Until seeing Mabel Cheung's "Song jia huang chao" ("The Soong Sisters" in English), I had never even heard of the Soong sisters. The movie does a really good job focusing on their childhood leading to the establishment of the Republic of China, and then the sisters' associations with important figures in China's history. Ching-ling (Maggie Cheung) married Sun Yat-sen, May-ling (Vivian Wu) married Chiang Kai-shek, and Ai-ling (Michelle Yeoh) married H. H. Kung, although his role is minimized. Large portions of the movie seem to be about the visuals, as we see the elegant setting in which the sisters grew up.<br /><br />The film came out the same year that Hong Kong got returned to China, so it might have had the aim of getting the two off to a good start. Of course, they had to include lines very favorable to the PRC, namely: "Before, we were slaves of old China. Now, we are slaves of slaves of old China." Overall, this one could appropriately accompany a showing of Steven Spielberg's "Empire of the Sun". I certainly recommend it. Also starring Winston Chao, Hsing-kuo Wu, Zhenhua Niu, Elaine Jin and Wen Jiang.