Xiu Xiu is a scathing look at communism in China, focusing on the story of a 15-year-old girl who is sent down to the countryside during the last years of the Chinese Revolution (1967-76). The girl works at hard labor and is gradually used by a string of powerful men who accept sex from her in exchange for promises that they have no intention of fulfilling.

At first she works in a flour factory but a year later she's sent even further to the more remote spot with a Tibetan saddle tramp Lao Jin to learn horse herding.

There Xiu Xiu falls in love with a man who promises to talk to an official and get her back home. He brings an apple which Xiu Xiu treasures and he takes her virginity. While waiting for him to return another man comes claiming to be his friend and brings another apple. After him another man comes and by that point it sets the tone of the story

Filmed in remote reaches of Tibet, the scenery is beautiful, even all those shots of the clouds that director/producer/writer Joan Chen seems to love. The relationship that develops between the girl and an older horsehearder ,Lao Jin, who was "deprived of his manhood" by Tibetan rebels also is sweet and properly understated. It's clear he loves her and wishes he wasn't powerless to protect her.

She becomes pregnant by one of the men who use her and then looses the baby. In the hospital Right after the surgery a guards who is also a patient locks himself in Xiu Xiu's room and has their way with her. Through all this Lao Jin Tries to protect her but fails because people stop him. The worse part is nurses refuse to help saying that XiuXiu is a pig.

It ends with a sad but odd twist.

The movie although very sad is really artistically beautiful. Scenes of winding rivers and picturesque lakes.

More so the story pulls you in.

But China Banned this movie cause it shows a bad side of communism. The one that ignores women in need and uses its
people. However, the story is uneven. Still, it's worth seeing -- if nothing else, it's interesting to see a movie that's been banned in the country in which it was made.

very interesting Mia

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This movie was hypnotizing and so sad. I am going to get some books by the author Yan Geiling now.

The story was just too interesting.