In the Heat of the Sun

In the Heat of the Sun
Traditional Chinese陽光燦爛的日子
Simplified Chinese阳光灿烂的日子
Literal meaningDays of the Bright and Lush Sunshine
Hanyu PinyinYángguāng Cànlàn De Rìzi
Directed byJiang Wen
Written byJiang Wen
Based onWild Beast
by Wang Shuo
Produced byGuo Youliang
Hsu An-chin
Po Ki
StarringXia Yu
Ning Jing
Geng Le
Tao Hong
CinematographyGu Changwei
Edited byZhou Ying
Music byGuo Wenjing
Release date
  • 1994 (1994)
Running time
134 minutes
CountryChina
LanguageMandarin

In the Heat of the Sun (阳光灿烂的日子) is a 1994 Chinese coming-of-age film written and directed by Jiang Wen, marking his directorial debut. Loosely adapted from Wang Shuo's novel Wild Beast, the film offers a nostalgic lens of life during the Cultural Revolution - one not defined by political trauma, but by adolescent mischief, desire, and memory.

The film's original title, which roughly translates to "Bright Sunny Days" was changed to "In the Heat of the Sun" for international audiences during a film festival in Taiwan. The new title was chosen to minimize association with the Cultural Revolution.