A City of Sadness

A City of Sadness 1989

bēi qíng chéng shì

The story of a family embroiled in the "White Terror," the Kuomintang government's anti-communist political repression that was wrought on the Taiwanese people from 1947-1987.

HSK 1
2
3
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5
6
7
4.08 Intermediate Director Hou Hsiao-hsien 🍅 100%

Cast

Vocabulary

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shù technology; technique; skill HSK 3
hǎo hǎo well; carefully; nicely; properly HSK 3
pài clique; school; group; faction; to dispatch; to send; to assign; to appoint; pi (Greek letter Ππ); the circular ratio pi = 3.1415926; (loanword) pie HSK 3
jiān chí to persevere with; to persist in; to insist on HSK 3
jué duì absolute; unconditional HSK 3
dào finally; in the end; when all is said and done; after all; to the end; to the last HSK 3
lìng wài additional; in addition; besides; separate; other; moreover; furthermore HSK 3
shāng to injure; injury; wound HSK 3
shēng mìng life (as the characteristic of living beings); living being; creature HSK 3
rén yuán staff; crew; personnel HSK 3
miàn inside; interior; also pr. [lǐ mian] HSK 3
dài biǎo representative; delegate; to represent; to stand for; on behalf of; in the name of HSK 3
xià lai to come down; (completed action marker); (after verb of motion, indicates motion down and towards us, also fig.); (indicates continuation from the past towards us); to be harvested (of crops); to be over (of a period of time); to go among the masses (said of leaders) HSK 3
jiào to compare; to contrast; comparatively; relatively; quite; comparison HSK 3
chéng shì city; town HSK 3
zhěng whole; entire; total HSK 3
pāi to pat; to clap; to slap; to swat; to take (a photo); to shoot (a film); racket (sports); beat (music) HSK 3
huó to live; alive; living; work; workmanship HSK 3
bǎo to protect; to defend; to safeguard; protection HSK 3
chǔ to handle; to deal with; to punish; to treat sth by a special process; to process; to sell at reduced prices HSK 3
fāng shì way; manner; style; mode; pattern HSK 3
jié shù termination; to finish; to end; to conclude; to close HSK 3
jiě jué to solve; to resolve; to settle (a problem); to eliminate; to wipe out (an enemy, bandits etc) HSK 3
xiāo xi news; information HSK 3
ministry; department; section; part; division; troops; board; classifier for works of literature, films, machines etc HSK 3
dāng rán only natural; as it should be; certainly; of course; without doubt HSK 3
lián to link; to join; to connect; continuously; in succession; including; (used with 也, 都 etc) even; company (military) HSK 3
shí actually; in fact; really HSK 3
how; what way; what HSK 3
zhǐ yǒu only have ...; there is only ...; (used in combination with 才) it is only if one ... (that one can ...) (Example: 只有通过治疗才能痊愈 "the only way to cure it is with therapy"); it is only ... (who ...) (Example: 要 "only men would have such a requirement"); (used to indicate that one has no alternative) one can only (do a certain thing) (Example: 服 "the only thing you can do is give in") HSK 3
jué dìng to decide (to do something); to resolve; decision; certainly HSK 3
yóu to follow; from; because of; due to; by; via; through; (before a noun and a verb) it is for ... to ... HSK 3
Měi (bound form) the Americas (abbr. for 洲); (bound form) USA (abbr. for 美国) HSK 3
nèi inside; inner; internal; within; interior HSK 3
guān xi relation; relationship; to concern; to affect; to have to do with; guanxi HSK 3
zhāng to open up; to spread; sheet of paper; classifier for flat objects, sheet; classifier for votes HSK 3
already; to stop; then; afterwards HSK 3
zhǐ shì merely; only; just; nothing but; simply; but; however HSK 3
wèi le for; for the purpose of; in order to HSK 3
shēng to happen; to occur; to take place; to break out HSK 3
wàng to hope; a hope; a wish HSK 3
zhǒng seed; species; kind; type; classifier for types, kinds, sorts HSK 3
to die; impassable; uncrossable; inflexible; rigid; extremely; damned HSK 3
bìng and; furthermore; also; together with; (not) at all; simultaneously; to combine; to join; to merge HSK 3
kāi shǐ to begin; beginning; to start; initial HSK 3
yào to need; to want; to demand; to require; needs HSK 3
jiù shì exactly; precisely; only; simply; just; (used correlatively with 也) even; even if HSK 3
bèi quilt; to cover (with); (literary) to suffer (a misfortune); used to indicate passive voice (placed before the doer of the action like "by" in English passive-voice sentences, or, if the doer is not mentioned, before the verb); (since c. 2009) (sarcastic or jocular) used to indicate that the following word should be regarded as being in air quotes (as in 被旅游 to "go on a trip", for example) HSK 3
to hold; to grasp; to hold a baby in position to help it urinate or defecate; handlebar; classifier: handful, bundle, bunch; classifier for things with handles; (used to put the object before the verb: 把 + {noun} + {verb}) HSK 3
nán dāng hard to endure (hot weather, itchiness etc) Xiehouyu ∼HSK 2