Shanghai Youth (2018): cast, story & where to watch

Released in 2018, Shanghai Youth is a documentary film directed by Wang Bing, running about 150 minutes.

What it’s about. Liming is a worker district close to Shanghai – the richest city in China. Every year, many young people leave their villages and move there. They are between 17 and 20, all from rural Yunnan Province, 2,500 km west, where the Yangtze River has its source. These young Yunnanese often live at their place of work, in dormitories, unsanitary rooms, or sometimes in small studios. Time and space to meet is missing them. So they communicate through QQ, MSN China. They live as adults but they are teenagers, and the unstable situation, economic pressures, geographical dispersion, burn their innocence and youth. Wang Bing will spend a year with them in Liming: at work, at home, on the Internet, every day of their professional, romantic, and friendly relations. At the end of the year he will follow them in the opposite direction to their province of origin, to be with their family and celebrate Chinese New Year.

Where to watch. In US you can stream it on Philo, YouTube TV, OVID and Fandor Amazon Channel and rent or buy it from Amazon Video and Apple TV Store. See the full, country-by-country breakdown on our where to watch Shanghai Youth page.

If you liked it. Fans of Shanghai Youth tend to enjoy One Direction: This Is Us, Burn the Stage: The Movie, BTS World Tour: Love Yourself - Japan Edition and Senna.