China Ju Dou is a China–Japan co-production — one of only a handful of such cross-border film titles indexed here.
Synopsis
菊豆
“An Erotic Tale of Forbidden Passion.”
A woman married to the brutal and infertile owner of a dye mill in rural China conceives a boy with her husband's nephew but is forced to raise her son as her husband's heir without revealing his parentage in this circular tragedy. Filmed in glowing technicolour, this tale of romantic and familial love in the face of unbreakable tradition is more universal than its setting.
China × Japan Co-Production
Other China×Japan titles
Titles With Overlapping Themes
Films and series that share thematic tags with Ju Dou. Number on each card indicates how many keywords overlap.
Other Titles From China Film Co-Production Corporation
The 1990s China Landscape
Ju Dou premiered in 1990 — a quieter year for China cinema with only 2 titles in our catalog. The 1990s overall landed 41 films and series across 10 years of activity.
Position in Catalog
The 34th China title from China we index (earliest catalogued entry: 1935).
Our China catalog contains 946 titles in total (747 films).
Audience Engagement
127 audience reviews — more than 80% of China films in our index.
Popularity sits at the 72th percentile among China films.
Thematic Fingerprint
Tags on Ju Dou, grouped by how common each theme is across the full Asian catalog. Rare tags are more distinctive signals.
- drowning · 5
- illicit love · 3
- spouse abuse · 1
- patricide · 1
- technicolor · 1
- adultery · 20
- accidental death · 11
- sadism · 9
- modern china · 7
- abuse · 7
- murder · 155
Reception Benchmarks
Ranked #243 of 946 China films indexed here (74th percentile by TMDB audience score).
Rating is +0.6 points above the China average of 6.7/10.
Among China Drama productions specifically: #156 of 547 (top 29%).
Production Details
| Primary Country | China |
|---|---|
| All Production Countries | China, Japan |
| Original Language | Chinese |
| Production Companies | China Film Co-Production Corporation, Xi'an Film Studio |
| Runtime | 1h 35m |
| Release Date | April 21, 1990 |
| IMDb | tt0099902 |