title: King of the Children
text: # King of the Children
  
  King of the Children (Chinese: 孩子王; pinyin: Háizǐ Wáng) is a 1987 drama film directed by Chen Kaige and starring Chen Shaohua. The film was based on a novella of the same name by Ah Cheng. The film competed for the Palme D'Or at the 1988 Cannes Film Festival.
  
  ## Plot
  
  A young man is sent to teach at a rural school in a poverty stricken area of Yunnan province.
  
  ## Cast
  
  * Chen Shaohua
  * Xie Yuan
  * Yang Xuewen
  
  ## Reception
  
  King of the Children received a highly positive review in Time Out, where a reviewer wrote, “There are echoes here of a film like Padre Padrone, but Chen's film is completely free of flabby humanist sentimentality. [...] By Chinese standards, this is film-making brave to the point of being visionary. By any standards, this follow-up to Yellow Earth and The Big Parade is also something like a masterpiece.”
  
  