Highly influential, Songs of the Peach Blossom River introduces the figure of the farmer’s daughter to Hong Kong musicals. Set in a village, the film’s central figure is a sunny, energetic beauty who works on the land and bursts into songs as she pleases. Chinese films have always associated nature with goodness, spontaneity and creativity. Musicals are thus fond of finding excuses to stage performances in the idyllic countryside such using the village backdrop. In a dramatic plot twist in the film’s third act, the farmer’s daughter moves to the city and becomes an overnight sensation because of her singing talents. Songs of the Peach Blossom River becomes a celebration of the switch from rural life to urban living, music serving as its passageway.
The film is also likely the Mandarin cinema’s first integrated musical. Although Hollywood had been making integrated musicals for years, Hong Kong’s Mandarin cinema had been slow in catching up, perhaps a combination of the Chinese people’s reserved nature and the strong night-club tradition of Mandarin pop. With Songs of the Peach Blossom River, the integrated format finally caught on. The film was a huge hit, making star Zhong Qing a major box-office draw and spawning dozens of imitations, most of them integrated musicals with stories that negotiate between country and city, traditional life and modern living.