# Stage Sisters
**Stage Sisters** (舞台姐妹; *Wutai jiemei*) is a 1964 Chinese color feature film directed by [Xie Jin](https://www.edgepedia.org/xie-jin) and produced by the Shanghai Tianma Film Studio, following two women who perform Yue opera (Shaoxing opera) together from the mid-1930s countryside to Shanghai and the early years of the People's Republic.[1](https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_24506798) • [2](https://www.virtualshanghai.net/films/collection?ID=203) The screenplay is credited to [Lin Gu](https://www.edgepedia.org/lin-gu), Xu Jin, and Xie Jin, with Xie Fang and Cao Yindi in the leading roles.[3](https://www.cfa.org.cn/cfa/gz/dymlcx/dy/2023060214284298836/index.html) It is regarded as one of the major works of the "seventeen years" of Chinese cinema between 1949 and 1966, and one of the last films made in Shanghai before the [Cultural Revolution](https://www.edgepedia.org/cultural-revolution).[1](https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_24506798) • [4](https://www.lenfest.arts.columbia.edu/fall-2023-events/two-stage-sisters)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Title | 舞台姐妹 (*Wutai jiemei*), English: Stage Sisters or Two Stage Sisters[2](https://www.virtualshanghai.net/films/collection?ID=203) |
| Director and studio | Xie Jin; Shanghai Tianma Film Studio[1](https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_24506798) |
| Screenplay | Lin Gu, Xu Jin, Xie Jin[3](https://www.cfa.org.cn/cfa/gz/dymlcx/dy/2023060214284298836/index.html) |
| Cast | Xie Fang, Cao Yindi, Shangguan Yunzhu, Feng Qi, Li Wei[5](https://mulanfestival.com/zh/festival-2023/two-stage-sisters/) • [2](https://www.virtualshanghai.net/films/collection?ID=203) |
| Format | Color, 112 minutes, 1.33:1 aspect ratio[3](https://www.cfa.org.cn/cfa/gz/dymlcx/dy/2023060214284298836/index.html) |
| Production dates | Filming began January 10, 1964; all footage completed June 10, 1964[6](https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_19143343) |
| Later history | Criticized as a "poisonous weed" during the Cultural Revolution; rereleased in the late 1970s; 4K restoration premiered at the 17th Shanghai International Film Festival[1](https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_24506798) • [5](https://mulanfestival.com/zh/festival-2023/two-stage-sisters/) |
## Spoilers
### Plot
The story opens in the 1930s Zhejiang countryside. Zhu Chunhua, a peasant girl, flees an arranged marriage as a child bride and is taken in by an itinerant Yue opera troupe, where she befriends Xing Yuehong, the daughter of the troupe's kind master, and the two become the troupe's leading performers.[3](https://www.cfa.org.cn/cfa/gz/dymlcx/dy/2023060214284298836/index.html) • [5](https://mulanfestival.com/zh/festival-2023/two-stage-sisters/) After Yuehong is harassed by local ruffians and arrested, Chunhua is arrested and publicly humiliated for trying to rescue her; Master Xing is persecuted to death and the troupe disbands.[3](https://www.cfa.org.cn/cfa/gz/dymlcx/dy/2023060214284298836/index.html)
The two women sell themselves to pay for Master Xing's burial and go to Shanghai, where they perform Shaoxing opera and displace the former singer Miss Shang.[3](https://www.cfa.org.cn/cfa/gz/dymlcx/dy/2023060214284298836/index.html) • [2](https://www.virtualshanghai.net/films/collection?ID=203) Their paths diverge. Chunhua organizes the Sisters' Troupe to perform progressive plays and becomes involved in political meetings and the revolution, while Yuehong is corrupted and used by the theater manager Tang, marrying him and living in Western clothes, high heels, and elaborate makeup.[3](https://www.cfa.org.cn/cfa/gz/dymlcx/dy/2023060214284298836/index.html) • [2](https://www.virtualshanghai.net/films/collection?ID=203) When Tang demands that the troupe perform reactionary plays, Chunhua refuses; Tang then has someone try to blind Chunhua and ruin the performance, but she exposes his plot.[3](https://www.cfa.org.cn/cfa/gz/dymlcx/dy/2023060214284298836/index.html) In one climax scene Chunhua is assaulted and faces Yuehong in court, where Yuehong is forced to testify against her.[2](https://www.virtualshanghai.net/films/collection?ID=203) After China's liberation the two women reunite and perform together again.[3](https://www.cfa.org.cn/cfa/gz/dymlcx/dy/2023060214284298836/index.html)
The narrative spans roughly twenty years, from about 1935 to 1950, and the China Film Archive synopsis describes the film as a vivid recreation of how the old society and dark forces persecuted artists.[1](https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_24506798) • [3](https://www.cfa.org.cn/cfa/gz/dymlcx/dy/2023060214284298836/index.html)
## Development and production
Xie Jin began developing the subject in 1956. In 1958 he wrote a film story outline titled *Yueju Chunqiu* (越剧春秋, roughly "The Annals of Yue Opera"), later renamed *Stage Sisters*, but the project was not entered into the studio's production plan until 1962, when Xie Jin asked to co-write the screenplay with Wang Lingu (Lin Gu) and Xu Jin.[6](https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_19143343) After the summer of 1961, when the creative environment became relatively relaxed, he did extensive preparation, interviewing many Yue opera actresses and going to the Zhejiang countryside for field experience.[1](https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_24506798)
In April 1963 the detailed outline was completed, and Xie Jin sent it to [Xia Yan](https://www.edgepedia.org/xia-yan), deputy head of the Ministry of Culture, and Chen Huangmei, head of the Ministry's Film Bureau. Both judged the outline very good; on July 5, 1963, Xia Yan returned it with his own detailed annotations and an encouraging letter. Xie Jin then wrote a first and second draft of the literary script, receiving further comments from Xia Yan and Chen Huangmei in Beijing in October, before finalizing the script and the shot-by-shot breakdown.[6](https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_19143343) Xia Yan intended the film as a key production for the Ministry of Culture's 1964 National Day tribute and approved imported color film stock for it.[1](https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_24506798) His letter also arranged the secondment of the Beijing Film Studio actress Xie Fang for the lead.[6](https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_19143343)
Filming began on January 10, 1964, and all footage was ready by June 10 of that year.[6](https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_19143343) The art design was by Ge Shicheng, who had scouted and designed the film's many settings, including the different rural stages of the Zhejiang mountains and the Shanghai teahouse theaters, and whose costumes reproduce late-1940s Shanghai fashion in detail; the cinematography was by Zhou Daming and Chen Zhenxiang, and the music by Huang Zhun.[1](https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_24506798) • [5](https://mulanfestival.com/zh/festival-2023/two-stage-sisters/) The character of Chunhua was written to a considerable degree after the real Yue opera performer Yuan Xuefen, which is reflected in her plain, unfashionable dress on screen.[1](https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_24506798)
## Censorship and rehabilitation
The film passed the Ministry of Culture's review and was released the following year, but during the Cultural Revolution it was attacked as a "poisonous weed."[1](https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_24506798) In July, at a summary meeting of a national modern [Peking opera](https://www.edgepedia.org/peking-opera) performance conference, [Kang Sheng](https://www.edgepedia.org/kang-sheng) publicly named and criticized *Stage Sisters* along with *Northland Jiangnan*, *Against the Wind for a Thousand Li*, and *Early Spring in February*.[7](https://www.bnasie.eu/Asset/Source/bnBook_ID-1950_No-01.pdf) Party officials condemned the film for advocating "the reconciliation of social classes," and it also came under fire for its sympathetic portrayal of the "bad" sister.[8](https://mobile-api.moma.org/calendar/events/541) • [4](https://www.lenfest.arts.columbia.edu/fall-2023-events/two-stage-sisters)
The attack extended to its makers. Xie Jin became a victim of the Cultural Revolution: his parents both died by suicide, and his career was derailed by a ten-year "rehabilitation" in a forced-labor camp and then under house arrest.[8](https://mobile-api.moma.org/calendar/events/541) When work teams entered the Shanghai film studio in the summer of 1966, their first demand was that Xie Jin hand over Xia Yan's annotated outline and letter; after the Cultural Revolution he recovered the original from the files of the Central Case Group, and it was published in excerpt in the 1982 book *Stage Sisters: From Outline to Film*.[6](https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_19143343)
The film was rereleased in the late 1970s, about fifteen years after its suppression, and was warmly received.[1](https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_24506798) • [4](https://www.lenfest.arts.columbia.edu/fall-2023-events/two-stage-sisters) It is now counted among the acknowledged masterpieces of "seventeen years" cinema (Chinese films made 1949–1966, before the Cultural Revolution).[1](https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_24506798)
## Legacy and restoration
The Lenfest Center's program notes describe the film as a major influence on Fifth Generation works such as Chen Kaige's *Farewell My Concubine* (1992), which likewise revisits the world of [Chinese opera](https://www.edgepedia.org/chinese-opera) performers.[4](https://www.lenfest.arts.columbia.edu/fall-2023-events/two-stage-sisters) MoMA's notes place the film in the melodrama tradition, following twenty years in the lives and artistry of an itinerant opera company, and credit Xie Jin's sense of color and fluid camerawork.[8](https://mobile-api.moma.org/calendar/events/541) Scholarly work has also read the film's sisterly bond as carrying homoerotic overtones beneath its political melodrama surface.[9](https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/queer-representations-in-chineselanguage-film-and-the-cultural-landscape/two-stage-sisters-comrades-almost-a-love-story/12AE32B4E742A95CDF84ED6BDC6867BE)
In 2013 *Stage Sisters* became one of the first domestic films to undergo 4K scanning and 4K restoration under the leadership of the Shanghai International Film Festival, in collaboration with the Shanghai Film Group, Shanghai Film Technology Co., and the Shanghai Film Museum, with funding from [Jaeger-LeCoultre](https://www.edgepedia.org/jaeger-lecoultre).[10](https://dzb.whb.cn/images/2018-06/14/9/90614.pdf) • [8](https://mobile-api.moma.org/calendar/events/541) The restored version premiered at the 17th Shanghai International Film Festival, fifty years after the film was made.[5](https://mulanfestival.com/zh/festival-2023/two-stage-sisters/)
## The director
Xie Jin (1923–2008) was a third-generation Chinese director whose career spanned more than half a century and more than thirty features. He was known for his portrayal of women, and his best-known films include *Woman Basketball Player No. 5* (1957), *Red Detachment of Women* (1961), *Stage Sisters* (1964), *Legend of Tianyun Mountain* (1980), *The Herdsman* (1982), *Wreaths at the Foot of the Mountain* (1984), *Hibiscus Town* (1987), and *The Opium War* (1997).[5](https://mulanfestival.com/zh/festival-2023/two-stage-sisters/) By the mid-1980s critics identified his mode of production as the "Xie Jin model" (*Xie Jin moshi*), the subject of heated debate over its artistic and political value.[9](https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/queer-representations-in-chineselanguage-film-and-the-cultural-landscape/two-stage-sisters-comrades-almost-a-love-story/12AE32B4E742A95CDF84ED6BDC6867BE)
## References
1. [《舞台姐妹》和《不夜城》中的上海时尚_私家历史_澎湃新闻-The Paper](https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_24506798)
2. [舞台姐妹 – Stage Sisters – Wu tai jie mei, Virtual Shanghai](https://www.virtualshanghai.net/films/collection?ID=203)
3. [舞台姐妹（影片资料），中国电影资料馆](https://www.cfa.org.cn/cfa/gz/dymlcx/dy/2023060214284298836/index.html)
4. ["Two Stage Sisters", Lenfest Center for the Arts, Columbia University](https://www.lenfest.arts.columbia.edu/fall-2023-events/two-stage-sisters)
5. [舞台姐妹 Two Stage Sisters，木兰国际电影节（2023）](https://mulanfestival.com/zh/festival-2023/two-stage-sisters/)
6. [陈铃：夏衍和电影经典《舞台姐妹》的诞生，澎湃新闻（2022）](https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_19143343)
7. [中国电影年表（1962–1972），SSReader 影印资料](https://www.bnasie.eu/Asset/Source/bnBook_ID-1950_No-01.pdf)
8. [Wutai Jiemei (Stage Sisters), 1964, MoMA](https://mobile-api.moma.org/calendar/events/541)
9. [Shi-Yan Chao, "Two Stage Sisters: Comrades, Almost a Love Story", in *Queer Representations in Chinese-language Film and the Cultural Landscape*, Amsterdam University Press, 2020](https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/queer-representations-in-chineselanguage-film-and-the-cultural-landscape/two-stage-sisters-comrades-almost-a-love-story/12AE32B4E742A95CDF84ED6BDC6867BE)
10. [文化·聚焦上海国际电影电视节，文汇报（2018）](https://dzb.whb.cn/images/2018-06/14/9/90614.pdf)
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*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 1960s › Released 1960 to 1965*
*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*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license