Li Shaohong

Li Shaohong (born 7 July 1955) is a Chinese film and television director and producer. She is considered a member of the Fifth Generation movement, and China's top woman director. Her films have won multiple awards in China and abroad, including the Golden Montgolfiere at the 1992 Three Continents Festival (for Bloody Morning), and the Silver Bear at the 1995 Berlin International Film Festival (for Blush).

Early life Li was born on 7 July 1955 in Suzhou, Jiangsu, but is considered a native of her ancestral hometown, Wendeng, Shandong, by Chinese convention. In 1969, when she was only 14, Li joined the army in the Sichuan military region, working in a military hospital. Reflecting on her military life, she said the army had too many rules and did not suit her personality, and she decided to pursue a film career. After the end of the Cultural Revolution, she was admitted to Beijing Film Academy in 1978, graduating from its film directing department in 1982. Like other Fifth Generation films, Li Shaohong's works often focus on the rural side of Chinese society. The film won the Silver Bear for Outstanding Single Achievement at the 45th Berlin International Film Festival in 1995.

With the 2004 film Baober in Love, Li broke the mode of her previous works and ventured into the realm of magical realism.