Set in People’s Republic of China during the 1990s, the film centers on a 13-year old substitute teacher, Wei Minzhi .  In a mountainous village school, Mr. Gao, the only teacher, is to see his sick mother and so Wei Minzhi. a 13-year-old girl who is also a primary school graduate, is asked to  take over the class during his absence .  Before leaving, Mr Gao tells Wei time and again to take good care of the pupils not one less until he returns.  But one day, ten-year –old boy is absent from school.  It turns out that he has left for the town to do manual work because his family cannot pay their debt. Wei gets Zhang’s address from his mother and goes to the town to look for her beloved pupil.  The film went to win the Venice Film Festival’s Golden Lion and several other awards, and director Zhang won the award for best director at the Golden Rooster Awards.(106 Minutes)