Golden Horse Awards and famous for Teresa Teng's theme song.", "snippet": "The Story of a Small Town (小城故事) is a 1979 Taiwanese drama by Li Hsing, produced by Ta Chung Motion Picture Company, set in Sanyi's woodcarving community, winner of four 1979 Golden Horse Awards and famous for Teresa Teng's theme song.", "node": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical.drama-films-1970s.yr-1975-1979", "markdown": "# The Story of a Small Town (小城故事)\n\n**The Story of a Small Town** (小城故事) is a 1979 Taiwanese drama film directed by Li Hsing (李行), written by Chang Yung-Hsiang (张永祥), and produced by Ta Chung Motion Picture Company (大众电影公司). Set in the woodcarving town of Sanyi in [Miaoli County](https://www.edgepedia.org/miaoli-county), it follows a young ex-convict, Chen Wen-hsiung, who rebuilds his life as an apprentice to a master woodcarver and falls in love with the master's deaf-mute daughter, A-hsiu.[1](https://tfai.openmuseum.tw/muse/digi_object/9ff238b96e4167428f8c8c1d170d535f) The film won four awards at the 16th Golden Horse Awards in 1979, and its [Teresa Teng](https://www.edgepedia.org/teresa-teng) theme song became one of the most widely known Mandarin pop songs of the era.[1](https://tfai.openmuseum.tw/muse/digi_object/9ff238b96e4167428f8c8c1d170d535f) • [2](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-JXqkzKEik)\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Director / screenwriter | Li Hsing (李行); screenplay by Chang Yung-Hsiang (张永祥)[1](https://tfai.openmuseum.tw/muse/digi_object/9ff238b96e4167428f8c8c1d170d535f) |\n| Production | Ta Chung Motion Picture Company; the company's 10th-anniversary commemorative work[3](https://tcmb.culture.tw/zh-tw/detail?id=621504&indexCode=Culture_Object) |\n| Premiere | 10 February 1979, Taiwan; 95 minutes, color, Mandarin, 35mm[1](https://tfai.openmuseum.tw/muse/digi_object/9ff238b96e4167428f8c8c1d170d535f) |\n| Principal cast | Lin Feng-chiao as A-hsiu, Kenny Bee (钟镇涛) as Wen-hsiung, Ko Hsiang-ting (葛香亭) as master Lai Chin-shui, Lee Lieh, Ou Ti[1](https://tfai.openmuseum.tw/muse/digi_object/9ff238b96e4167428f8c8c1d170d535f) |\n| Golden Horse Awards (1979) | Best Feature Film, Best Actress (Lin Feng-chiao), Best Original Screenplay (Chang Yung-Hsiang), Best Child Star (Ou Ti)[1](https://tfai.openmuseum.tw/muse/digi_object/9ff238b96e4167428f8c8c1d170d535f) |\n| Theme song | \"The Story of a Small Town,\" sung by Teresa Teng; lyrics by Chuang Nu (庄奴), music by Tony (汤尼)[2](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-JXqkzKEik) |\n| Setting | Sanyi, Miaoli, a town known for woodcarving[4](https://www.cfa.org.cn/cfa/gz/dymlcx/dy/2023060210260944137/index.html) |\n\n## Spoilers\n\n### Plot\n\nThe story opens in prison. The old woodcarver Lai Chin-shui, jailed because he had stood as a guarantor for someone else's debt, meets the young inmate Chen Wen-hsiung, who is serving a sentence for injuring his brother-in-law. Lai teaches Wen-hsiung woodcarving, and after their release Wen-hsiung gives up the chance to enter university and travels to Sanyi to continue his apprenticeship.[4](https://www.cfa.org.cn/cfa/gz/dymlcx/dy/2023060210260944137/index.html)\n\nIn Sanyi, Wen-hsiung lives and works in the Lai household, which also contains Lai's deaf-mute daughter A-hsiu and an elder apprentice, A-wang, who wants to leave the unprofitable craft for Taipei. A-hsiu is courted by Zhou Xiao-kai, the owner of the town's large woodcarving shop, but she gradually falls for the diligent Wen-hsiung instead.[1](https://tfai.openmuseum.tw/muse/digi_object/9ff238b96e4167428f8c8c1d170d535f) Complications follow: Wen-hsiung's former girlfriend reappears hoping to renew their relationship, and a misunderstanding over missing money briefly turns Lai against his apprentice.[4](https://www.cfa.org.cn/cfa/gz/dymlcx/dy/2023060210260944137/index.html) • [1](https://tfai.openmuseum.tw/muse/digi_object/9ff238b96e4167428f8c8c1d170d535f)\n\nThe crisis comes when a former prison mate, Kuo Chun-fa, moves into the Lai home and makes advances on A-hsiu while the paralyzed Lai is unable to stop him. Wen-hsiung returns in time to drive him out. Lai then entrusts both the traditional craft and his daughter to Wen-hsiung, who with A-wang carries on the workshop.[4](https://www.cfa.org.cn/cfa/gz/dymlcx/dy/2023060210260944137/index.html) • [1](https://tfai.openmuseum.tw/muse/digi_object/9ff238b96e4167428f8c8c1d170d535f)\n\n## Production background\n\nTa Chung Motion Picture Company was founded in 1969 by Li Hsing, Pai Ching-jui, Hu Cheng-ting, and colleagues including Chang Yung-Hsiang, Lai Cheng-ying, and Lin Tsan-ting after they left the government-owned Central Motion Picture Corporation (中影).[5](https://irlib.pccu.edu.tw/retrieve/58222/gsweb3.pdf) The Story of a Small Town was made as the company's tenth-anniversary work, and Li Hsing framed it around the theme of carrying forward traditional Chinese cultural spirit.[3](https://tcmb.culture.tw/zh-tw/detail?id=621504&indexCode=Culture_Object) • [5](https://irlib.pccu.edu.tw/retrieve/58222/gsweb3.pdf)\n\nThe film belongs to the \"healthy realism\" (健康写实) current that Li Hsing had helped launch with CMPC in the 1960s. In the late 1970s, as Taiwan suffered diplomatic setbacks, government cultural policy favored patriotic popular film, and this film is described by the Taiwan Film and Audiovisual Institute as the classic example of that trend: unlike earlier healthy-realist pictures set in an idealized Chinese homeland, it combined a hit pop song and popular stars with a Taiwanese small-town setting, appealing to audiences longing for simple small-town life amid rapid modernization.[6](https://www.tfai.org.tw/program/movieDetail/2c96808296b399a30196d776b9c30022)\n\nCinematographer [Chen Kun](https://www.edgepedia.org/chen-kun)-hou later described the production's realism directly: the film used no studio sets at all, shooting entirely on location.[7](https://www.mirrormedia.mg/external/amp/hakka_228579) Kenny Bee, then a member of the popular Cantopop band the Wynners, shaved his head for the role of the ex-convict, a marked departure from his idol image.[1](https://tfai.openmuseum.tw/muse/digi_object/9ff238b96e4167428f8c8c1d170d535f)\n\n## Music\n\nThe theme song \"The Story of a Small Town,\" sung by Teresa Teng (邓丽君) with lyrics by Chuang Nu and music by Tony, was released in 1979 and quickly spread across Taiwan. The National Culture Memory Bank's entry on Teng describes the song as speaking to the diligence, warmth, and acceptance of fate of early [Taiwanese people](https://www.edgepedia.org/taiwanese-people), and it became one of her signature works.[2](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-JXqkzKEik) • [8](https://tcmb.culture.tw/zh-tw/detail?id=128958&indexCode=Culture_Object) Within the film, music also carries the plot's regional identity: composer and director worked out in advance how the temple-front outdoor opera scene should feel, and the crew went to Zhubei to find a suitable Hakka opera troupe, holding a small competition to select the performers.[9](https://lit.ncu.edu.tw/ncujoh/word/555412102021.pdf)\n\n## Awards and reception\n\nAt the 16th Golden Horse Awards ceremony, held on 2 November 1979 at the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall in Taipei, the film took Best Feature Film, Best Actress for Lin Feng-chiao, Best Child Star for Ou Ti, and Best Original Screenplay for Chang Yung-Hsiang.[3](https://tcmb.culture.tw/zh-tw/detail?id=621504&indexCode=Culture_Object) • [1](https://tfai.openmuseum.tw/muse/digi_object/9ff238b96e4167428f8c8c1d170d535f) In his acceptance speech Li Hsing pointedly noted that the top prize had gone to an independent production rather than a public studio, which he took as proof of the awards' fairness.[3](https://tcmb.culture.tw/zh-tw/detail?id=621504&indexCode=Culture_Object) The film also received the Golden Torch Award from the Taiwan branch of the International Catholic Organization for Cinema and Audiovisuals in 1979 and was nominated at the London Film Festival in 1980.[1](https://tfai.openmuseum.tw/muse/digi_object/9ff238b96e4167428f8c8c1d170d535f)\n\nOverseas, the film ran in Hong Kong cinemas from 9 to 15 October 1980 and earned HK$1,240,242.5.[10](https://hkmdb.com/db/movies/view.mhtml?display_set=eng&id=6160) Together with *Wang Yang Zhong De Yi Tiao Chuan* (1978) and *Good Morning Taipei* (1980), it gave Li Hsing three consecutive Golden Horse Best Feature Film awards, a run the NTNU exhibition on his career describes as a record in Taiwanese film history.[11](https://www.lib.ntnu.edu.tw/exhibition/970605/lee.htm)\n\n## Language and the Hakka restoration\n\nAlthough the film is set in Sanyi, a Hakka community, nearly all dialogue is in Mandarin, a consequence of the Mandarin-only language policy of the martial-law period. The artist Chiu Tzu-yen, born in Sanyi in 1985, observed on rewatching the film that Hakka appears only in the temple-front opera scene, and that Li Hsing had used this play-within-a-play device to bring the language onto the screen at all under that policy.[12](https://mag.ncafroc.org.tw/article_detail?sid=643)\n\nOn 10 September 2021, the Taiwan Film and Audiovisual Institute and the Hakka Public Communication Foundation jointly announced a digital restoration of two Li Hsing films central to Hakka representation, *My Native Land* (1980) and *The Story of a Small Town*, including the recording of a Hakka-dubbed soundtrack.[13](https://www.twreporter.org/a/saturday-features-film-digital-restoration-of-hakka-films) The restored Mandarin version had its world premiere in March 2025 at the institute's 47th-anniversary program, and the Hakka-dubbed version premiered at the Taoyuan Film Festival in August 2025.[14](https://funscreen.tfai.org.tw/node/39008) The Hakka dub deliberately preserves some of the original soundtrack, keeping the Taiwanese-language song sung by Liu Fu-chu and the Mandarin spoken by mainlander characters, to reflect the film's historical linguistic situation.[7](https://www.mirrormedia.mg/external/amp/hakka_228579)\n\n## Legacy\n\nThe film is regarded as a transitional work between 1970s Taiwanese cinema and the later New Cinema: neither as detached from everyday life as the romance genre nor as socially direct as the New Wave films that followed.[5](https://irlib.pccu.edu.tw/retrieve/58222/gsweb3.pdf) Its success also opened the wave of adaptations of nativist literature.[15](https://www.taitungcity.gov.tw/archive/news/Mzc2NTQwMDAwQV8xMTUwMDU0OTExX0FUVEFDSDMuMzg4MDkyNjI1.pdf) In Sanyi itself, the film remains part of local memory; residents of Chiu Tzu-yen's mother's generation sang the theme song as a statement that the small town in the song was their own town, and Chiu's 2018 video work of the same title rebuilt six interior sets from the film as a hexagonal wooden stage, re-staging selected scenes in a single take.[12](https://mag.ncafroc.org.tw/article_detail?sid=643)\n\n## References\n\n1. [小城故事, Taiwan Film and Audiovisual Institute digital museum](https://tfai.openmuseum.tw/muse/digi_object/9ff238b96e4167428f8c8c1d170d535f)\n2. [小城故事 (電影《小城故事》主題曲) – 鄧麗君, official artist channel, YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-JXqkzKEik)\n3. [《小城故事》榮獲第16屆金馬奬「最佳劇情片」, 國家文化記憶庫](https://tcmb.culture.tw/zh-tw/detail?id=621504&indexCode=Culture_Object)\n4. [小城故事, 中國電影資料館](https://www.cfa.org.cn/cfa/gz/dymlcx/dy/2023060210260944137/index.html)\n5. [第一章, 中國文化大學學位論文](https://irlib.pccu.edu.tw/retrieve/58222/gsweb3.pdf)\n6. [小城故事（數位修復版）, 國家電影及視聽文化中心](https://www.tfai.org.tw/program/movieDetail/2c96808296b399a30196d776b9c30022)\n7. [修復經典客家電影的初衷　找回歷史的客家聲音, 鏡週刊](https://www.mirrormedia.mg/external/amp/hakka_228579)\n8. [鄧麗君, 國家文化記憶庫](https://tcmb.culture.tw/zh-tw/detail?id=128958&indexCode=Culture_Object)\n9. [看見寫實、聽見流行——李行導演電影歌曲析論, 中央大學人文學報](https://lit.ncu.edu.tw/ncujoh/word/555412102021.pdf)\n10. [The Story of a Small Town (1979), Hong Kong Movie Database](https://hkmdb.com/db/movies/view.mhtml?display_set=eng&id=6160)\n11. [傑出校友——李行導演特展, 國立臺灣師範大學圖書館](https://www.lib.ntnu.edu.tw/exhibition/970605/lee.htm)\n12. [填補歷史的空白：邱子晏《小城故事》, 國藝會線上誌](https://mag.ncafroc.org.tw/article_detail?sid=643)\n13. [從修復到本土再現：《原鄉人》與《小城故事》的客語新聲, 報導者](https://www.twreporter.org/a/saturday-features-film-digital-restoration-of-hakka-films)\n14. [語言、文化，與時代浪尖——訪問攝影陳坤厚、場記黃玉珊，談《小城故事》, 放映週報](https://funscreen.tfai.org.tw/node/39008)\n15. [小城故事 數位修復客語版 摺頁, 臺東市公所](https://www.taitungcity.gov.tw/archive/news/Mzc2NTQwMDAwQV8xMTUwMDU0OTExX0FUVEFDSDMuMzg4MDkyNjI1.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 1970s › Released 1975 to 1979*\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/the-story-of-a-small-town", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/the-story-of-a-small-town.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 Story of a Small Town (小城故事)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/the-story-of-a-small-town. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[The Story of a Small Town (小城故事)](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-story-of-a-small-town)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/the-story-of-a-small-town](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-story-of-a-small-town). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"The Story of a Small Town (小城故事)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/the-story-of-a-small-town. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "The Story of a Small Town is a 1979 Taiwanese drama by Li Hsing, produced by Ta Chung Motion Picture Company, set in Sanyi's woodcarving community, winner of four 1979 Golden Horse Awards and famous for Teresa Teng's theme song." }