Rainclouds Over Wushan (1996)

Rain Clouds over Wushan () (also known as In Expectation) is a 1995 Chinese film directed by Zhang Ming and written by Zhu Wen. The film follows the lives of two lonely people living in Wushan on the banks of the Yangtze River during the construction of the Three Gorges Dam.

The satirical portrayal of rural life is considered part of the sixth generation movement that began in the early 1990s. Unlike many other films of the movement, however, Rain Clouds over Wushan was produced with help from the state-run Beijing Film Studio.

Synopsis

Mai Qiang (Zhang Xianming) is a lonely thirty-year-old river signalman living in Wushan, on the banks of the Yangtze River. Lonely, he is pushed to meet women by his more socially adept friend (Wang Wenqiang. One day, after getting drunk, he meets a young widow, Chen Qing (Zhong Ping). Chen, works in a small inn destined to be flooded when the Three Gorges Dam is complete and dreams of a better life. Mai, thinking she is the woman he dreams of every night, forces her to have sex but is shamed by his actions when he realizes what he has done the next morning.