The plot of this film describes that Xiaoyun was Xiaohong's sister in the 1930 s and they were sold to Shanghai. Xiaoyun was forced to be a prostitute who made money by laughing. Xiaohong is naive and works as a singer in a teahouse and pub. Xiaohong and Xiaoyun live in slums, while Xiao Wang, who sells newspapers, and Chen Shaoping, the drummer of the band, live opposite.

Creation background

The origin of the film is the observation of the poor citizens by the creative staff. Yuan, Zheng, Nie Er, Zhao Dan and Qian often get together in a bar on Notre Dame Road. They saw all kinds of lower classes, so they had a desire to express themselves. Yuan wrote the script of this film according to the discussion opinions of Zheng, Nie Er, Zhao Dan and others, as well as his own observation of the lives of the bottom characters.

Film casting

Besides Zhou Xuan, there are other actresses who are the heroines of this film. Director Yuan chose Zhou Xuan, on the one hand, because Zhou Xuan's age is similar to the role in the film; On the other hand, Zhou Xuan's personality is naive, which is in line with the positioning of the role in the film.