King of the Children
# King of the Children

King of the Children (Chinese: 孩子王; pinyin: Háizǐ Wáng) is a 1987 drama film directed by Chen Kaige and starring Chen Shaohua. The film was based on a novella of the same name by Ah Cheng. The film competed for the Palme D'Or at the 1988 Cannes Film Festival.

## Plot

A young man is sent to teach at a rural school in a poverty stricken area of Yunnan province.

## Cast

* Chen Shaohua
* Xie Yuan
* Yang Xuewen

## Reception

King of the Children received a highly positive review in Time Out, where a reviewer wrote, “There are echoes here of a film like Padre Padrone, but Chen's film is completely free of flabby humanist sentimentality. [...] By Chinese standards, this is film-making brave to the point of being visionary. By any standards, this follow-up to Yellow Earth and The Big Parade is also something like a masterpiece.”

