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Films from China

Best Movies from China

China's catalogue on Celluloid runs to 92 films spanning 1991–2026 across 5 languages — chiefly Mandarin and English —, led by Raise the Red Lantern (89%) and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (88%). Every title is ranked by our four-input Celluloid Score with critic consensus and expert reviews on each film page.

Quick Answer

The highest-rated China film on Celluloid is Raise the Red Lantern (1991) with an 89% Celluloid Score — Recommended.

92
Films indexed
32%
Avg. Celluloid Score
5
Languages
21
Critic reviews

Guide to China Movies on Celluloid

Each film from China in our catalogue includes a Celluloid Score from up to four verified inputs, original verdict text, and linked editorial reviews where available. Audience sentiment is separate.

Titles are indexed by original language and country of production for easier discovery.

Essential China Picks

Top 5 by Celluloid Score
Raise the Red Lantern 1991 · Zhang Yimou · Mandarin

Zhang Yimou's claustrophobic palace drama exposes patriarchy with formal beauty and icy precision.

89%
Celluloid Score Recommended
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon 2000 · Ang Lee · Mandarin

Ang Lee brought wuxia to global art-house audiences and swept the Oscars with grace and gravity.

88%
Celluloid Score Recommended
Farewell My Concubine 1993 · Chen Kaige · Mandarin

Chen Kaige's Palme d'Or winner remains the most acclaimed Chinese film on the world stage.

88%
Celluloid Score Recommended
Dying to Survive 2018 · Wen Muye · Mandarin

A rare Chinese crowd-pleaser with teeth — Xu Zheng balances slapstick and moral outrage in a healthcare satire that moved policy and swept Golden Rooster recognition.

86%
Celluloid Score Recommended
Hero 2002 · Zhang Yimou · Mandarin

Zhang Yimou's ravishing martial-arts poem turned Chinese blockbusters into international events.

85%
Celluloid Score Recommended

China Movie Reviews

All reviews →

Full critic reviews with answer-engine summaries — each review answers whether the film is worth watching, what it is about, and where to stream it.

Raise the Red Lantern (1991) ★★★★½

Raise the Red Lantern (1991) Review: A Gilded Prison

Raise the Red Lantern is Zhang Yimou's severe, ravishing drama of a young concubine in a 1920s household, with Gong Li at her best as a woman learning its rules.

Yes. It is one of the great films of the Chinese Fifth Generation, essential for anyone interested in world cinema and patient enough for a slow, controlled tragedy.
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) ★★★★½

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon Review: Wuxia Takes Flight

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is Ang Lee's Mandarin-language wuxia romance, a film of weightless swordplay and restrained longing that still feels graceful.

Yes. It is one of the great martial-arts films and a moving romance, ideal for newcomers to wuxia and for anyone who wants action with real feeling behind it.
Farewell My Concubine (1993) ★★★★½

Farewell My Concubine (1993) Review: Art Against History

Farewell My Concubine is Chen Kaige's sweeping Beijing opera epic, a story of two performers whose lifelong bond is tested by half a century of Chinese upheaval.

Yes. It is a landmark of world cinema and one of the great epics about art and politics, best for patient viewers ready for nearly three hours of melodrama.
Dying to Survive (2018) ★★★★½

Dying to Survive (2018) Review: Laughter With a Conscience

Dying to Survive is Wen Muye's Chinese comedy-drama about a shopkeeper smuggling cheap leukaemia drugs. It is funny, furious and deeply moving.

Yes. It is a crowd-pleaser with real anger behind it, ideal for viewers who like social drama delivered with humour, warmth and a star turn at its centre.
Hero (2002) ★★★★½

Hero (2002) Review: Martial Arts in Five Colours

Hero is Zhang Yimou's ravishing wuxia epic about a nameless warrior and the King of Qin, told in colour-coded versions that turn swordplay into visual poetry.

Yes. It is one of the most beautiful martial arts films ever made, ideal for viewers who want spectacle and style, even if its characters and politics stay at arm's length.
Kung Fu Hustle (2004) ★★★★½

Kung Fu Hustle (2004) Review: Cartoon Physics, Real Kung Fu

Kung Fu Hustle is Stephen Chow's anarchic martial-arts comedy, a live-action cartoon set in a 1940s slum that doubles as a loving tribute to kung fu cinema.

Yes. It is one of the funniest and most inventive action comedies ever made, a joy for martial-arts fans and a perfect first Stephen Chow film for newcomers.
Better Days (2019) ★★★★½

Better Days (2019) Review: Two Outcasts Against the World

Better Days is Derek Tsang's harrowing Chinese drama about a bullied student and the young street fighter who protects her, a raw, tender and gripping film.

Yes. It is a harrowing but deeply moving youth drama with two superb lead performances, for viewers ready for difficult themes of bullying and violence.
Caught by the Tides (2024) ★★★★½

Caught by the Tides (2024) Review: Two Decades in One Face

Caught by the Tides is Jia Zhangke's drifting love story built partly from two decades of his own footage, with Zhao Tao ageing alongside a changing China.

Yes. It is a moving, singular film for viewers who love patient, poetic cinema and Jia Zhangke's earlier work; anyone wanting a conventional plot may feel adrift.
Ne Zha 2 (2025) ★★★★★

Ne Zha 2 (2025) Review: Myth at Maximum Volume

Ne Zha 2 is Jiaozi's record-breaking Chinese animated sequel, a vast, funny and thunderous myth about two outcast boys taking on heaven and the dragon clans.

Yes. It is a dazzling, emotionally charged animated epic and one of the most spectacular films of the decade; watch the 2019 original first for the full effect.
Red Cliff (2008) ★★★★☆

Red Cliff (2008) Review: John Woo's Three Kingdoms Epic

Red Cliff is John Woo's lavish retelling of the Three Kingdoms battle, with Tony Leung and Takeshi Kaneshiro as allies facing Cao Cao's vast army and fleet.

Yes, with reservations. It is grand, exciting historical spectacle for war-epic fans; seek out the two-part version if you can, as the single cut feels compressed.
Angels Wear White (2017) ★★★½☆

Angels Wear White (2017) Review: Silence as Complicity

Vivian Qu's Angels Wear White is a quietly furious Chinese drama about two girls assaulted in a seaside motel and the teenage witness who says nothing.

Yes, with reservations. It is a clear-eyed, important drama about how adults and institutions fail girls, though its cool restraint can keep viewers at a distance.
Ne Zha (2019) ★★★★½

Ne Zha (2019) Review: A Demon Child Defies Fate

Ne Zha is Jiaozi's rowdy, big-hearted Chinese animated reinvention of a classic myth, in which a boy branded a demon at birth sets out to prove fate wrong.

Yes. It is a funny, thrilling and unexpectedly moving animated fantasy that works for newcomers to Chinese myth, and the essential first step before Ne Zha 2.
House of Flying Daggers (2004) ★★★★½

House of Flying Daggers (2004) Review: Wuxia in Full Bloom

House of Flying Daggers is Zhang Yimou's lush wuxia romance, a film whose colour, choreography and sound matter more than its tangled plot of loyalties.

Yes. It is one of the most beautiful martial arts films ever made. Ideal for wuxia fans and anyone who watches films for image and movement.
Fearless (2006) ★★★★☆

Fearless (2006) Review: Jet Li's Lesson in Humility

Fearless is Ronny Yu's martial arts biopic of Huo Yuanjia, with Jet Li as a champion who must learn humility before he can fight for something bigger than pride.

Yes. It is one of Jet Li's finest martial arts films, ideal for kung fu fans who can accept a blunt patriotic streak and a slower middle stretch.
The Wandering Earth 2 (2023) ★★★★☆

The Wandering Earth 2 (2023) Review: Engines of Sacrifice

The Wandering Earth 2 is Frant Gwo's huge Chinese sci-fi prequel about building the engines that will move the planet, a richer, longer film than the original.

Yes. It is a spectacular, earnest disaster epic that improves on the first film; best for sci-fi fans ready to commit to nearly three hours.
Detective Chinatown 1900 (2025) ★★½☆☆

Detective Chinatown 1900 (2025) Review: A Lavish Muddle

Detective Chinatown 1900 moves the Chinese comedy franchise to Exclusion-era San Francisco, with grand production design sunk by slapstick, bloat and a weak mystery.

Mostly no. Franchise completists and Chow Yun-fat admirers will find things to enjoy, but most viewers should skip a sprawling comedy-mystery that never finds its tone.
Kung Fu Jungle (2014) ★★★☆☆

Kung Fu Jungle (2014) Review: Fights Beat the Procedural

Kung Fu Jungle pits Donnie Yen against a killer who hunts martial-arts masters. The duels are superb; the police thriller wrapped around them is routine.

It depends. Martial-arts fans will enjoy its inventive duels and genre tributes, but viewers after a gripping crime thriller will find the story thin.
The Wandering Earth (2019) ★★★½☆

The Wandering Earth (2019) Review: A Planet Put in Gear

The Wandering Earth is Frant Gwo's Chinese sci-fi blockbuster about a frozen Earth pushed across space by giant engines, huge in scale and thinner in its characters.

Yes, with reservations. It is a spectacular, big-hearted disaster epic for sci-fi fans, though the script and characters lag behind its images.
Big Brother (2018) ★★★½☆

Big Brother (2018) Review: Donnie Yen Goes Back to School

Big Brother casts Donnie Yen as a former soldier turned teacher fighting for a class of written-off students, an earnest school drama with crisp action breaks.

Yes, with reservations. It is a warm, sincere inspirational-teacher film with a few crisp Donnie Yen fights, best for viewers who can take its sentiment at face value.
The Battle at Lake Changjin (2021) ★★★½☆

The Battle at Lake Changjin (2021) Review: Scale Over Nuance

The Battle at Lake Changjin is China's three-hour Korean War epic, a formidable winter combat film whose patriotic framing leaves little room for nuance.

Mostly yes. Its frozen battle scenes are among the most formidable in recent war cinema, but expect three hours of openly one-sided patriotic storytelling.
Wolf Warrior 2 (2017) ★★★½☆

Wolf Warrior 2 (2017) Review: Patriotism at Full Throttle

Wolf Warrior 2 is Wu Jing's patriotic action spectacle about a Chinese ex-commando in an African war zone, pairing thrilling set pieces with blunt, flag-waving politics.

Yes, with reservations. The action is ambitious and relentless, but the nationalism is heavy-handed. Best for action fans and anyone curious about modern Chinese blockbusters.

Popular Genres

Drama 52 Action 42 Comedy 25 Fantasy 18 Romance 14 Crime 14

All China Movies

Ranked by Celluloid Score

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the best movies from China?

Browse our China catalogue sorted by Celluloid Score — the highest-rated films appear first with critic and audience ratings on every card.

How does Celluloid rate films from China?

Celluloid Score combines Celluloid editorial, Metascore, Letterboxd and IMDb inputs into a single percentage; audience sentiment is displayed separately alongside the written verdict and review.