Breaking with Old Ideas is a 1975 Chinese film directed by Li Wenhua. The film is one of the few that were produced during the Cultural Revolution

Cultural Revolution

The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, commonly known as the Cultural Revolution , was a socio-political movement that took place in the People's Republic of China from 1966 through 1976...

. As a result of the political climate, Breaking with Old Ideass plot was heavily regulated under highly codified guidelines on story and characterization.

Plot summary

The film tells the story of the Communist Labour College that opened in the 1960s. Long Guozheng, an emissary from the Communist government and Li Jinfeng, a female peasant student, must fight against the school's more conservative elements. In the film's climax, Li is put on trial and is about to be expelled from the school when she is saved by a pronouncement from Chairman Mao

Mao Zedong

Mao Zedong, also transliterated as Mao Tse-tung , and commonly referred to as Chairman Mao , was a Chinese Communist revolutionary, guerrilla warfare strategist, Marxist political philosopher, and leader of the Chinese Revolution...

 himself.

Cast

• Guo Zhenqing as Long Guozheng
• Wang Suya as Li Jinfeng
• Wen Xiying as Deputy Secretary Tang
• Xu Zhan as Xu Niuzai
• Zhang Zheng as Old Representative