Director’s Note: 

Female characters in cinema often serve the function of conveying the message determined by the ones in power of the cinematic image—an auteur, investors, government, or all at once, depending on the model of film production. This video essay juxtaposes two films completed in times of major political, economic, and social transitions in China: Blush (1995, dir. Li Shaohong) and Sisters Stand Up (1951, dir. Chen Xihe) both depict the early days of Communist Party rule in China. The films revolve around the campaign to reeducate former sex workers and turn them into women who would be suitable to “hold up half the sky,” living up to Mao Zedong’s quote on gender equality. By comparing both films’ plotlines, visual styles, and cinematic representations of women, I aim to explore the relation between the narrative and the Party–state agenda as well as the consequences of contradictions embedded within the women’s liberation of 1949–1966 in China.