Sort by Popularity - Most Popular Movies and TV Shows tagged with keyword "japanese-occupation-of-china"
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1. Empire of the Sun (1987)
PG | 153 min | Drama, War
A young English boy struggles to survive under Japanese occupation of China during World War II.
Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Christian Bale, John Malkovich, Miranda Richardson, Nigel Havers
Votes: 134,344 | Gross: $22.24M
2. The Last Emperor (1987)
PG-13 | 163 min | Biography, Drama, History
Bernardo Bertolucci's Oscar-winning dramatisation of the life story of China's last emperor, Pu Yi.
Director: Bernardo Bertolucci | Stars: John Lone, Joan Chen, Peter O'Toole, Ruocheng Ying
Votes: 111,535 | Gross: $43.98M
3. Ip Man (2008)
R | 106 min | Action, Biography, Drama
During the Japanese invasion of China, a wealthy martial artist is forced to leave his home when his city is occupied. With little means of providing for themselves, Ip Man and the remaining members of the city must find a way to survive.
Director: Wilson Yip | Stars: Donnie Yen, Simon Yam, Siu-Wong Fan, Ka-Tung Lam
Votes: 233,627
4. Lust, Caution (2007)
NC-17 | 157 min | Drama, History, Romance
During World War II era, a young woman, Wang Jiazhi, gets swept up in a dangerous game of emotional intrigue with a powerful political figure, Mr. Yee.
Director: Ang Lee | Stars: Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Tang Wei, Joan Chen, Leehom Wang
Votes: 45,532 | Gross: $4.60M
5. Farewell My Concubine (1993)
R | 171 min | Drama, Music, Romance
Two boys meet at an opera training school in Peking in 1924. Their resulting friendship will span nearly 70 years and endure some of the most troublesome times in China's history.
Director: Kaige Chen | Stars: Leslie Cheung, Fengyi Zhang, Gong Li, You Ge
Votes: 33,167 | Gross: $5.22M
6. Man Behind the Sun (1988)
Not Rated | 105 min | Drama, History, Horror
Japanese troops round up Chinese and Russian prisoners of war and take them to unit 731, where they're horribly tortured and experimented on to test new biological weapons.
Director: Tun-Fei Mou | Stars: Gang Wang, Dai Yao Wu, Runshen Wang, Zhe Quan
Votes: 7,281
7. The Flowers of War (2011)
R | 146 min | Drama, History, Romance
An American finds refuge during the 1937 Japanese invasion of Nanking in a church with a group of women. Posing as a priest, he attempts to lead the women to safety.
Director: Yimou Zhang | Stars: Christian Bale, Ni Ni, Xinyi Zhang, Tianyuan Huang
Votes: 55,731 | Gross: $0.01M
8. The Grandmaster (2013)
PG-13 | 130 min | Action, Biography, Drama
The story of martial-arts master Ip Man, the man who trained Bruce Lee.
Director: Kar-Wai Wong | Stars: Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Ziyi Zhang, Jin Zhang, Chang Chen
Votes: 36,797 | Gross: $6.59M
9. City of Life and Death (2009)
R | 133 min | Drama, History, War
In 1937, Japan occupied Nanjing, the Chinese capital. There was a battle and subsequent atrocities against the inhabitants, especially those who took refuge in the International Security Zone.
Director: Chuan Lu | Stars: Ye Liu, Wei Fan, Hideo Nakaizumi, Yuanyuan Gao
Votes: 11,720 | Gross: $0.12M
10. The Human Condition I: No Greater Love (I) (1959)
Not Rated | 208 min | Drama, History, War
A Japanese pacifist, unable to face the dire consequences of conscientious objection, is transformed by his attempts to compromise with the demands of war-time Japan.
Director: Masaki Kobayashi | Stars: Tatsuya Nakadai, Michiyo Aratama, Chikage Awashima, Ineko Arima
Votes: 9,362
11. Shanghai (2010)
R | 105 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
A '40s period piece which revolves around an American expat who returns to Shanghai in the months before Pearl Harbor due to the death of his friend.
Director: Mikael Håfström | Stars: John Cusack, Gong Li, Chow Yun-Fat, David Morse
Votes: 10,340 | Gross: $0.04M
12. In Harm's Way (2017)
Not Rated | 97 min | History, Romance, War
After Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor Dec. 7, 1941, USA bombs Tokyo to boost morale. A pilot survives thanks to a Chinese woman's help.
Director: Bille August | Stars: Liu Yifei, Emile Hirsch, Shaoqun Yu, Cary Woodworth
Votes: 1,646 | Gross: $0.03M
13. The Human Condition III: A Soldier's Prayer (1961)
Not Rated | 190 min | Drama, History, War
His ideals challenged by life as a conscript in war-time Japan's military, a pacifist faces ever greater tests in his fight for survival.
Director: Masaki Kobayashi | Stars: Tatsuya Nakadai, Michiyo Aratama, Tamao Nakamura, Yûsuke Kawazu
Votes: 7,335
14. Da hong zha (2018)
R | 96 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
During World War II, five different Chinese people fight their way through Japanese Air Force attacks to protect an important military machine in Chongqing, 1940.
Director: Xiao Feng | Stars: Ye Liu, Bruce Willis, Song Seung-heon, William Chan
Votes: 4,791
15. Devils on the Doorstep (2000)
139 min | Comedy, Drama, War
Villagers in World War II China are unsure what to do with the two enemy prisoners who have been left in their care.
Director: Wen Jiang | Stars: Wen Jiang, Kenya Sawada, Hongbo Jiang, Teruyuki Kagawa
Votes: 8,617 | Gross: $0.02M
16. John Rabe (2009)
134 min | Biography, Drama, History
A true-story account of a German businessman who saved more than 200,000 Chinese during the Nanjing massacre in 1937-38.
Director: Florian Gallenberger | Stars: Ulrich Tukur, Daniel Brühl, Steve Buscemi, Anne Consigny
Votes: 6,744 | Gross: $0.07M
17. The Children of Huang Shi (2008)
R | 125 min | Drama, War
About young British journalist, George Hogg, who with the assistance of a courageous Australian nurse, saves a group of orphaned children during the Japanese occupation of China in 1937.
Director: Roger Spottiswoode | Stars: Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Radha Mitchell, Chow Yun-Fat, Michelle Yeoh
Votes: 9,985 | Gross: $1.03M
18. The Human Condition II: Road to Eternity (II) (1959)
Not Rated | 181 min | Drama, History, War
As a conscript in war-time Japan's military, a pacifist struggles to maintain his determination to keep his ideals.
Director: Masaki Kobayashi | Stars: Tatsuya Nakadai, Michiyo Aratama, Kokinji Katsura, Jun Tatara
Votes: 7,506
19. On Wings of Eagles (2016)
PG-13 | 108 min | Biography, Drama, History
Eric Liddell - China's first gold medalist and one of Scotland's greatest athletes - returns to war-torn China.
Directors: Stephen Shin, Michael Parker | Stars: Joseph Fiennes, Jesse Kove, Bruce Locke, Shawn Dou
Votes: 1,146
20. Nanking (2007)
R | 88 min | Biography, History, War
Through readings of historical account by actors and the testimony of survivors, the events of the Nanjing Massacre are recounted.
Directors: Bill Guttentag, Dan Sturman | Stars: Hugo Armstrong, Rosalind Chao, Stephen Dorff, John Getz
Votes: 3,589 | Gross: $0.16M
21. Back to 1942 (2012)
Not Rated | 145 min | Drama, History, War
A deadly drought in 1942 takes its toll on central China's Henan province during the war against Japan.
Director: Xiaogang Feng | Stars: Guoli Zhang, Hanyu Zhang, Wei Fan, Yuanzheng Feng
Votes: 3,731 | Gross: $0.31M
22. Railroad Tigers (2016)
TV-PG | 124 min | Action, Adventure, Comedy
A railroad worker in China in 1941 leads a team of freedom fighters against the Japanese in order to get food for the poor.
Director: Sheng Ding | Stars: Jackie Chan, Jaycee Chan, Zitao Huang, Kai Wang
Votes: 4,900 | Gross: $0.22M
23. The Message (2009)
118 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
Following a series of assassination attempts on officials of the Japanese-controlled puppet government in 1942 Nanjingn (Nanking), the Japanese spy chief gathers a group of suspects in a ... See full summary »
Directors: Kuo-Fu Chen, Qunshu Gao | Stars: Xun Zhou, Bingbing Li, Hanyu Zhang, Xiaoming Huang
Votes: 4,222
24. Eternal Wave (2017)
100 min | Action, Drama
The year was 1930, when Shanghai is known as the Paris of the East with a thriving economy. However, behind the glamorous songs and dances, cruelty and terror gets out of control. From the ... See full summary »
Director: Siu-Hung Chung | Stars: Aaron Kwok, Zanilia Zhao, Hans Zhang, Simon Yam
Votes: 128
25. Rookie Agent Rouge (2016)
43 min | Action, History
Can a young woman prove her loyalty to her country and her family? Lan Yan Zhi (Zhao Li Ying) is a privileged banker's daughter in Shanghai and a student activist who mistakenly comes into ... See full summary »
Stars: Zanilia Zhao, Xin-ran Tao, Yi Lu, Wenkang Yuan
Votes: 59
26. The Little House (2014)
136 min | Drama, Romance
A woman looks back on her family's life in Tokyo before and during WWII. A maid arrives from the countryside to work for an upper middle class family. She fits in well, but everyone's emotions are stirred up with the arrival of a student.
Director: Yôji Yamada | Stars: Takako Matsu, Haru Kuroki, Isao Hashizume, Kazuko Yoshiyuki
Votes: 1,455
27. Battle of Changsha (2014– )
History, Romance, War
Set during the ill-fated Anti-Japanese war between 1938 and 1945. Xiang Xiang, a fun ordinary 16 yr old girl and Gu Qing Ming, a strict Intelligence Officer in the Nationalist Army start off on bad terms, however romance begins to blossom.
Stars: Wallace Huo, Zi Yang, Muye Kuang, Lu Liu
Votes: 251
28. The Disguiser (2015)
40 min | Action, Drama, History
Story of resistance, espionage, familial ties, friendship and romance in the Japanese-occupied Shanghai.
Stars: Ge Hu, Kai Wang, Mintao Liu, Dong Jin
Votes: 469
29. Purple Butterfly (2003)
R | 127 min | Drama, History, War
Cynthia is a young Chinese woman in love with Itami, a Japanese man about to be sent home for military service.
Director: Ye Lou | Stars: Ziyi Zhang, Tôru Nakamura, Ye Liu, Yuanzheng Feng
Votes: 1,344 | Gross: $0.02M
30. Don't Cry, Nanking (1995)
120 min | Drama, History, War
In December 1937, during the Second Japanese-Sino War, a Chinese doctor, his Japanese pregnant wife, their teenage daughter and their young son travel from Shanghai to Nanjing seeking ... See full summary »
Director: Ziniu Wu | Stars: Han Chin, Ai Saotome, Rene Liu, Tao Bai
Votes: 273
31. Sparrow (2016)
45 min | Drama, Romance, War
A CCP spy coded "Sparrow" and his colleagues fight Japanese and agency of puppet government in Shanghai during WWII.
Stars: Yifeng Li, Dongyu Zhou, Luyi Zhang, Ruoyun Zhang
Votes: 58
32. The Battle of China (1944)
Not Rated | 65 min | Documentary, History, War
The Official World War II US Government account of Chinese defense against Japanese aggression.
Directors: Frank Capra, Anatole Litvak | Stars: Claire Chennault, Kai-Shek Chiang, Madame Chiang, Teh Chu
Votes: 805
33. The Bloody Battle of Taierzhuang (1986)
120 min | War
The Chinese army stops the Japanese army in 1938 at Suzhou.
Director: Guangyuan Yang | Stars: Yaming Ge, Hengduo Zao, Junjie Zhai
Votes: 181
34. Purple Mountain (2008)
Drama, History
Personal accounts from the Japanese occupation of Eastern China during the 1930s when many innocent civilians were slaughtered by the Japanese military. Based on Iris Chang's "The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II".
Star: Michelle Yeoh
Votes: 70
35. The Resistance (2011)
PG | 89 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
In a time of war, when occupation turns to genocide, one woman choose resistance over death and takes on the empire of Japan.
Director: Peng Zhang Li | Stars: Lingmeng Hu, Peng Zhang Li, Jeremy Marr Williams, Zhang Xiao Hua
Votes: 1,157
36. East Wind Rain (2010)
116 min | Drama, War
The story of spies working for different countries attempting to decode coded weather forecasts.
Director: Yunlong Liu | Stars: Yunlong Liu, Bingbing Fan, Xiaoran Li, Takayuki Takemoto
Votes: 130
37. The Hundred Regiments Offensive (2015)
111 min | War
The Japanese has invaded far into china, defeating the Kuomintang (KMT) soldiers many times and pushing them back into Central China. There was a general sentiment among anti-Japanese ... See full summary »
Directors: Haiqiang Ning, Yuzhong Zhang | Stars: Guoqiang Tang, Wufu Wang, Zeru Tao, Zhibing Liu
Votes: 113
38. Peace Hotel (2018– )
Crime, Drama
The play tells the story of the Japanese occupation of Northeast China in 1935. The civil patriarch Wang Daitou and returned overseas Chinese Dr. Chen Jiaying penetrated the enemy and destroyed the Japanese bacteria laboratory.
Stars: Hui Tao, Karl Dominik, Yan Zhang, Jiayin Lei
Votes: 45
39. The Eyes of Dawn (2014)
92 min | War, History
Director: Bruce Le | Stars: Pei-Pei Cheng, Kenneth Tsang, Marsha Yuen
41. Tie Zai Shao (2015– )
45 min | Action, History, Romance
Ge Shisan, Chang Erkuan and Chou Wa are three people with distinct life experiences and different personalities. They are hot-blooded ordinary soldiers of Northwest Army. They get together ... See full summary »
42. Chen xiaojie de senlin (2023)
40 min | Animation, Short
Leave or stay? Director Denis Do takes us on an existential quest through the generations of a single family shaken by 200 years of Chinese history. A deeply humanistic family chronicle.
Director: Denis Do | Stars: Christophe Tek, Alexandre Ceu, Frédéric Chau, Guy Chea
Votes: 20
44.
Modern Marvels (1993– )
Episode:
The Great Wall of China
(1997)
TV-14 | 46 min | Documentary, History
The Great Wall of China mirrors China's turbulent history. Over two millenia the Chinese built, expanded or demolished parts of the wall in response to interstate rivalry, civil war, threat... See full summary »
Star: Earl Boen
Votes: 38
45.
The World at War (1973–1974)
Episode:
Banzai! Japan 1931-1942
(1973)
TV-PG | 52 min | Documentary, History, War
The rise of the Japanese Empire, the Sino-Japanese War, the Soviet-Japanese border conflicts, Pearl Harbor, and the early Japanese successes in the Battle of Malaya and Battle of Singapore.
Stars: Laurence Olivier, Tomohiko Ushiba, Kôichi Kido, Lewis Bush
Votes: 462
46.
World War II in Colour (2009)
Episode:
The Island War
(2009)
TV-MA | 51 min | Documentary, History, War
The Marines succeed in the "island hopping" strategy against suicidal resistance. The US Navy establishes supremacy, cutting off Japan. Re-capturing the Phillipines and Burma is costly, but now Japan is fully in the defensive.
Stars: Robert Powell, Douglas MacArthur, Chester W. Nimitz, Hideki Tôjô
Votes: 211
47.
Dark Docs (2020– )
Episode:
Japan's Most Desperate WW2 Attempt to Destroy the US Air Forces
(2022)
14 min | Documentary, History
Rapidly losing control of the Pacific and aware of United States' plans to attack its home islands from airbases in China, Japan launches a massive effort to complete it's conquest of China.
48.
How to Lose a War (2023)
Episode:
Conquering Heroes
(2023)
Documentary, History, War
Explore how the Axis Powers' ruthless, brutal occupation and exploitation of other countries contributed to their demise.
Director: Tim Bosanquet | Stars: Alexander Henry, Sandra Wilson, Ken Kotani, Gregg Huff
49.
Military Masterminds (2022)
Episode:
Guerrilla Warfare
(2022)
52 min | Documentary, History, War
Looking at how Mao Zedong, Fidel Castro, Josip Broz Tito and Võ Nguyên Giáp used Guerrilla Warfare to overcome a militarily superior enemy.
Director: Roberto Irwin | Stars: Eric Y. Shibuya, Eric Gomez, James Rogers, William Leogrande