Su Wu
"So Close to Paradise" takes place in the 1980s in the central Chinese city of Wuhan. The film follows two young migrant workers. Young innocent Dong Zi (Shi Yu) is a pole carrier or coolie eking out a meager existence carrying heavy loads from place to place. His friend and roommate Gao Ping (Guo Tao) is from the same home village, but unlike Dong Zi, is older, more cynical, and has fallen into a life of petty crime. As the film begins, Gao has been cheated out of a small amount of money from a local gangster Su Wu (Wu Tao). Enraged, Gao drags his friend into Wuhan's underworld. Their first stop is a local bar, the Li Li Club where they go looking for Ruan Hong (Wang Tong), a Vietnamese singer who is said to know Su Wu. After speaking with her, Gao and Dong kidnap the young woman and drag her to their apartment. Gao asks Dong to leave the room after which he proceeds to rape her, while Dong peers through a crack in the door. Soon afterwards, however, Gao and Ruan suddenly become lovers, much to Dong Zi's surprise and consternation.