A recording of the Beijing Opera version of The Red Detachment of Women filmed by the August First Film Studio in 1972. Toward the end of the Cultural Revolution, the ballet version was adapted into this Beijing opera.
The play concentrated on the exploits of the communist underground activities under Japanese occupation in 1939, though history traces back in the 1920s.
When Li Yuhe, a railroad worker who was engaging in underground work, was taken away by special agents and Grandma Li has a premonition of being arrested, Grandma tells the protagonist, Li Tiemei the true story about her family. Grandma Li tells Li Tiemei how her parents have sacrificed their lives in the revolutionary struggle. Li Yuhe has taken up the unfulfilled task of the martyrs. After hearing the heroic story about her family, Li Tiemei is determined to follow the example of her father and carry the revolution through to the end.
In 1946, Chiang Kaishek commits 200,000 troops to an attack on the Communist-held central plains of China. After the PLA main force in the area retreats, the Nationalists also capture the area around the Dabie Mountains. County Party Committee Secretary Liu and county organizations department director Mo Wenjie lead a guerrilla troop against the KMT forces. Will the film belief of the revolutionary cadre be able to overcome not only the enemy, but cold, hunger and betrayal?
