With the participation of two famous actors, Trieu Le Dinh and Huynh Hieu Minh, "Tieu Thanh Dai Su" (The Great Story in a Small Town) was noticed even before its broadcast.
Besides, this work also carries a special weight, because this is the last film of actress Chu Vien Vien before she passed away at the age of 51 due to cancer.
The film is adapted from the literary memoir "City of Chinese Farmers", focusing on depicting the journey of farmers building cities in the early stages of open-door reform.
Chu Vien Vien plays Cao Tuyet Mai - a printing workshop owner, an important link promoting the development of the story.
She has both the bravery of a businesswoman leading villagers to rush into the market, and the ingenuity and experience of city dwellers in mediating neighborly conflicts.
Accompanying officials Ly Thu Binh (Trieu Le Dinh) and Trinh Duc Thanh (Huynh Hieu Minh), they together wrote the transformation process of Nguyet Hai town from a desolate alluvial ground to a new urban area.
On May 1, 2025, "Tieu thanh dai su" officially closed filming. Chu Vien Vien posted on her personal page a status line written in the tone of the character: "Cao Tuyet Mai's life is forever liberal", accompanied by a photo of the film crew. No one expected that would be her last post. 16 days later, the actress passed away at the age of 51 from cancer.
When "Tieu thanh dai su" aired, Cao Tuyet Mai's bright and vivid images moved viewers, the keyword "Chu Vien Vien appears" climbed to the top trend on Weibo.
Many viewers said that Chu Vien Vien's performance in the film was full of life, completely unrecognizable during filming, she was suffering the torment of illness.
The film crew revealed that when participating in the film, Chu Vien Vien's cancer had entered its final stage, but she had never shared her condition with anyone.
In 5°C weather, she resolutely refused to be a doppelganger, her whole body was soaked, but she still completed all scenes herself. With the labor stages that needed to show the vitality of the character, she endured intense pain, and every move tried to reach the highest precision.
Even more touching is that Chu Vien Vien puts disease marks into her acting - her hands occasionally trembling, a few strands of gray hair on her temple intentionally kept - all of which become a vivid description for the image of Cao Tuyet Mai "having gone through many challenges of life".
Chu Vien Vien seems to have harmonized with the character, using the last energy of life to fully interpret the spirit of "the role is paramount".
Huynh Hieu Minh confided: "Sister Vien Vien in the film crew is always very resilient and optimistic, even doesn't tell us about having cancer, always smiling and facing everyone.
Looking back at Chu Vien Vien's acting journey, from the gentle but resilient national daughter-in-law Ly Van Phuong in "The Happy Life of Truong Dai Dan"; to That Phuong daring to love and hate in "House with Nine Phoenixes"; then the warm and persistent mother Dao Hue in "Giving you a small red flower" - each character she creates carries the breath of life and strong vitality.
Even after being diagnosed with cancer in 2020, Chu Yuanyuan still did not stop. In 2021, with the role of a patient aunt in "My Sister", Chu Yuanyuan also won the Best Supporting Actress award at Kim Ke and Bach Hoa.
In 2024, she still brought an impressive performance in the urban film "Nothing Big". The National Drama Theatre of China once commented that Zhou Yuanyuan is a person who "uses the measure of life to measure the height of art", and she used her whole life to realize that comment.
