Waibaidu Bridge - in The Media - Films

Films

According to film critic William Arnold, "Since colonial days, the focal point of the City of Shanghai has been the spot where the Garden Bridge crosses the meandering Suzhou Creek as it runs into the Huangpo River. It marks the northern boundary of the famous Shanghai Bund, and it's managed to pop up in practically every movie ever made about the city." The most recent Waibaidu Bridge has been featured in a number of films and literary works, including:

• 1980 Shanghai Tang (上海滩) (The Bund), a 25 episode television period drama set in 1920s Shanghai;
• 1987 Steven Spielberg's film Empire of the Sun shows Shanghai in 1941. In a scene reflecting the volatile atmosphere of these times, a British family can be seen passing the border post on Garden Bridge, around them the Chinese masses who are subject to the whim of the Japanese soldiers.
• 2000 While Lou Ye's film Suzhou River (Chinese: Suzhou he) mostly takes place west of Waibaidu Bridge, at the northern bank of present day Suzhou Creek, the bridge can be seen in the final scene when the camera races towards Huangpu River and modern Pudong. "In "Suzhou River," a voluptuously romantic drama from China, it's once again the symbol of the city, and the spot where most of the action takes place";
• 2001-2002 Romance in the Rain (simplified Chinese: 情深深雨蒙蒙; pinyin: Qīng Shēnshēn Yǔ Méngméng), a Chinese drama television series produced by Taiwanese author Chiung Yao. The character Lu Yiping (陸依萍/陆依萍), played by Vicki Zhao Wei jumps off from the bridge into the Suzhou Creek;
• 2004 Dai sing siu si (Da cheng xiao shi) (Leaving Me, Loving You), a Hong Kong film set in Shanghai starring Faye Wong, shows a car on the Waibaidu bridge at dawn;
• 2006 Shanghai Rumba (Shanghai Lunba 上海伦巴);
• 2007 Lust, Caution (Chinese: 色，戒; pinyin: Sè, Jiè), a Chinese espionage thriller film directed by Taiwanese American director Ang Lee, based on the 1979 short story by Chinese author Eileen Chang. The Waibaidu bridge appears twice in the film the first time after 66 minutes, the other after 114 minutes;
• 2008 Gong fu guan lan (大灌篮) (Kung Fu Dunk or Slam Dunk), features Jay Chou starting his journey on a bicycle on the Waibaidu bridge;