Director：Chen Miao
Leading actor and actress：Wang Shasha, Zhou Xiaowen
Genre：children feature film
Presented by：CFA And Shanghai Media Group Film & TV Center

Bao Bao, our 13 year old protagonist, wants nothing more than to be beautiful, but amongst her classmates she is known as the Dinosaur due to the fact that one of her canine teeth sticks out awkwardly. For most of her life Bao Bao has lived in the traditional village household of her grandparents, but modernization is beginning to influence the tiny village avenues and suddenly Bao Bao is confronted with the enticing notion that beauty might finally be within her reach. Like her parents, she looks to the city for salvation, hoping that through dentistry she might finally achieve what she has been looking for.

Upon arriving in the city, she discovers that not only have her parents found financial success, they have also attained city hukou (household registration). New economic pressures and social forces have taken there toll, however, and her parents have separated, neither of them able to care for their daughter.

While staying with her friend Green Bean, Bao Bao is introduced to the trendy jiejie Queen, with whom she is able to forget about the problems her family faces. Living only for the happiness of the moment, Bao Bao loses sight of her goal, trading the goal of saving money to visit the dentist for that of buying an incomparably beautiful SD Doll. But neither is to be, as soon word reaches her that her sister-in law Shen Guo has given birth prematurely and needs the money to cover expenses.

Bao Bao despairs to think of returning to the village to see Shen Guo and her premature nephew. At the same time, she receives news that her paternal grandfather has passed away. While life and death make sudden intrusions into her life, Bao Bao steels herself to face the challenges ahead. She develops a rough exterior characterized by her new favorite phrase, “afraid of you?!”

       The things that her grandfather left behind are not many, but to Bao Bao he wills an agate engagement ring. She cries over the coffin of her grandfather, but when she has finished crying she heads immediately for the pawn shop.

       The next time we see Bao Bao she smiles a mouth full of metal, her canine tooth wrenched into place by a series of intricate wires.

This narrative takes the central theme of Bao Bao’s tooth as a device to tell a number of stories: Bao Bao’s coming-of age, the life of those living in the countryside, how rural migrants view urban life, economic pressures on traditional marriages, and the role of family amidst a rapidly changing society. All of these various themes are experienced through Bao Bao’s interactions and her voice-over narration, which contributes to the stylized, true-to-life feeling of the movie.