Raise the Red Lantern is a 1991 Chinese period drama film directed by Zhang Yimou and starring Gong Li. It is an adaptation by Ni Zhen of the 1990 novella Raise the Red Lantern by Su Tong. The film was later adapted into a ballet of the same title by the National Ballet of China, also directed by Zhang. Set during the Warlord Era in the 1920s, the film tells the story of a young woman who becomes the fourth wife of a wealthy man. It was the fourth of nine collaborations between Zhang and Gong. The film was shot in the Qiao Family Compound near the ancient city of Pingyao, in Shanxi Province.