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This brutal tale of 1920s unrest in Shanghai from Chinese filmmaker Zhang Yumin deals with the police shooting of a young worker named Zhao Zhilong during a government attempt at strike-breaking. Zhao Zhilong's old schoolmate A Long (Gao Bichuan) comes to Shanghai to avenge the killing with another childhood friend, Liu Yunpu (Chen Minghao). Liu turns out to be more harm than help, however, as he rapes and murders Zhao's widow (Wu Lijie), driving a rift between his own daughter Yaqing (Zuo Ling) and A Long. Tragedy befalls almost everyone, as A Long is murdered himself after his own people betray him, and Yaqing flees Shanghai with A Long's orphan son Xiao Long. Liu Jingyi co-stars with Fu Yongcai.