In the past there were no psychiatric hospitals and mad people were often locked up by their family often only give them food. In Taiwan there is a folk story the Mad woman's 18 Years that some popular films were produced about it.
Mad woman (瘋女十八年) (1957) Xiao Yan-Qiu (小艷秋) acts a poor woman marries a rich man and become mad. Her son raised up by the succeed wife and recognize her after 18 years. This film was unlike the other products, not in Mandarin, but in Taiwanese Hokkien.
The Mad Woman's 18 Years (瘋女十八年) (1979) Ouyang Ling-long (歐陽玲瓏) acts a poor woman marries a rich man and pretend to be mad. Her son raised up by the bad succeed wife who made her pretend to be mad and recognize her after 18 years. This film was produced by the same company of the Mad woman.
My beloved/Mother Love Me Once Again(媽媽再愛我一次/世上只有妈妈好) (1988) Li Xiaofei(李小飛) acts a young psychiatrian meet his lost mad birth mother in the hospital. This film is produced in Taiwan and became popular in Mainland China.
Yun Niang (芸娘) (2008) is a Chiung Yao style 32 episodes Television series produced in Mainland China. An Yixuan acts a daughter whose poor mother is locked by the other wife of a rich man as mad. The bad woman adopts a son. The daughter not known her real life, become the wife of the son. Lastly everyone find the truth and recognize the mother. The bad woman kills the mother and becomes ill and mad. She was locked up.
Famous quotes containing the words mad, woman and/or years:
“You have known your friend so long and loved him so much, and then all of a sudden you are so mad at him, you say, I could just kill you and you still like each other, because you have always been friends and you know in your mind you are going to be friends in a few seconds anyway.”
—Anonymous Twelve-Year-Old. As quoted in Children’s Friendships by Zick Rubin, ch. 3 (1980)
“The misery of the middle-aged woman is a grey and hopeless thing, born of having nothing to live for, of disappointment and resentment at having been gypped by consumer society, and surviving merely to be the butt of its unthinking scorn.”
—Germaine Greer (b. 1939)
“And they wonder, as waiting the long years through
In the dust of that little chair,
What has become of our Little Boy Blue,
Since he kissed them and put them there.”
—Eugene Field (1850–1895)