Rainer called the film an "uncommon, and uncommonly moving, love story", and Film Journal Internationals Kevin Lally described it as "a poignant story of poverty and spirit reminiscent of the great Italian neo-realists." Another well-received part of the film was the segment in which Wei teaches math by creating practical examples out of her attempt to raise money for the bus to Zhangjiakou; in the Chinese journal Teacher Doctrines, Mao Wen wrote that teachers should learn from Wei's example and provide students with practical exercises. Wei Minzhi's character received mixed reactions: Scott described her as a "heroic" character who demonstrates how obstinacy can be a virtue, whereas Richard Corliss of Time says she is "no brighter or more resourceful than [her students]". Reactions to the city portion of the movie were also mixed: while Zhang describes the second half of the film as an eloquent commentary on China's urban-rural divide and Kevin Lally calls it "startling", Kemp criticizes it for being a predictable "Victorian cliché". Box office and release Rights to distribute the film were purchased by the China Film Group Corporation, a state-sponsored organization, and the government actively promoted the film. It was officially released in mainland China in , although there were showings as early as mid-February. Sheldon H. Lu reports that the film grossed ¥18 million, an average amount, in its first three months of showing; by the end of its run in November, it sold ¥40 million at the box office. (In comparison, Zhang's 2002 film Hero would earn ¥270 million three years later.) Nevertheless, Not One Less was the highest-grossing domestic film of 1999, and Laikwan Pang has called it a "box office success". In the United States, the film was released in theaters on 2000, and grossed $50,256 in its first weekend and $592,586 overall; The release was handled by Sony Pictures Classics, and home video distribution by Columbia TriStar; Not One Less was Columbia's first Chinese film. Lu warns that domestic box office sales are not reliable indicators of a film's popularity in mainland China, because of piracy and because of state or social group sponsorship; many workers were given free tickets to promote the film, and a 1999 report claimed that more tickets were purchased by the government than by individuals. The film was more popular than most government-promoted films touting the party line and Lu claims that it had "tremendous social