China City of Life and Death is a China–Hong Kong co-production — one of only a handful of such cross-border film titles indexed here.
Synopsis
南京!南京!
In 1937, during the height of the Second Sino-Japanese War, the Imperial Japanese Army has just captured Nanjing, then-capital of the Republic of China. What followed was known as the Nanking Massacre, or the Rape of Nanking, a six week period wherein tens of thousands of Chinese soldiers and civilians were killed.
China × Hong Kong Co-Production
Other China×Hong Kong titles
Titles With Overlapping Themes
Films and series that share thematic tags with City of Life and Death. Number on each card indicates how many keywords overlap.
Other Titles From China Film Group Corporation
Drama + History in China
53 China titles in our catalog blend the Drama and History genres. Below: the top-rated of them (excluding City of Life and Death itself).
The 2008–2010 China Window
Among 69 China films we catalog from this window, City of Life and Death places #10 — near the top of its class.
The 2000s China Landscape
2009 was the decade’s peak output year for China — 24 titles released, including City of Life and Death. Bars below show how the 2000s stacked up year by year (142 total).
Budget & Box Office Efficiency
At a 2h 12m runtime, production spent $91K per minute on screen and earned $81K per minute back.
Position in Catalog
Released alongside 23 other China films in 2009.
The 197th China title from China we index (earliest catalogued entry: 1935).
Our China catalog contains 946 titles in total (747 films).
Audience Engagement
197 audience reviews — more than 85% of China films in our index.
Popularity sits at the 71th percentile among China films.
Thematic Fingerprint
Tags on City of Life and Death, grouped by how common each theme is across the full Asian catalog. Rare tags are more distinctive signals.
- imperial japan · 5
- nanjing · 4
- nanking massacre china 1937 · 3
- war victim · 2
- duringcreditsstinger · 26
- 1930s · 23
- japanese occupation of china · 14
- massacre · 13
- japanese army · 12
- war crimes · 10
- mass murder · 8
- second sino-japanese war (1937-45) · 7
Reception Benchmarks
Ranked #208 of 946 China films indexed here (78th percentile by TMDB audience score).
Rating is +0.7 points above the China average of 6.7/10.
Among China Drama productions specifically: #128 of 547 (top 23%).
Production Details
| Primary Country | China |
|---|---|
| All Production Countries | China, Hong Kong |
| Original Language | Chinese |
| Spoken Languages | German, Mandarin, English, Japanese |
| Production Companies | China Film Group Corporation, Media Asia Films, Stellar Megamedia, Jiangsu Broadcasting System, Chuan Production Film Studio |
| Runtime | 2h 12m |
| Release Date | April 22, 2009 |
| IMDb | tt1124052 |
| Official Site | www.cityoflifeanddeath.co.uk |