Definitely not a frivolous project by a dilettante actress, Joan Chen's directorial debut Xiu Xiu: The Sent-Down Girl (1998) is a beautifully mounted and emotionally harsh indictment of the Chinese Cultural Revolution's "re-education" program for urban children. Rather than an ensemble city film like prior anti-Cultural Revolution works, Xiu Xiu's virtually two-character, rural story presents the bureaucratic devastation in microcosm as a literal rape and momentary corruption of the naïve title girl by the system that has no intention of keeping its promises. Spectacularly shot on location in a remote zone of China near Tibet, Xiu Xiu's deserted landscapes, flowers, hills, snaking rivers, and season changes delicately underline the evolving relationship between Xiu Xiu and her impotent Tibetan caretaker Lao Jin, rendering their final fates all the more moving. Though Xiu Xiu was shot with Chinese consent, its sexual and political content made the film and Chen persona non grata in China. Xiu Xiu: The Sent-Down Girl earned Chen international acclaim.