The Red Detachment of Women (1961) Hong se niang zi jun (original title) 1h 32min | War | 1961 | Mandarin

Director: Jin Xie Writer: Xin Liang

It is set in the 1930s and involves two peasant women who go into warfare.[1] The cast includes Zhu Xijuan, Wang Xinggang, Xiang Mei, Jin Naihua, Chen Qiang, and Niu Ben.

The Red Detachment of Women became famous after winning the PRC's best script, best director, and best actress awards in November 1961.[2] The film characters of Qiong Hua, Hong Changqing, and Nan Batian became quite well-known and following the success of the Red Detachment of Women ballet in 1964 by the end of 1966 was elevated to one of the eight "revolutionary model theatrical works" (geming yangbanxi, or yangbanxi for short), which formed the official canon.

In 1930s, Wu Qionghua was a housemaid of Nan-ba-tian, a cruel warlord of a village in Hainan Island, China. Often abused by her master, Qionghua was finally rescued by Hong Changqing, leader of the Red Detachment of Women - a troop of women soldiers. She joined the troop and became the Detachment leader after the death of Hong. They captivated and executed the warlord and liberated Qionghua's home village.