Raise the red lantern - Su Tong

Lotus, a young college student is forced by her father's death to give up her studies and marry into wealth.
RAISE THE RED LANTERN is her hauntingly beautiful, nightmarish tale, and that of the other three concubines who are competing for the sexual attentions of their master in a stifling, 1930s rural clan house. It explores a world where relationships rarely reach fruition, as emotionally stunted men thoughtlessly destroy the women in their lives. The conflicts that emerge as a result of this oppression and claustrophobia are seemingly insurmountable. But Lotus, the Fourth mistress, is defiant and presumptuous and has the shocking audacity to be good at - and actually enjoy - sex. In this environment insanity begins to emerge as both a weapon and a refuge, and relations between the concubines become increasingly tense...