Golden Rooster Awards
The Golden Rooster Awards are annual film awards given in mainland China. Established in 1981, the awards are co-sponsored by the China Film Association and the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles.
The name of the award came from the year of the Rooster in 1981. Award recipients receive a statuette in the shape of a golden rooster, and are selected by a jury of filmmakers, film experts, and film historians. The awards are the Chinese equivalent to the American Academy Awards.
Originally, Golden Roosters were only available to mainland Chinese nominees, but in 2005, the awards opened up the acting categories to actors from Taiwan, Hong Kong, and elsewhere in an effort to compete with Taiwan's Golden Horse Awards. Films in the past two years are eligible for the Golden Rooster awards since 2007.
The Golden Rooster and Hundred Flowers Awards have taken place on alternate years since 2005, with the Golden Rooster taking place on odd years. In 1992, the Golden Rooster and the Hundred Flowers Awards were combined into a single national festival.
Awards categories
- Best Picture
- Best Director
- Best Actor
- Best Actress
- Best Supporting Actor
- Best Supporting Actress
- Best Writing
- Best Directorial Debut
- Best Cinematographer
- Best Editor
- Best Sound
- Best Art Director
- Best Score
- Best TV Film
- Best Documentary
- Best Animation
- Lifetime Achievement Award
Award winners
| Time | Year | Category | Award winners / winners |
| 1 | 1981 | Best Picture Best Director Best Writing Best Actor Best Actress | “Evening Rain”, “Legend of Tianyun Mountain” Xie Jin - “Legend of Tianyun Mountain” Ye Nan - “Evening Rain” N/A Zhang Yu - “Evening Rain” |
| 2 | 1982 | Best Picture Best Director Best Writing Best Actor Best Actress | “Neighbor” Cheng Yin - “The Xi'an Incident” Zhang Xian - “Corner Left Unnoticed by Love” Zhang Yan - “Laughs at Moon Bar” Li Xiuming - “Xu Mao and His Daughters” |
| 3 | 1983 | Best Picture Best Director Best Writing Best Actor Best Actress | “At Middle Age”, “Rickshaw Boy” Wu Yigong - “My Memories of Old Beijing” N/A N/A Pan Hong - “At Middle Age”, Siqin Gaowa - “Rickshaw Boy” |
| 4 | 1984 | Best Picture Best Director Best Writing Best Actor Best Actress | “Voice From Hometown” Tang Xiaodan - “Liao Zhongkai” N/A Dong Xingji - “Liao Zhongkai”, Yang Zaibao - “Blood is Always Hot” Gong Xue - “Under The Bridge” |
| 5 | 1985 | Best Picture Best Director Best Writing Best Actor Best Actress | “The Girl in Red” Ling Zifeng - “The Border Town” Li Zhun, Li Cunbao - “Wreaths at the Foot of the Mountain” Lu Xiaohe - “Wreaths at the Foot of the Mountain” Li Ling - “Girl from Mt. Huangshan” |
| 6 | 1986 | Best Picture Best Director Best Writing Best Actor Best Actress | “In The Wild Mountains” Yan Xueshu - “In The Wild Mountains” Cao Yu, Wan Fang - “Sunrise” Liu Zifeng - “The Black Cannon Incident” Yue Hong - “In The Wild Mountains” |
| 7 | 1987 | Best Picture Best Director Best Writing Best Actor Best Actress | “Hibiscus Town”, “Dr. Sun Yat-sen” Ding Yinnan - “Dr. Sun Yat-sen” Tian Junli, Fei Linjun - “The Bloody Battle of Taierzhuang” Liu Wenzhi - “Dr. Sun Yat-sen” Liu Xiaoqing - “Hibiscus Town” |
| 8 | 1988 | Best Picture Best Director Best Writing Best Actor Best Actress | “Old Well”, “Red Sorghum” Wu Tianming - “Old Well” Huang Shuqin, Li Ziyu, Song Guoxun - “Woman Demon Human” Zhang Yimou - “Old Well” Pan Hong - “Well” |
| 9 | 1989 | Best Picture Best Director Best Writing Best Actor Best Actress | N/A Wu Ziniu - “Evening Bell”, “Joyous Heroes”, “Between Life and Death” N/A Tao Zeru - “Evening Bell”, “Joyous Heroes”, Xie Yuan - “Chess King”, “Heavy Breathing” Xu Shouli - “Joyous Heroes”, “Between Life and Death” |
| 10 | 1990 | Best Picture Best Director Best Writing Best Actor Best Actress | “The Birth of New China” Li Qiankuan, Xiao Guiyun - “The Birth of New China”, Xie Tieli, Zhao Yun - A Dream of Red Mansions Zhang Tianmin, Zhang Xiaotian, Liu Xing, Guo Chen - “The Birth of New China” Lu Qi - “Baise Uprising” N/A |
| 11 | 1991 | Best Picture Best Director Best Writing Best Actor Best Actress | “Jiao Yulu” N/A N/A Li Xuejian - “Jiao Yulu” Xi Meijuan - “Leave Women the Truth” |
| 12 | 1992 | Best Picture Best Director Best Writing Best Actor Best Actress | “Decisive Engagement: The Liaoxi-Shenyang Campaign” Sun Zhou - “The True-Hearted”, Ensemble Directors - “Decisive Engagement: The Liaoxi-Shenyang Campaign” Huang Yazhou, Wang Tianyun - “The Creation of a World” Wang Tiecheng - “Zhou Enlai” Song Xiaoying - “Her Smile Through Candlelight” |
| 13 | 1993 | Best Picture Best Director Best Writing Best Actor Best Actress | “The Story of Qiu Ju” Xia Gang - “After Separation” Wang Xingdong - “The Scientist Jiang Zhuying” Ge You - “After Separation” Gong Li - “The Story of Qiu Ju” |
| 14 | 1994 | Best Picture Best Director Best Writing Best Actor Best Actress | “Country Teachers” He Ping - “Red Firecracker, Green Firecracker” Ju Sheng, Liu Xinglong, Bu Yangui - “Country Teachers” Li Baotian - “Country Teachers” Pan Hong - “Shanghai Fever” |
| 15 | 1995 | Best Picture Best Director Best Writing Best Actor Best Actress | “The Accused Uncle Shangang” Huang Jianxin, Yang Yazhou - “Back to Back, Face to Face” Bi Bicheng, Fan Yuan - “The Accused Uncle Shangang” Li Rentang - “The Accused Uncle Shangang” Ai Liya - “Ermo” |
| 16 | 1996 | Best Picture Best Director Best Writing Best Actor Best Actress | “Red Cherry” Wu Tianming - “The King of Masks” N/A Gao Ming - “Kong Fansen” Song Chunli - “Jiuxiang” |
| 17 | 1997 | Best Picture Best Director Best Writing Best Actor Best Actress | “The Opium War” Wei Lian - “The Big Change” Wang Xingdong - “The Days Without Lei Feng” Liu Peiqi - “The Days Without Lei Feng” Yu Hui - “Xi Lian” |
| 18 | 1998 | Best Picture Best Director Best Writing Best Actor Best Actress | “Settlement” Hu Bingliu - “Settlement”, Sai Fu, Mai Lisi - “Genghis Khan” Lu Zhuguo - “The Liberation of Southwest China” Feng Gong - “A Tree in House” Tao Hong - “Colors of the Blind” |
| 19 | 1999 | Best Picture Best Director Best Writing Best Actor Best Actress | “Postmen in the Mountains” Zhang Yimou - “Not One Less” Cao Wenxuan - “The Grass House” Teng Rujun - “Postmen in the Mountains” Ning Jing - “Lover's Grief over the Yellow River” |
| 20 | 2000 | Best Picture Best Director Best Writing Best Actor Best Actress | “Fatal Decision”, “Roaring Across the Horizon”, “The Road Home” Chen Guoxing - “Roaring Across the Horizon”, Zhang Yimou - “The Road Home” He Zizhuang, Song Jigao - “Fatal Decision” Chen Daoming - “My 1919” Gong Li - “Breaking the Silence” |
| 21 | 2001 | Best Picture Best Director Best Writing Best Actor Best Actress | “Mao Zedong in 1925” Huo Jianqi - “Love of Blueness” Wang Xiaotang, Wang Chen - “Fragrant Vows” Ge Zhijun - “Escort” Song Chunli - “To Be With You Forever” |
| 22 | 2002 | Best Picture Best Director Best Writing Best Actor Best Actress | “Pretty Big Feet”, “Charging Out Amazon” Chen Kaige - “Together”, Yang Yazhou - “Pretty Big Feet” Su Xiaowei - “Life Show” Ning Cai - “Heavenly Grassland” Ni Ping - “Pretty Big Feet”, Tao Hong - “Life Show” |
| 23 | 2003 | Best Picture Best Director Best Writing Best Actor Best Actress | “The River Wild”, “Nuan” Zhang Yimou - “Hero” Su Xiaowei - “Nuan” Xia Yu - “The Law of Romance” Yu Nan - “Jingzhe” |
| 24 | 2004 | Best Picture Best Director Best Writing Best Actor Best Actress | “Shanghai Story” Peng Xiaolian - “Shanghai Story” Zhao Dongling - “The Story of Xiao-Yan” Liu Ye - “The Foliage” Zheng Zhenyao - “Shanghai Story”, Zhang Ziyi - “Jasmine Women” |
| 25 | 2005 | Best Picture Best Director Best Writing Best Actor Best Actress | “On the Mountain of Tai Hang”, “Kekexili: Mountain Patrol” Ma Liwen - “You and Me” Liu Heng - “Zhang Side” Jackie Chan - “New Police Story” Jin Yaqin - “You and Me” |
| 26 | 2007 | Best Picture Best Director Best Writing Best Actor Best Actress | “The Knot” Qi Jian - “The Forest Ranger”, Yin Li - “The Knot” Tang Lai, Zhang Sitao, Zhang Chi, Hu Kun - “The Tokyo Trial” Fu Dalong - “The Forest Ranger” Carina Lau - “Curiosity Kills the Cat”, Yan Bingyan - “Teeth of Love” |
| 27 | 2009 | Best Picture Best Director Best Writing Best Actor Best Actress | “Assembly”, “Forever Enthralled” Feng Xiaogang - “Assembly” Jiang Haiyang, Gu Bai, Zong Fuxian - “Turning Point 1977” Wu Gang - “Iron Man” Jiang Wenli - “And the Spring Comes”, Zhou Xun - “The Equation of Love and Death” |
| 28 | 2011 | Best Picture Best Director Best Writing Best Actor Best Actress | “The Space Dream” Chen Li - “Love On Gallery Bridge” Cheng Xiaoling - “Sui Sui Qing Ming” Sun Chun - “Qiu Xi” Naren Hua - “Mother” |
| 29 | 2013 | Best Picture Best Director Best Writing Best Actor Best Actress | “The Story of Zhou Enlai”, “American Dreams in China” Peter Chan - “American Dreams in China” Huang Hong, Wang Jinming - “Fallen City” Zhang Guoli - “Back to 1942”, Huang Xiaoming - “American Dreams in China” Song Jia - “Falling Flowers” |
| 30 | 2015 | Best Picture Best Director Best Writing Best Actor Best Actress | “Wolf Totem” Tsui Hark - “The Taking of Tiger Mountain” Li Qiang - “The Golden Era” Zhang Hanyu - “The Taking of Tiger Mountain” Badema - “Norjmaa” |
| 31 | 2017 | Best Picture Best Director Best Writing Best Actor Best Actress | “Operation Mekong” Feng Xiaogang - “I Am Not Madame Bovary” Guan Hu, Dong Runnian - “Mr. Six” Deng Chao - “The Dead End” Fan Bingbing - “I Am Not Madame Bovary” |
| 32 | 2019 | Best Picture Best Director Best Writing Best Actor Best Actress | “The Wandering Earth” Dante Lam - “Operation Red Sea” Wang Xiaoshuai, Mei Ah - “So Long, My Son” Wang Jingchun - “So Long, My Son” Yong Mei - “So Long, My Son” |
| 33 | 2020 | Best Picture Best Director Best Writing Best Actor Best Actress | “Leap” Wang Rui - “Chaogtu with Sarula” Zhang Ji - “Leap” Huang Xiaoming - “The Bravest” Zhou Dongyu - “Better Days” |
| 34 | 2021 | Best Picture Best Director Best Writing Best Actor Best Actress | “Island Keeper” Zhang Yimou - “Cliff Walkers” Yu Xi, Huang Xin, Zhao Ningyu - “1921” Zhang Yi - “Cliff Walkers” Zhang Xiaofei - “Hi, Mom” |
| 35 | 2022 | Best Picture Best Director Best Writing Best Actor Best Actress | “The Battle at Lake Changjin” Chen Kaige, Tsui Hark, Dante Lam - “The Battle at Lake Changjin” Shao Yihui - “Myth of Love” Zhu Yilong - “Lighting Up the Stars” Xi Meijuan - “Song of Spring” |
| 36 | 2023 | Best Picture Best Director Best Writing Best Actor Best Actress | “Creation of the Gods I: Kingdom of Storms” Cheng Er - “Hidden Blade” Kong Dashan, Wang Yitong - “Journey to the West” Tony Leung - “Hidden Blade” He Saifei - “Off the Stage” |
| 37 | 2024 | Best Picture Best Director Best Writing Best Actor Best Actress | “Article 20” Chen Kaige - “The Volunteers: To the War” Han Yan, Li Fu - “Viva La Vida” Lei Jiayin - “Article 20” Li Gengxi - “Viva La Vida” |