Snow Flower and the Secret Fan is a 2011 historical drama film based on the novel of the same name by the Chinese-American author Lisa See. Directed by Wayne Wang, the film stars Gianna Jun, Li Bingbing, Archie Kao, Vivian Wu, and Hugh Jackman.
Rupert Murdoch personally arranged for the film to be released by Fox Searchlight Pictures, which opened the film in North America on July 15, 2011.
In the 19th century in China, two girls named Snow Flower (Gianna Jun) and Lily (Li Bing Bing) are bonded together for eternity. They are paired as laotong (in English: old sames) by a matchmaker who is also responsible for arranging their marriages. They are isolated by their families and communicate by writing in a secret language, Nu shu (a historical practice in China in that period).
Meanwhile, in the present day Shanghai, their descendants Sophia and Nina struggle with the intimacy of their own childhood friendship. As teenagers, Sophia and Nina were introduced to the idea of laotong, and they signed a traditional laotong contract. Then, they must understand the story of the ancestral connection, hidden from them in the folds of the antique white silk fan, or lose one another.
The film was
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