Seventeen Years (film)

Seventeen Years simplified Chinese traditional Chinese pinyin gu nin hu ji literally New Year Homecoming is a 1999 Chinese film directed by Zhang Yuan and starring Li Bingbing in her feature film debut. Seventeen Years was screened at several international film festivals where it garnered numerous accolades, including the Directors Award at the 56th Venice Film Festival.

The film takes place in and around the city of Tianjin, in northeastern China. Two divorced singles Liang Song and Le Yeping, marry, each bringing a daughter into their new home. Xiaolan Li Jun, short haired is fiercely independent and wishes to work in a factory after she graduates from high school. Her stepsister, Xiaoqin Liu Lin, is more intellectual, and wishes to enter a university. After a dispute over a mereyuan that Xiaoqin accuses Xiaolan of stealing, Xiaolan hits her stepsister over the head. To the surprise of everyone, Xiaoqin succumbs to the injury and dies and Xiaolan is led to jail.The film then cuts seventeen years into the future. Xiaolan has been selected as one of the lucky inmates allowed a furlough during the New Year holiday. At the same time, a young prison guard, Chen Jie Li Bingbing is calling her mother to say that she will soon be returning home for the holiday. While waiting for the inmates to be picked up by their families, Chen Jie notices that soon only Xiaolan remains. In an act of charity, Chen Jie offers to help Xiaolan return home. Upon arriving at her old apartment, however, both women discover that the home has long since been torn down, and Xiaolans parents moved to another part of the city. Chen Jie, however, is now determined that Xiaolan will spend the holiday with her family and the two set out in search of parents who may not want to see their only daughter... ........

Source: Wikipedia