Red Sorghum

Red Sorghum 1988

hónggāoliáng

An old leper who owned a remote sorghum winery dies. Jiu'er, the wife bought by the leper, and her lover, identified only as "my Grandpa" by the narrator, take over the winery and set up an idealized quasi-matriarchal community headed by Jiu'er. When the Japanese invaders subject the area to their rule and cut down the sorghum to make way for a road, the community rises up and resists as the sorghum grows anew.

HSK 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
3.86 Beginner Director Zhang Yimou 🍅 85%

Cast

Vocabulary

Filter the words you want to study before watching.

píng flat; level; equal; to tie (make the same score); to draw (score); calm; peaceful; abbr. for 平声 HSK 2
tóu fa hair (on the head) HSK 2
xíng won't do; be out of the question; be no good; not work; not be capable HSK 2
xiǎo xīn to be careful; to take care HSK 2
zán men we or us (including both the speaker and the person(s) spoken to); (dialect) I or me; (dialect) (in a coaxing or familiar way) you; also pr. [zá men] HSK 2
zěn me yàng how?; how about?; how was it?; how are things? HSK 2
biàn everywhere; all over; classifier for actions: one time HSK 2
shí zài really; actually; indeed; true; real; honest; dependable; (philosophy) reality HSK 2
liú to flow; to disseminate; to circulate or spread; to move or drift; to degenerate; to banish or send into exile; stream of water or sth resembling one; class, rate or grade HSK 2
yóu oil; fat; grease; petroleum; to apply tung oil, paint or varnish; oily; greasy; glib; cunning HSK 2
tīng shuō to hear (sth said); one hears (that); hearsay; listening and speaking HSK 2
xié shoe HSK 2
zi day; a (calendar) date; days of one's life HSK 2
liú xià to leave behind; to stay behind; to remain; to keep; not to let (sb) go HSK 2
tōng to go through; to know well; (suffix) expert; to connect; to communicate; open; to clear; classifier for letters, telegrams, phone calls etc HSK 2
gāng cái just now; a moment ago HSK 2
shěng to save; to economize; to be frugal; to omit; to delete; to leave out; province; provincial capital; a ministry (of the Japanese government) HSK 2
gǎi to change; to alter; to transform; to correct HSK 2
hòu lái afterwards; later; newly arrived HSK 2
chá to research; to check; to investigate; to examine; to refer to; to look up (e.g. a word in a dictionary) HSK 2
lòng lane; alley HSK 2
used in 防 and 溜 HSK 2
chī mythical beast (archaic) HSK 2
to be afraid; to fear; to dread; to be unable to endure; perhaps HSK 2
to cry; to weep HSK 2
biàn chéng to change into; to turn into; to become HSK 2
shōu to receive; to accept; to collect; to put away; to restrain; to stop; in care of (used on address line after name) HSK 2
yǎn jing eye HSK 2
hóng red; popular; revolutionary; bonus HSK 2
jiǔ wine (esp. rice wine); liquor; spirits; alcoholic beverage HSK 2
dǎo to fall; to collapse; to lie horizontally; to fail; to go bankrupt; to overthrow; to change (trains or buses); to move around; to resell at a profit HSK 2
gas; air; smell; weather; to make angry; to annoy; to get angry; vital energy; qi HSK 2
yǎn eye; small hole; crux (of a matter); classifier for big hollow things (wells, stoves, pots etc) HSK 2
wǎng to go (in a direction); to; towards; (of a train) bound for; past; previous HSK 2
zhuāng adornment; to adorn; dress; clothing; costume (of an actor in a play); to play a role; to pretend; to install; to fix; to wrap (sth in a bag); to load; to pack HSK 2
Hēi abbr. for Heilongjiang province 黑龙江 HSK 2
liú to leave (a message etc); to retain; to stay; to remain; to keep; to preserve HSK 2
suàn to regard as; to figure; to calculate; to compute HSK 2
guò lái to come over; to manage; to handle; to be able to take care of HSK 2
bàn to do; to manage; to handle; to go about; to run; to set up; to deal with HSK 2
duàn paragraph; section; segment; stage (of a process); classifier for stories, periods of time, lengths of thread etc HSK 2
gǒu dog HSK 2
fèn classifier for gifts, newspaper, magazine, papers, reports, contracts etc; variant of 分 HSK 2
miàn face; side; surface; aspect; top; classifier for objects with flat surfaces such as drums, mirrors, flags etc HSK 2
sentence; clause; phrase; classifier for phrases or lines of verse HSK 2
Yuè generic word for peoples or states of south China or south Asia at different historical periods; abbr. for Vietnam 越南 HSK 2
shēng to be born; to give birth; life; to grow; raw; uncooked; student HSK 2
diào to fall; to drop; to lag behind; to lose; to go missing; to reduce; fall (in prices); to lose (value, weight etc); to wag; to swing; to turn; to change; to exchange; to swap; to show off; to shed (hair); (used after certain verbs to express completion, fulfillment, removal etc) HSK 2
dāng shí then; at that time; while HSK 2
jiā to add; plus; (used after an adverb such as 不, 大, 稍 etc, and before a disyllabic verb, to indicate that the action of the verb is applied to sth or sb previously mentioned); to apply (restrictions etc) to (sb); to give (support, consideration etc) to (sth) HSK 2