The films screenplay was based on the novel of the same name by Chinese author Mo Yan. In 2012, Mo Yan was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. The Swedish Academy awarded him the prize as an author "who with hallucinatory realism merges folk tales, history and the contemporary".
As of 2015. This is the first film of ten collaborations between director Zhang Yimou & actress Gong Li.
Yimou Zhang's directorial film debut.
Was awarded the Golden Bear award at the 1988 Berlin International Film Festival.