Pin Wang

In 1948, four young girls, daughters of Shanghai's elite, attending college in America find themselves unable to return after the Communists take Shanghai.

Ge Lan, a second-year student of Ningjiang Middle School, has a such a good voice that her music teacher Ye Xiulian thinks she will have a promising future. Ge Lan's parents however, are not interested teacher Ye's suggestion to let their daughter to study music. Teacher Ye does not give up, but uses every mean she can to make Ge Lan interested in music.

Sixteen-year-old An-ran gets into repeated trouble because she refuses blind obedience to authority, openly challenging and correcting a teacher who makes a mistake in class. She is different.

This simple romance story does not mean much to westerners, and in fact, does not even mean anything to Chinese today, but it was a big thing when it was made, not long after the end of Cultural Revolution in which even the personal romance was restricted. This movie is one of the pioneers of personal liberalization in advocating people seeking out their love following their own hearts, not from other people.