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
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4.08 Intermediate Director Hou Hsiao-hsien 🍅 100%

Cast

Vocabulary

Filter the words you want to study before watching.

dāng (onom.) dong; ding dong (bell) HSK 2
xiàng to resemble; to be like; to look as if; such as; appearance; image; portrait; image under a mapping (math.) HSK 2
cái ability; talent; sb of a certain type; a capable individual; then and only then; just now; (before an expression of quantity) only HSK 2
gēng to change or replace; to experience; one of the five two-hour periods into which the night was formerly divided; watch (e.g. of a sentry or guard) HSK 2
néng might (happen); possible; probable; possibility; probability; maybe; perhaps HSK 2
dàn shì but; however HSK 2
it HSK 2
wèn question; problem; issue; topic HSK 2
zhǐ only; merely; just; but HSK 2
yòu (once) again; also; both... and...; and yet; (used for emphasis) anyway HSK 2
yīn wèi because; owing to; on account of HSK 2
zhè yàng this kind of; so; this way; like this; such HSK 2
jīng already HSK 2
to obtain; to get; to gain; to catch (a disease); proper; suitable; proud; contented; to allow; to permit; ready; finished HSK 2
can; may; possible; able to; not bad; pretty good HSK 2
wéi as (in the capacity of); to take sth as; to act as; to serve as; to behave as; to become; to be; to do; by (in the passive voice) HSK 2
oneself; one's own HSK 2
dàn but; yet; however; still; merely; only; just HSK 2
ràng to yield; to permit; to let sb do sth; to have sb do sth; to make sb (feel sad etc); by (indicates the agent in a passive clause, like 被) HSK 2
ā interjection of surprise; Ah!; Oh! HSK 2
duō xiè many thanks; thanks a lot Xiehouyu ∼HSK 1
sān - (idiom) dubious; shady; neither one thing nor the other; neither fish nor fowl; nondescript Xiehouyu ∼HSK 1
dòng motionless Xiehouyu ∼HSK 1
méi guān xi it doesn't matter Xiehouyu HSK 1
hǎo kàn good-looking; nice-looking; good (of a movie, book, TV show etc); embarrassed; humiliated Xiehouyu HSK 1
duì bu I'm sorry; excuse me; I beg your pardon; to let (sb) down; to disappoint Xiehouyu HSK 1
gān dry; dried food; empty; hollow; taken in to nominal kinship; adoptive; foster; futile; in vain; (dialect) rude; blunt; (dialect) to cold-shoulder Xiehouyu HSK 1
huì improbable; unlikely; will not (act, happen etc); not able; not having learned to do sth; (coll.) (Tw) don't mention it; not at all Colloquialism ∼HSK 1
zhè bu (coll.) As a matter of fact,... (used to introduce evidence for what one has just asserted) Colloquialism ∼HSK 1
kàn kan to take a look at; to examine; to survey; (coll.) pretty soon Colloquialism ∼HSK 1
duì duì right or wrong?; Is it right?; OK, yes? (colloquial) Colloquialism ∼HSK 1
shān mountain; hill; (coll.) small bundle of straw for silkworms to spin cocoons on Colloquialism HSK 1
ba (coll.) father; dad Colloquialism HSK 1
huā flower; blossom; fancy pattern; florid; to spend (money, time); (coll.) lecherous; lustful Colloquialism HSK 1
(coll.) what? Colloquialism HSK 1
(specifier) that; the; those (colloquial pr. [nèi]); (pronoun) that (referring to persons, things or situations); then (in that case) Colloquialism HSK 1
zhāo (chess) move; trick; all right!; (dialect) to add HSK 1
Tái wān variant of Proper Noun ∼HSK 1
běn Japan Proper Noun ∼HSK 1
Shàng hǎi Shanghai municipality Proper Noun ∼HSK 1
běn rén Japanese person or people Proper Noun ∼HSK 1
Shān xià Yamashita (Japanese surname) Proper Noun ∼HSK 1
Sān yuè March; third month (of the lunar year) Proper Noun ∼HSK 1
yuè August; eighth month (of the lunar year) Proper Noun ∼HSK 1
Zhāo Shōwa, Japanese era name, corresponding to the reign (1925-1989) of emperor Hirohito Proper Noun ∼HSK 1
Shí PRC National Day (October 1st) Proper Noun ∼HSK 1
guó Germany Proper Noun ∼HSK 1
Nán jīng Nanjing, sub-provincial city and capital of Jiangsu Province; Nanjing, capital of the Ming dynasty (1368-1421) and of the Republic of China (1927-1937 and 1946-1949) Proper Noun ∼HSK 1
Zhōng guó rén Chinese person Proper Noun ∼HSK 1
jiā rén Hakka people Proper Noun ∼HSK 1