Five Girls and a Rope
(Qu jia nu)

This is a story about 5 young women who grow up together in a rural village in China, where women are considered worthless and men, masters of the house. Mingtao, the eldest is forced into a marriage against her will. Aiyue lives with her 70 year old grandmother whose birthday is being celebrated. Even the old woman can’t sit at the table with the men. Hexiang helps her sister-in-law elope with her secret lover. When they are caught, Hexiang can only watch helplessly. Guijuan visits her pregnant sister to help with the birth, but the labour is difficult and the family decides to save the life of the baby, a son, and let the mother die. Jinmei bas an aunt who goes mad because she is unable to bear a male child.
Having realised that one day each of them will meet a similar tragic fate, these five young women décidé to escape to “the Garden”, where women will not be exploited by men, and where they are allowed to lead their own lives, happily ever after. They choose a special day to visit the temple, tie themselves together with a rope, and head for “the Garden “. It is September 9, the day of the dead…