Chinese director Gu Changwei is getting ready to wrap up the shooting of The First Day of Spring, or Li Chun in Chinese.

 

As a follow-up to his directorial Peacock, The First Day of Spring is about three mini-stories in the less developed small northern Chinese city during the whole 1990s. 　　

 

Gu's star wife, Jiang Wenli plays an instructor at a local music academy, who dreams about touring around the world as a famous soprano. 　　

 

Dong Xuan plays a neighbor of the soprano, a young housewife whose rich husband run away with everything she is proud of.

 

And Zhang Yao plays a student of the soprano, who shaves her head to support his boyfriend undergoing cancer treatment and becomes a favorite at singing contest after claiming she herself is a cancer patient. 　　

 

(China Daily May 29, 2006)