Loach is Fish Too

On an old barge moored close to a small village inhabited by old people and children, live young Wang Wang and his grandfather. The latter is immensely fond of the local doctor, Ms. Bei, who keeps prompting him to buy her a ring as proof of his good intentions. Wang Wang attends the local school, but, in the absence of maternal authority, with great reluctance. Then, one night, a young pregnant woman is discovered hiding on the boat, ready to give birth. With the arrival of her little baby girl, the young mother, already used to her river accommodations, opts to stay with them. Life on the barge is no longer the same. Wang Wang feels the stirring of adolescence and an Oedipal attraction to the young woman; the grandfather is diagnosed with dementia and and is warned that its first signs could soon manifest themselves; and the new young mother keeps a bag whose contents will later reveal a dark secret. Three people at a crossroads in their lives.

Bright Sunshine (a.k.a. The Sun, 大太阳)

Hailed by the Chinese government as one of the ten best films of the 1996-97 season, this irony-laced light drama is based on a novel by Fang Fang, and begins with the brutal slaying and robbery of a dock worker's family. The city assigns one of its best detectives, Yan Gao to find "the Wise One," the crime lord behind the murders. To do this, Yan sets up a series of surveillance sights around the city. When port guard Ye learns that he and his supervisor have been chosen to monitor one of the Wise One's main hideouts, he is delighted. It is the most exciting thing to have happened to him in years. But problems come because he must work nights and is sworn to secrecy. His girlfriend Bai Lin misinterprets his absences and this causes trouble. More trouble comes when her old lover shows up. Matters are made worse when a message for Ye and Tian to stop their surveillance does not get through.

A country girl marries a projectionist to satisfy her passion for the movies, but when her husband has an accident, she is forced to take over, and their life together is never the same.

In response to the death of her husband and young son, peasant Zhang Meili founds a school in the dry desert landscape of northwest China. When cultured and chipper Xia Yu arrives from Beijing to help her out, the two women bond and learn from each other's character how to best serve the children. Various subplots include the arrival of Xia's husband, who tries in vain to persuade her to return to the city, Xia's quick abortion, and the comically clandestine relationship between Zhang and a local projectionist.