- In the "flower houses" (upscale brothels) of Shanghai, various interweaving stories of love, loyalty, and deceit play out subtly.
- In Shanghai in the 1880s there are four elegant brothels (flower houses): each has an auntie (called madam), a courtesan in her prime, older servants, and maturing girls in training. The men gather around tables of food, playing drinking games. An opium pipe is at hand. The women live within dark-paneled walls. The atmosphere is stifling, as if Chekhov was in China. The melancholy Wang is Crimson's patron; will he leave her for the younger Jasmin? Emerald schemes to buy her freedom, aided by patron Luo. Pearl, an aging flower, schools the willful Jade, who thinks she has a marriage agreement with young master Zhu. Is she dreaming? Women fade, or connive, or despair.—<jhailey@hotmail.com>
- "Hai Shang Hua Lei Chuang" is a novel written by Han Zi Yun, first appeared as a series in his literary periodical in 1892. The original novel was written in Wu dialect a dialect spoken by the ancient Wu region (its various forms include Shanghai and Suzhou dialect). Wu is difficult for non-speakers to understand, so the novel was soon forgotten; until Eileen Chang translated it and published a Mandarin version in 1983. This is when it was given its English title The Flowers of Shanghai.
"Hai Shang Hua" is based on the Eileen Chang version and focused on the story of the brothels (the direct translation of the Chinese term being "college") and their teachers (courtesans).
The College of Zhau is led by "senior teacher" Pearl, a courtesan with considerable independence and power, because the auntie (madam) is her own mother. She enjoys an uneventful but steady relationship with patron Master Hong, and this couple serves as the thread that connects the other story lines.
In their efforts to befriend and profit from the court official Master Wang, the masters invited him to a dinner party and showcased the best of the colleges, and he fell in love with the hot-headed Crimson. Crimson was known to be having an affair with a Chinese opera actor and Hong advised against it, but Wang could no be dissuaded and became Crimsons exclusive patron. After a couple "sessions", he found out why his friends were against his choice, this led to constant confrontation between Crimson and Wang. At the end, although Wang remains in love with Crimson, he gave up on her and took on the more mellowed Jasmin.
The lack of patrons and Crimsons reputation brought down the College of Shen, and she lost her courtesan status. Jasmin's College of Lee, on the other hand, became prosperous on Wangs exclusive session pay.
Jade is the hot new-comer "apprentice teacher" of Peal's college, she met Shuren and the two had serious relationship. When Jade found out that Shuren's uncle had confirmed an arranged marriage for him and that he could not keep the promise of making her his wife, she forced him to take opium and die with her. Shuren panicked and the two were saved. Master Hong and Pearl interfered, Shuren paid a hefty $10,000 so that Jade can buy out her contract and be married off as proper woman.
Emerald is the most beautiful of all teachers, and golden egg of the College of Huang. Emerald's charm lies in her beauty and uppity personality; she was also smart enough to not accept exclusive patrons - she was looking for someone to buy out her contract. She found Master Luo, who was so smitten with Emerald that he didn't even mind waiting for her while she "entertains" her other clients in the next room. So began the negotiation with Auntie Huang.
Auntie Huang had all the bad habits of a has-been courtesan: gambling, bottomless debts, and endless stream of lovers. As she had yet to raise another daughter as profitable as Emerald, she was not going to let go easily. The negotiation wore on throughout the film, and with the help of Master Hong and Emerald, Luo was finally able to negotiate a satisfactory price and took Emerald away from the "college life".
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content