Peach Blossom Weeps Tears of Blood is a 1931 silent film made in Shanghai, China. It is also known as The Peach Girl. It was directed by Bu Wancang and stars Ruan Lingyu (The Goddess) and Jin Yan.
Lim (Ruan Lingyu) is Miss Lim, daughter of Loo Chi, a tenant farmer who works a plot of land somewhere in the country. She falls in love with King Teh-en, son of the upper-class woman who owns the land that Loo Chi works. Teh-en asks Lim to marry him, and she accepts, but his snobby mother refuses to approve the match. Teh-en, for his part, can't bear to let Lim go. Tragedy ensues.
Tropes:
- Arranged Marriage: Mrs. King has set up Teh-en to be married to an upper-class girl, and she is pretty pissed when she finds out Teh-en has taken up with a farmer's daughter.
- Bittersweet Ending: Miss Lim assumes room temperature. But Teh-en finally gets his mother to crack and acknowledge Lim's father and Lim's daughter as her family. The film ends with the family visiting Lim's grave.
- Blatant Lies: Confronted by Lim, Teh-en straight-up lies, telling her that his mother has approved of their marriage. This leads to an ugly confrontation between Loo Chi, Mrs. King, Teh-en, and a pregnant Lim.
- Character Tic: Teh-en's mother Mrs. King has a persistent "no" head shake after the 15-year Time Skip. It's suggestive of Parkinson's, but in any case, it fits her character.
- Defiled Forever: "Your son has ruined the happiness of my daughter forever!", says Loo Chi after he finds out what's happened.
- Good Smoking, Evil Smoking: Snobby, mean Mrs. King is often seen smoking cigarettes out of an elaborate cigarette-holder.
- Gratuitous English: Oddly, the title cards—the original title cards, that is—are presented both in Chinese and English, even though Chinese films of the day were not distributed in America or the British Empire.
- Have a Gay Old Time: Some gossipy hens disapprove of Teh-en "making love" to a lower-class woman after they see the two walking in a park.
- I Have No Son!: "Consider that you have never had me as your son," says Teh-en after news that Lim is dying causes him to reject his mother.
- A Minor Kidroduction: Lim is introduced as a newborn. The next sequence shows her at the age of five, meeting Teh-en for the first time. Then the film jumps forward to her as a grown woman.
- No Name Given: For either Lim's mother or Teh-en's mother.
- Parental Marriage Veto: Mrs. King decisively exercises hers, going so far as to lock the house and order the servants to make sure Teh-en can't escape and get to Lim.
- Single Mom Stripper: Averted. Lim's landlord tries to get her to do this, and a local man with a bad reputation is very interested in Lim as a kept woman, but Lim resolves to starve to death instead.
- Symbolism: "This peach tree is going to be a symbol of your life. It will have beautiful blossoms if you grow up to be good. But if not, then—"
- Tearjerker: A noble Lim dying right after her lover finds her again, as their baby cries right next to her. And look at the title!.
- Time Skip: Five years from newborn Lim to child Lim, and the scene where she meets young Teh-en. Then a skip of about 15 years to find Lim as a grown woman.
- Uptown Girl: Lim the poor peasant girl and Teh-en the son of an upper-class woman.
