In the 1980s, Master Jiaosan headed a suona ensemble, playing the suona at weddings and funerals. The local custom wants that the masterpiece of “Song of Phoenix” could only be played to well-respected persons during their funerals. Jiaosan’s apprentice You Tianming worked very hard and stood out to succeed Master Jiao with the suona ensemble. Jiao and You witnessed a lot of ups and downs in this musical form of suona. When fellow suona players were forced to make a living in the city as unskilled laborers, the ensemble finally broke up. However You Tianming stuck to his promise made to Mater Jiao and committed himself to the traditional art. When Master Jiao passed away, Tianming played “Song of the Phoenix” at his graveside to commemorate the noble and dignified life of Master Jiao.

29th Golden Rooster Award-Grand Jury Prize

Director: Tianming Wu. He was the director of Xi 'an Film Studio and trained zhang Yimou, Chen Kaige, Gu Changwei and other fifth-generation directors. His film “Old Well” won the 8th Golden Rooster Award for Best Feature film in 1988, the 11th Hundred Flowers Award for Feature Film, the 2nd Tokyo International Film Festival Feature Film Award, the 7th Hawaii International Film Festival Jury Special Award, and the leading actor Zhang Yimou also won the Best Actor award in the Tokyo International Film Festival for this film. "Opera Face" won the Best Co-production and best Director awards at the Tokyo International Film Festival in 1995. Wu Tianming died of a heart attack in Beijing on March 4, 2014. “Song of the Phoenix” is his last film he directed.

Length: 107 mins

Cast: Zeru Tao, Mincheng Li

Genre: Drama

Language：Mandarin with English subtitle