The Forbidden Past 1976
小楼残梦
In the sixties, love stories portrayed women as sentimentalists or sacrificial lambs. Later on, directors like Chu Yuan replaced these themes of sacrifice with abandonment. The Forbidden Past is a heart tugging, rare Chinese Christmas story about a bar girl (Ching Li) serving drinks to a man that looks like her husband from five years ago. She convinces him to fulfill her son's wishes of having the father he's never seen, show up for Christmas.
Vocabulary
Filter the words you want to study before watching.
| 时间 時間 | time; period | |
| 家 傢 | home; family; (polite) my (sister, uncle etc); classifier for families or businesses; refers to the philosophical schools of pre-Han China; noun suffix for a specialist in some activity, such as a musician or revolutionary, corresponding to English -ist, -er, -ary or -ian | |
| 事 事 | matter; thing; item; work; affair | |
| 工作 工作 | to work; (of a machine) to operate; job; work; task | |
| 走 走 | to walk; to go; to run; to move (of vehicle); to visit; to leave; to go away; to die (euph.); from; through; away (in compound verbs, such as 走); to change (shape, form, meaning) | |
| 时候 時候 | time; length of time; moment; period | |
| 知道 知道 | to know; to become aware of; also pr. [zhī dao] | |
| 小 小 | small; tiny; few; young | |
| 次 次 | next in sequence; second; the second (day, time etc); secondary; vice-; sub-; infra-; inferior quality; substandard; order; sequence; hypo- (chemistry); classifier for enumerated events: time | |
| 呢 呢 | particle indicating that a previously asked question is to be applied to the preceding word ("What about ...?", "And ...?"); particle for inquiring about location ("Where is ...?"); particle signaling a pause, to emphasize the preceding words and allow the listener time to take them on board ("ok?", "are you with me?"); (at the end of a declarative sentence) particle indicating continuation of a state or action; particle indicating strong affirmation | |
| 再 再 | again; once more; re-; second; another; then (after sth, and not until then); no matter how ... (followed by an adjective or verb, and then (usually) 也 or 都 for emphasis) | |
| 最 㝡 | most; the most; -est (superlative suffix) | |
| 太 太 | highest; greatest; too (much); very; extremely | |
| 等 等 | class; rank; grade; equal to; same as; to wait for; to await; et cetera; and so on; et al. (and other authors); after; as soon as; once | |
| 天 天 | day; sky; heaven | |
| 两 兩 | two; both; some; a few; tael, unit of weight equal to 50 grams (modern) or 1⁄16 of a catty 斤 (old) | |
| 多 多 | many; much; too many; in excess; (after a numeral) ... odd; how (to what extent) (Taiwan pr. [duó]); (bound form) multi-; poly- | |
| 年 年 | year | |
| 用 用 | to use; to employ; to have to; to eat or drink; expense or outlay; usefulness; hence; therefore | |
| 现在 現在 | now; at present; at the moment; modern; current; nowadays | |
| 真 真 | really; truly; indeed; real; true; genuine | |
| 里 裡 | lining; interior; inside; internal; also written 里 | |
| 中 中 | within; among; in; middle; center; while (doing sth); during; (dialect) OK; all right | |
| 从 從 | from; through; via; to follow; to obey; to engage in (an activity); never (in negative sentence); (Taiwan pr. [zòng]) retainer; assistant; auxiliary; subordinate; related by common paternal grandfather or earlier ancestor | |
| 大 大 | big; large; great; older (than another person); eldest (as in 姐); greatly; freely; fully; (dialect) father; (dialect) uncle (father's brother) | |
| 没 沒 | (negative prefix for verbs) have not; not | |
| 过 過 | to cross; to go over; to pass (time); to celebrate (a holiday); to live; to get along; excessively; too- | |
| 吧 吧 | (modal particle indicating suggestion or surmise); ...right?; ...OK?; ...I presume. | |
| 点 點 | point; dot; drop; speck; o'clock; point (in space or time); to draw a dot; to check on a list; to choose; to order (food in a restaurant); to touch briefly; to hint; to light; to ignite; to pour a liquid drop by drop; (old) one fifth of a two-hour watch 更; dot stroke in Chinese characters; classifier for items | |
| 什么 什麼 | what?; something; anything | |
| 做 做 | to make; to produce; to write; to compose; to do; to engage in; to hold (a party etc); (of a person) to be (an intermediary, a good student etc); to become (husband and wife, friends etc); (of a thing) to serve as; to be used for; to assume (an air or manner) | |
| 看 看 | to look after; to take care of; to watch; to guard | |
| 他们 他們 | they | |
| 没有 沒有 | haven't; hasn't; doesn't exist; to not have; to not be | |
| 给 給 | to; for; for the benefit of; to give; to allow; to do sth (for sb); (grammatical equivalent of 被); (grammatical equivalent of 把); (sentence intensifier) | |
| 能 能 | can; to be able to; might possibly; ability; (physics) energy | |
| 想 想 | to think (about); to think of; to devise; to think (that); to believe (that); to desire; to want (to); to miss (feel wistful about the absence of) | |
| 去 去 | to go; to go to (a place); (of a time etc) last; just passed; to send; to remove; to get rid of; to reduce; to be apart from in space or time; to die (euphemism); to play (a part); (when used either before or after a verb) to go in order to do sth; (after a verb of motion indicates movement away from the speaker); (used after certain verbs to indicate detachment or separation) | |
| 她 她 | she | |
| 着 著 | to touch; to come in contact with; to feel; to be affected by; to catch fire; to burn; (coll.) to fall asleep; (after a verb) hitting the mark; succeeding in | Colloquialism |
| 还 還 | still; still in progress; still more; yet; even more; in addition; fairly; passably (good); as early as; even; also; else | |
| 很 很 | (adverb of degree); quite; very; awfully | |
| 来 來 | to come; (used as a substitute for a more specific verb); hither (directional complement for motion toward the speaker, as in 回来); ever since (as in 自古以来); for the past (amount of time); (prefix) the coming ...; the next ... (as in 来世); (between two verbs) in order to; (after a round number) approximately; (used after 得 to indicate possibility, as in 谈得来, or after 不 to indicate impossibility, as in 吃不来) | |
| 到 到 | to reach; to arrive; to leave for; to go to; to (a place); until (a time); up to (a point); (verb complement indicating arriving at a place or reaching a point); considerate; thoughtful; thorough | |
| 上 上 | (bound form) up; upper; above; previous; first (of multiple parts); to climb; to get onto; to go up; to attend (class or university); (directional complement) up; (noun suffix) on; above | |
| 对 對 | right; correct; towards; at; for; concerning; regarding; to treat (sb a certain way); to face; (bound form) opposite; facing; matching; to match together; to adjust; to fit; to suit; to answer; to reply; to add; to pour in (a fluid); to check; to compare; classifier: couple; pair | |
| 都 都 | all; both; entirely; (used for emphasis) even; already; (not) at all | |
| 也 也 | (adverb) also; both ... and ... (before predicates only); (literary) particle having functions similar to 啊 | |
| 会 會 | can; to have the skill; to know how to; to be likely to; to be sure to; to meet; to get together; meeting; gathering; (suffix) union; group; association; (bound form) a moment (Taiwan pr. [huǐ]) | |
| 一 一 | one; single; a (article); as soon as; entire; whole; all; throughout; "one" radical in Chinese characters (Kangxi radical 1); also pr. [yāo] for greater clarity when spelling out numbers digit by digit |