1. New Year Sacrifice

2. The ritual of new year sacrifice

3. Plot Mrs. Xianglin, the heroine, is a typical poor peasant woman who suffers from the oppression of the feudal ethical code. After her husband's death, she runs away from home on hearing that her merciless mother-in-law wants to sell her. Later, she is hired as a servant in Luzhen Town. There she suffers mistreatment, disdain, and discrimination. Before long, she is kidnapped and sold into a marriage with He Laoliu, an honest peasant. The second marriage turns out, unexpectedly, to be a happy one and she gives birth to a son named A'mao.

4. Plot

5. Unfortunately, her fate is changeable, and her husband is persecuted to death by a local landlord. Later, her son is killed and eaten by a wolf. In face of the two misfortunes, Mrs. Xianglin is driven out of her mind and acts like a madwoman. People say that she has committed a crime by marrying twice, and they urge her to contribute money at the temple's threshold to atone for her crime. She complies and gives her hard-earned money but she cannot rid herself of the discrimination against her. In the end, she becomes a beggar in the street and dies on New Year's Eve.

6. Details 1924 after the 1911 Revolution The New Years Sacrifice really goes into great detail portraying the traditional views and how they can be used to debilitate a society and limit the mind of the individual. It accuses in blood and tears the miseries of the laboring people in the old society and lashes out harshly at the feudal ethical code. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Bl Q1xdI6Js