Flowers of Shanghai

The film is set the elegant brothels, called Changsan Shuyu (長三書寓; "Flower Houses") in Shanghai in 1884. The story is about the courtesans in these houses, known as “shi sen” or "flower girls," who are top-notch prostitutes, depicting in great detail their relationships with the wealthy patrons, which are semi-monogamous and often last for a long period of time, and the daily activities in the houses.

The main courtesans in the film are Crimson, Jasmin, Jade, Pearl and Emerald. Crimson belongs to the Huifang Enclave (薈芳里), while Jasmin works at the East Hexing Enclave (東合興里). Jade and her friend Pearl work in the Gongyang Enclave (公陽里), and Emerald resides in the Shangren Enclave (尚仁里). The relationships between the wealthy patrons and the courtesans Master Wang, who leaves the courtesan Crimson at the end of their two-and-a-half-year relationship after he is refused her hand in marriage.

He falls for the younger courtesan Jasmin, angering Crimson. However, Master Wang still has feelings for Crimson. When he finds out she is having an affair with an actor, he launches into a drunken rage. He agrees to marry Jasmin and departs for Guangdong after receiving a promotion. It is later revealed in conversation between other characters that Jasmin had an affair with Wang's nephew.

Another courtesan, Jade, has been given a promise by her lover, the young and immature Master Zhu, that if they cannot be married together, they will die together. When it is apparent that the marriage will not occur, she gives Zhu opium in an attempt to poison him before attempting to drink opium herself.

Emerald yearns for freedom from life in a brothel and is supported by Luo, one of her patrons. As a child, she was bought for $100 by her auntie who insists that freedom costs many times that value ($3,000); the negotiation goes on throughout the film. With the help of Master Hong and Emerald, Luo negotiates a satisfactory price and takes Emerald away from the brothel.

Regarding the English title of the film, the meaning of “sing-song girls” does not refer to prostitutes who sing for a living. Eileen Chang's commentary on the Mandarin text makes it clear: “shi sen” in Goyuitian is pronounced as "singsong". That is probably why the title is translated as “sing-song girls.”  - not the translation of "singing girl". The term "singsong girl" was a new term from the late 1920s to the 1930s, after there were dancing girls.[4]

Film critic J. Hoberman, like Jonathan Rosenbaum, called Hou Hsiao-hsien the best director of the '90s and hailed Flowers of Shanghai as one of Hou's three masterpieces from that decade.[5]

Jeffrey Anderson finds the film incredibly beautiful despite the need for "multiple viewings and incredible patience."[6]

While Jeremy Heilman did not want to call it Hou's best film, he considered it his prettiest.[7] Kent Jones called the film innovative.[8]

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 92% based on 12 reviews.[9] On Metacritic, the film has an average weighted score of 73 out of 100 based on 11 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[10]

The film won for Best Director and Best Art Director (Wen-Ying Huang) at the Asia-Pacific Film Festival in 1998, and the next year the director won the Golden Crow Pheasant at the International Film Festival of Kerala. It was nominated for the Golden Palm at Cannes but did not win.[11]

• Sing-song girls
• List of submissions to the 71st Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film
• List of Taiwanese submissions for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film

• Flowers of Shanghai at IMDb
• HK cinemagic entry
• Flowers of Shanghai: Inside the Dream an essay by Jean Ma at the Criterion Collection