Director: Lin Jianong (1962)

The Storms of 1894-1895, produced by Changchun Film Studio in 1962, was one of the most successful of the films on modern China's revolutionary wars.  

The film, directed by Lin Jianong and starred by Li Moran, takes the two battles at Zhongfeng Island and on the Yellow Sea as the main thread of the story, showing the war against foreign invasion, the people's refusal to surrender, and the patriotic navy officers and soldiers.

Deng Shichang, the captain of the Zhiyuan Warship, takes the initiative to request a battle assignment. He is courageous and skilful in battle and hits the enemy warship with the ship he commands, laying down his life for the country and showing a heroic spirit that overwhelms heaven and earth. The film, strong yet depressing in style, was full of awe-inspiring righteousness. In 1983, it was awarded the judging Panel Prize at the 12th Figucirada Foz International Festival in Portugal.

Like magnificent paintings, the revolutionary-war films made in this period cover almost all the historical stages in the history of modern China, from the Opium War to the Liberation War. Many of them have a distinct spirit of the times and a strong sense of history. They are rich and varied in style and forms of expression.

(chinaculture.org January 19, 2004)