A period piece set in turn-of-the century Beijing, Wu Yigong's My Memories of Old Beijing--which won top prize at the 1983 Manila Film Festival--is based on the semi-autobiographical novel of Taiwanese writer Lin Haiyin. Called by Variety an “old fashioned, romantic story,” it definitely reflects a departure from the didacticism of the films produced during the Cultural Revolution. The story is told through the eyes of a young girl, and since the filmmaker chooses to stay close to this point of view, little is seen of cosmopolitan Beijing; her Beijing is a neighborhood with the feel of a small village. The film is divided into three “memories,” each involving aspects of the social malaise of prerevolutionary China: persecution, economic instability, and the personal tragedies associated with them. Kathy Fukasawa, Asian American Film Festival Coordinator, writes, “Cinematically, My Memories of Old Beijing represents a step towards maturity, (a departure) from fancy and experimental optical effects which have been prevalent in Chinese film following the Cultural Revolution.”