Shanghai Triad (Yao a yao yao dao waipo qiao)

Shanghai Triad (Yao a yao yao dao waipo qiao) takes place in a ritzy town in Shanghai in the early 1930s. The movie starts out with Uncle Liu (played by Xuejian Li) travels back to Shanghai with his young cousin, Shuisheng (played by Wang Xiaoxiao), so that the boy could come and work for 'Boss' (played by Baotian Li), who's the leader of an empire full of drugs. Shuisheng is only a mere country boy, (thanks to Uncle 6th) who becomes fascinated and intrigued by the extreme wealth that he finds himself surrounded in. His only job is to be Xiao Jingbao's (played by Li Gong) personal assisstant. She's 'Boss' new mistress. As Shuisheng tries to get use to his new position so many things are happening around him that is beyond hi imagination. Xiao Jingbao is having sexual intercourse . Fat Yu has begun a war of gangs and 'Boss' suspect that someone in his gang is be untrustworthy.
In the first scene, Shuisheng is walking with a crowd of people, trying to get to the place where he is supposed to meet Uncle 6th. A truck passes him by, the driver backs up and out comes Uncle 6th. He looks up Shuisheng, from head to toe, embraces hi and tell him that he hasn't seen him since he was a little boy. While Uncle 6th was sitting inside the truck with the rest of the gang, Shuisheng had to hide in the back of the truck, covered with a blanket, so that where they were going, no one would see him and expect him to be there. Finally they reached their destination. When Shuisheng uncovered himself and tried to get out, uncle told him to stay in the truck, for he did not want him to know what was happening. Uncle and the gang walked up a ramp, headed to the place that they were going, found whoever they were looking for and killed him. Then they returned to the truck and drove away. Unfortunately, Shuisheng had to witness such injustice.
As they were riding back to Uncle's house, Uncle was telling Shuisheng all that he needed to know about the type of business that he's about to get into. He explain to him what to do, how to do it, how to greet people, and what not to do. He even explain to him how he was supposed to conduct himself around 'Boss' and all of his other goons. Uncle told him that his only job was to be Xiao Jingbao's (a.k.a Miss) little errand boy.
Later in the film, uncle took Shuisheng to this very high-class club for gangsters. As they were sitting at a table, uncle told Shuisheng that he will show him which girl was Miss. The entertainment got underway with the dancing girls already on stage, performing in front of the crowd. And as soon as Miss started to sing, uncle pointed her out to him. Uncle started to insult her. He said things about her that were so true. He even called her a slut. Shuisheng was so fascinated by it all. especially Miss. After the show was over, they both went back stage for Shuisheng to be introduced to his new employer. There she was, sitting in front of her mirror, looking at everything that's in the room. She called for one of her girls to come over here and give her the money that she was hiding in her bra. Miss was pretty nasty to her. She said that she doesn't like to break the rules. Even though she gave her back the money, she treated her like dirt and told the girl to get loss. After she was done humiliating that poor girl, She called Shuisheng over, looked him over, and asked him to give her light for her cigarette. Naturally, he felt so awkward that he dropped the lighter by mistake and bowed his head. When she asked him had he ever slept with a girl before, he said that he slept with his mother when he was just a little boy. The moment she asked that, I'm thinking this woman wants to sleep with this kid. Obviously, she was just playing around with his head.
In one the final scenes, Shuisheng and the little girl were playing and having fun around a pond. Miss walks up to the little girl and asks her what she wanted to be when she grew up. And the little girl said that she wanted to be just like Miss. She also asked the little girl if she knew any songs. She said that she knew just one. And when Miss heard the little girl singing, she said her grandmother used to sing it to her when she was a little girl. To me, each time Miss would spend a little time or even look at the little girl, her heart would start to change. The little girl was a reminder on how Miss used to be when she was that young. I bet in the back of her mind, she was saying that she miss being a little girl.
The final scene was a little shocking. Shuisheng was hung upside down, while 'Boss' is sitting there lying to her about her mother and Miss, along with telling her that he is going to make her just like Miss. He was literally saying that he is going to turn this poor little girl into his very own prostitute. I think that was a very awful thing to say to a little girl. Now that's a dirty old man. All in all, everything about the film was well done and the story line was well thought out and written.