K-Drama 
Great acting from the cast, in particular, from the leads, in which this film was their acting debut. Shawn Dou was great as the hunky lead male (great smile!) and Zhou Dongyu was lovely as the naive lead female. My only gripe: the male lead character seemed to be a bit too perfect and angelic and it would have been nice to have some more dimension to his character.
Even though the film is set during the end of the Cultural Revolution, there isn't too much emphasis on politics. This is a pure love story at its best with the interactions between the main characters at the forefront.
The film also has amazing cinematography. The color palette isn't striking but there is a nice contrast between the village and the city landscapes.
Recommended for those who enjoy those simple and pure love stories.
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If You Are Alive, I Am Alive
Under the Hawthorn Tree looks almost deceptively simple, and that’s the trick. Set against the Cultural Revolution, it strips away what could have made it a standard melodramatic romance and leaves behind something painfully tender: a story of first love under political oppression. It follows two young people, Jing Qiu and Sun Jian Xin, who meet during this turbulent era and fall deeply, almost impossibly, in love. But the movie refuses to be a grand romance. It simply lets two kids like each other while history sits in the corner with its arms crossed.Director Zhang Yi Mou treats the Cultural Revolution as more than a historical backdrop. It is an invisible force shaping every part of the romance. Political fear, ideological control, and social suspicion become walls standing between Jing and Sun, making their bond feel both dangerous and fragile. A walk by the river or a shared bowl of food becomes a quiet act of rebellion, and every glance, brief touch, and stolen meeting carries monumental weight. They are experiencing first love under a microscope, constrained by poverty, social stigma, and watchful guardians.
That is why the movie's restraint is its greatest charm. Jing and Sun’s romance feels innocent because it is allowed to grow slowly. They are not a perfectly compatible couple from the start. Jing is cautious, inexperienced, and constantly worried about what her mother and society might think. Sun is more confident and playful, yet his affection is remarkably patient. He understands her fear of crossing boundaries and expresses his love through waiting. When holding hands becomes a major plot event, you realize how much the movie is asking you to feel with so little.
I’ll be honest, though. It did not win me over right away. The slow pace will feel either beautifully patient or painfully drawn out, depending on your tolerance for this kind of storytelling. As someone who likes a solid foundation before the feelings kick in, I found the early romance a little thin, and the occasional intertitles did not help. They move the story forward, but they also make parts of the movie feel like someone summarizing a memory instead of letting you live it. Then somewhere in the middle, it got me. I caught myself smiling at the screen like an idiot, and that was the moment I knew I was in trouble.
Trouble, because the movie plants warnings early. Many lines hint at what is to come, giving the story an ominously beautiful quality, like watching a candle burn in a room where you already know the wind is coming. I had some idea of Sun’s condition, yet watching him hide it from Jing and finally come clean still hit me with a wave of shock. Then he says this to her, lying quietly beside her, almost as if he is saying goodbye while urging her to keep living:
“If you are alive, I am alive. If you also die, I will truly be dead.”
It felt quietly devastating. And then comes the line that broke me:
“I cannot wait for you for one year and one month. I cannot wait for you until you are 25. But I have waited for you my whole life.”
Before he became ill, Sun had promised to wait for Jing, and in his own way he did, right to the end. He spent what remained of his life loving her. I cried at what could have been, at the future they were never given the chance to live. The tragedy is not simply that Sun dies, but that their love is cut short before it can become ordinary. The hawthorn tree sums up all of this perfectly. Named after a local legend about revolutionary blood staining its blossoms red, it becomes a symbol of endurance: a love trying to bloom in toxic soil. It represents something tender surviving in a world that gives it very little room to grow.
The performances give the movie its emotional honesty. They feel remarkably unpolished in the best way, bringing an everyday vulnerability that pulls you in. Zhou Dong Yu is wonderful as Jing because she never makes innocence feel artificial. I love her tiny reactions: the nervous glances, awkward smiles, embarrassment when Sun gets too close, and barely contained excitement whenever she knows she will see him. Jing can be stubborn and overly cautious, which makes her feel like a real person rather than a saint. She is a young woman trying to figure out love while carrying the weight of family expectations and political scrutiny.
Shawn Dou is equally compelling. Sun could easily have become a stereotypical perfect romantic hero, but the actor gives him a youthful awkwardness that makes his affection believable. He can be teasing one moment and deeply serious the next. Their chemistry never feels manufactured. It feels like two young people discovering love without quite knowing what to do with it, and that naturalness makes the later tragedy considerably harder to shake off. Though I have to say, for realism purposes, his perfect teeth are far from realistic considering his character and the conditions back then.
Jing’s mother deserves a mention too. She is easy to judge if you look at her only through the lens of romance, because she can seem like an obstacle deliberately placed in the story. But the more you consider the political climate, the more complicated her behavior becomes. She is not simply conservative. She is terrified of what could happen to her family if Jing is seen behaving improperly. I find that to be one of the movie's quieter achievements: the political system does not always need to appear on screen, because its pressure has already seeped into people's homes and relationships.
Visually, the movie adopts a muted, naturalistic style that mirrors the austerity of rural China in the 1970s. Greenery, modest interiors, and soft natural light create a sense of stillness, while the sweeping scenery contrasts with the emotional confinement the characters feel. Seemingly insignificant objects become sources of intimacy too. A basin, a light bulb, a piece of clothing, or two hands inching toward each other can suddenly matter more than an entire romantic speech.
What I find especially effective is the physical distance between Jing and Sun. They are repeatedly placed close enough to reveal their attraction but far enough apart to remind us they cannot behave like an ordinary young couple. They walk side by side without touching. They sit together with a careful gap between them. When they finally get closer, the moment feels enormous precisely because the movie made us wait for it. Intimacy does not have to be explicit to be powerful.
The music follows the same philosophy. Chen Qi Gang’s restrained score, with its romantic themes and traditional Chinese instrumental textures, complements the rural atmosphere without overwhelming it. More importantly, it knows when to step back. Silence, rustling leaves, and distant footsteps often do more emotional work. You are watching the actors, not listening to music desperately trying to make you cry.
The final act abandons some of the quiet realism of the earlier sections and leans harder into melodrama. I understand why some viewers might roll their eyes, but personally, I think it works. Its sentimentality feels earned by everything that came before. Jing and Sun never get the future they deserve, and the movie refuses to soften the jagged edges of history for the sake of a comforting resolution. By the end, the hawthorn tree is a monument to memory, sacrifice, and the love they were never allowed to fully possess.
What stays with me most is how the romance becomes a story about memory. A short stretch of happiness can remain with someone for decades, and first love can become almost mythical when it ends before it has the chance to become ordinary. It reminds me of the Japanese concept of mono no aware, the bittersweet awareness that beautiful things pass. Perhaps that is why the movie feels nostalgic even while we watch the characters experience everything for the first time. We are already looking back on something that has not yet finished happening.
Under the Hawthorn Tree is a poignant tale of young love crushed by the restrictions of the Cultural Revolution. It avoids cheap narrative tricks and finds its force in the quiet devastation of what might have been. It does not leave you thinking about how grandly these two people loved each other. It leaves you thinking about how little they needed to be happy, and how cruel it is that even that little could not be guaranteed. Some love stories break your heart because the people in them were never meant to be together. This one breaks it because, for a brief and beautiful moment, they were, and the world still found a way to take it back.
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Likes
- pure, simple love story that is just so beautiful
- lots of feels, so many feels, watch for all the feels.
Easy to follow, beautiful, heartbreaking love story. Shawn Dou is also cute. Watch it, and if you read the book let me know how it compares!
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One of my fav movies!
Okay, so this is a Zhang Yimou film so you should already have high expectations and this one absolutely delivered! The main leads' love story is so sweet and tragic. I cried so much it was insane. When she realizes he does really care for her because they spent the night together and when she didn't want to have sex he was perfectly content with just holding her in his arms.One of the things I wanted to touch on is Zhou Dongyu's acting. I first saw her in Sparrow 麻雀 and honestly I felt her character was so whiney and the fake crying was just really bad. I think this is where having a good director and a good script really pulls its weight. Her acting was so good and when she cried it was really believable.
I will leave it at that because you should really watch it for yourself!
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A movie that released 14 years ago, yet the sentiment lives on like the fresh blooming of a hawthorn flower. My nature has scarce attachments to true-story films, but I stumbled upon this film out of boredom. I wanted to feel something, something new. A few things bothered me at first: there was barely any background music, the lighting was dark, and the slow pacing inclined my impatience to check the timestamps every 10 minutes. These impressions all dispersed in an instant by the hands of the plot's historical and emotional insightfulness. Sun and Jing's love story gave us a glimpse at life during China's cultural revolution movement. I harbored little memory of it from my history course, but my eyes have truly been opened to just how scant their freedom was. Having an opinion could put you in jail or under probation. One wrong move, thinking of a future is the last thing people think of. Everyone sacrifices a bit of their humaneness just to see a tomorrow. But ironically, humans will still yearn ways to stay human. I was at the edge of seat watching Jing and Sun's love story unfold. My heart especially goes for two scenes. First, the scene where Sun cuts his arm so Jing could receive medical care on her foot. The show initially displayed wholesome interactions between the two, so imagine my surprise when I watched this guy start to bleed quite a lot just for a girl he had met recently. Secondly, the ending. Sun dies of leukemia. I cannot tell you how tearjerking this was. He stuck a photo they took together previously up on the ceiling before his last breaths. His body was pale and inhumane, yet he shed his last tear after hearing Jing's voice. It was an ending I never expected, but still realistic considering the medical knowledge they had back then. One last note: I really admired the touch of characterism they gave for Sun's mother. How before she ended her own life, she wanted die looking pretty. It meant his mother cared about her reputation, but I guess it was just too unbearable at some point. Overall, I think all walks of life should watch Under the Hawthorn Tree once in their life. It reminds us of our roots. Even if you may not share the culture, the message remains universal: to realise gratitude for the freedom we swim in everyday, which was unfortunately something Sun and Jing never had. Was this review helpful to you?
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deeply hurt
This movie is largely about a young couple who don’t think much about their future, which makes sense because they are so young. They fall in love quickly, and their love feels so pure and genuine. I was deeply moved and sad after watching this drama—it stayed with me for almost a month. Listening to the OST afterward made it even more heartbreaking and emotional. Even seeing TikTok edits of them can make me tear up because of how this movie reminds me that life is so unpredictable. This movie is truly amazing.Was this review helpful to you?
MASTERPIECE
I've been putting off watching this movie for quite some time but it's the best movie of my life. I've seen several similar films, but none have affected me this much.But this movie is a masterpiece, it's more than just a masterpiece.
Every second of this movie was perfect😭❤️
The actors were incredible too. These roles suit them very well.
Their love is simply unbeatable, it was so cute and charming!🥹
I love it so much but I'm not sure I'm gonna to rewatch it someday because I'll cry even harder🥲💔
I want to erase my memory and watch it again.😭
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A Love That Gently Breaks You: Under the Hawthorn Tree
Watching Under the Hawthorn Tree was a deeply moving experience. The performances by Zhou Dongyu and Shawn Dou were absolutely phenomenal — there’s nothing to criticize. Their appearances suited the characters so perfectly. Shawn Dou especially stood out with his warm, honest smile and bright, youthful eyes — he embodied the kind-hearted, genuine boy that Sun Jianxin was meant to be. His presence was both beautiful and quietly powerful.The cinematography and direction were simple, but that simplicity worked in the film’s favor. The framing, the stillness, the restrained camera — everything felt intimate and sincere. The director did a brilliant job bringing subtle emotions to life.
This is the only Chinese romance film that has made me cry this much — and not just quietly tearing up, but sobbing. The scene where Jing Qiu and Sun lie together in bed, talking softly, was unforgettable. Sun tells Jing Qiu that one day she’ll have a child, she’ll be a mother, a grandmother. Jing Qiu asks, “What about you?” and he says, “If you live well, then I live well too.” That broke me. I cried. And when the final scenes came, I couldn’t hold it back anymore — I cried out loud.
Their love story was “just enough” — never overdone, never exaggerated. It felt real. It was tender, grounded, and delicately portrayed. I especially loved how Sun loved Jing Qiu — in every little way. How he couldn’t help but sneak out with her behind her mother’s back. And then, when Jing Qiu finally tells him she’s thought it through, that she’s ready to do whatever he wants — Sun, like any man deeply in love, of course wants to take that step. And it was one of the rare moments of raw honesty that Chinese romance films don’t often portray — that desire rooted in love. But then… he sees she’s not quite ready, and he stops. He respects her. That moment felt so human, so gentle, and so powerful.
Sun’s love for Jing Qiu was quiet, careful, respectful, and utterly genuine. Even in his final days, he gazes at the photo of them that he’d taped to the hospital wall — clinging to that last thread of love.
Sun passed away. And Jing Qiu would go on with her life. Life must go on. No matter how beautiful or tragic a love story is, it too will sink into the river — just like the hawthorn tree, and the land where they first met.
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