drama, Eponine Huang, Fiona Sit, Hong Kong, Kara Wai, Lv Zefeng, Ma Li, movies, Nina Paw, Pakloy Liang, reviews, The Dumpling Queen, Ya Mei, Yan Qing, Zang Jianhe, Zhu Yawen, Zoe Su
May 3, 2025
by Carla Hay
Directed by Andrew Lau
Cantonese and Mandarin with subtitles
Culture Representation: Taking place in Hong Kong and in mainland China, from 1977 to 1991, the dramatic film “The Dumpling Queen” (a biopic of Zang Jianhe) features an all-Asian cast of characters representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.
Culture Clash: After being abandoned by her affluent husband, single mother Zang Jianhe lives in near-poverty and starts a dumpling empire from humble beginnings.
Culture Audience: “The Dumpling Queen” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners and biopics about successful entrepreneurs.
“The Dumpling Queen” is a formulaic biopic about entrepreneur Zang Jianhe that is neither great nor terrible. Uneven film editing spends too much or too little time on certain areas of her life story. Ma Li’s admirable performance is the movie’s best asset.
Directed by Andrew Lau and written by Han Jia Nv, “The Dumpling Queen”(which takes place mostly in Hong Kong and briefly in mainland China) is told in chronological order from 1977 to 1991. (Zang Jianhe died in 2019, at the age of 75.) The movie begins in 1977, in the city of Qingdao. Zang Jianhe (played by Ma Li) is looking forward to reuniting with her husband Huang Hanzhou (played by Kenny Wong) in Hong Kong, after he has been away for an unspecified number of years because Hanzhou has been working for his family’s business in Thailand.
Jianhe and Hanzhou have two daughters together: Bei Bei (played Pakloy Liang), who later gets the name Joanne, was born in 1968. Peng Peng (played by Zoe Su), who later gets the name Jessica, was born in 1972. Bei Bei is the more serious-minded and more intellectual sister. Peng Peng is playful and more extroverted than Bei Bei.
Jianhe is very close to her mother Zang Yushu (played by Yan Qing), who taught Jianhe how to make dumplings. Yushu raised Jianhe and Jianhe’s younger sister Zang Jianping (played by Eponine Huang) as a single mother. The movie begins by showing dumplings being served during a family meal that includes Jianhe, Yushu, Bei Bei, Peng Peng and Jianping.
Yushu is very conservative and traditional. She believes that wives must always listen to their husbands. Yushu tells that advice to Jianhe before Jianhe, Bei Bei and Peng Peng go to Hong Kong. Jianhe is very obedient and introverted, but over time, her personality evolves to be more independent and assertive.
Things don’t go as planned for Jianhe when she in Hong Kong. In fact, the trip turns out to be a disaster. At the train station in Chaozhou, Jianhe meets up with Hanzhou and his judgmental mother (played by Nina Paw), who doesn’t have a name in the movie.
Hanzhou’s mother tells Jianhe that not only has Hanzhou found a new wife, he also has a son with the new wife. The movie is vague on the details on whether or not Hanzhou is a bigamist, but his mother says he’s not a bigamist. It’s unclear in the movie if Hanzhou and Jianhe were officially married or were common-law spouses. There’s no mention of divorce in the movie.
In traditional Chinese culture, sons have more value than daughters. That’s why Hanzhou’s mother wants him to choose the woman who gave birth to the son. Hanzhou’s mother cruelly tells Jianhe: “Just because you gave birth to Hanzhou’s daughters, that doesn’t make you good enough for him.”
Hanzhou and Jianhe settle in Hong Kong with Bei Bei and Peng Peng. Jianhe loves living in Hong Kong and changes her mind about living in Thailand when Hanzhou needs to live there. And so, when Hanzhou tells Jianhe that he has to spend more time in Thailand for the family business, he gives her an ultimatum: Go with him and they can remain a couple, or stay in Hong Kong and end their relationship.
Hanzhou and Jianhe have a big argument about this matter. He tells her that his mother was right about Jianhe using him for a relocation to Hong Kong. At one point he offers a compromise that Jianhe thinks is unacceptable: He will take Bei Bei to Thailand, while Jianhe can keep Peng Peng in Hong Kong. In the end, Hanzhou breaks up with Jianhe and cuts off contact with her, Bei Bei and Peng Peng. He also refuses to give child support.
Jianhe is too embarrassed to go back to Qingdao to live with her mother. And so, she pretends to her Qingdao family for a long period of time that she and the kids are living happily with Hanzhou in Hong Kong. The truth is Jianhe’s life in Hong Kong is much more difficult than she tells her mother and sister.
Jianhe’s passport expires, so she experiences a lot of problems finding a job as an undocumented immigrant in Hong Kong. She eventually finds a job as a dishwasher and sanitation worker for a restaurant. Jianhe is a very hard worker, but the job’s pay is so low, she’s living in near-poverty.
Through a recommendation, Jianhe has been able to find an apartment (across from Causeway Bay) at a rental price that she can afford. The landlord/apartment manager is Hong Jie (played by played by Kara Wai), also known as Sister Hong, who has a lively personality and an interesting past. (She used to be a nurse.) Jie has empathy for single mother Jianhe and tells her that because Jianhe has kids, it’s the only reason why Jie will sometimes let Jianhe pay the rent in installments or past the due date.
“The Dumpling Queen” gets a little unfocused when it starts to show the lives of other people who live on the same floor of the apartment building. Mr. Jin (played by Won Cho Lam) and Mrs. Jin (played by Ya Mei) are parents to underage children Jin Jintai (played by Lucky Leung) and Jin Duotai (played by Lv Zefeng). The spouses are in a toxic marriage because Mr. Jin is very abusive to Mrs. Jin.
A sex worker named Rose (played by Fiona Sit) is also on the same floor, but Bei Bei and Ping Ping are too young to understand what Rose does for money. They just think she’s a party girl who dresses up when Rose goes out. A disabled man named Brother La Ta (played by Cheung Tat Ming) is bullied by Mr. Jin, but Jianhe treats Brother La Ta with kindness.
Jianhe eventually opens up to Sister Hong about her personal life. She tells her about Hanzhou abandoning her and the children. When talking about her mother, Jianhe says she has fond memories of making dumplings with her. Sister Hong encourages Jianhe to make dumplings because she can see how happy it makes Jianhe.
And that’s how Jianhe makes dumplings for her neighbors in the apartment. Her dumplings are an immediate hit with the residents. It’s the start of Jianhe thinking that she could make a living from selling dumplings.
Jianhe gets into an accident at her restaurant job when a fellow employee accidentally crashes into her, and she falls down on the hard floor. Her injuries temporarily put her in a hospital. And it’s how she decides that she has to find work that’s less hazardous to her health. With money that she gets from worker’s compensation, Hanzhou decides to open her own dumpling stall at Wan Chai Pier, a place that has several food vendors with stalls.
Many of the food vendors are undocumented immigrants. And so, every time police are nearby for a possible raid, the vendors scramble away and try not to get caught. The movie presents this problem—as well as the problem of local thugs trying to extort the vendors—as something that Jianhe can overcome with the right attitude. It all looks too pat and convenient in the movie. For example, Jianhe is able to win over some local extortionists by waving a knife in self-defense and then getting them as loyal customers once they eat her dumplings.
That’s not to say that Jianhe’s dumplings were an instant hit at Wan Chai Pier. During the first few weeks of operating her dumpling stall, she gets discouraged by the low sales. For starters, her dumplings (which she eventually names Shandong dumplings) were in the “pot sticker” shape that was new and unfamiliar at the time. An elderly vendor named Mr. Dessert (played by Ben Yuen) becomes her ally and suggests that she change the way to pronounces the word “dumpling” to sound more Cantonese.
For reasons that are shown in the movie, Jianhe also gets to know a police officer named Brother Hua (played by Zhu Yawen), a married father. Jianhe and Brother Hua develop an attraction to each other. The movie shows whether or not their relationship becomes more than platonic.
“The Dumpling Queen” awkwardly handles anything to do with Jianhe’s love life. The movie depicts Jianhe as not making much time for a love life because she spends most of her time taking care of her kids and working. Bei Bei and Peng Peng eventually help with the dumpling business as it starts to grow. The sisters continue to work for the business when Jianhe establishes the brand Wanchai Ferry in 1985, the year that the company’s first factory was built.
One of the biggest weaknesses in “The Dumpling Queen” is that it reduces the rise of Wanchai Ferry into a corporate brand by just showing a glorified series of extended montages when more time and details were needed for these scenes. The closest that the movie depicts of corporate competition are multiple scenes of Jianhe turning down offers from a rival Japanese company to buy Wanchai Ferry because she refuses their idea to erase the Chinese identity of her dumplings. Jianhe’s 1997 sale of 70% of her Wanchai Ferry shares to corporate giant Pillsbury is not covered in depth but is mentioned in the movie’s epilogue.
The narrative of “The Dumpling Queen” has flaws, but Ma’s performance outweighs the flaws in many scenes. She is able to convey emotions with so much credibility, most viewers will be rooting for Jianhe and feeling the emotions along with this character. Ma gives the type of performance that when Jianhe gets emotional, it looks authentic—not like an actress who’s trying too hard. The other cast members do well in their roles, particularly Wai, who is a scene stealer as the charismatic Sister Hong.
“The Dumpling Queen” should also be commended for showing that in the competitive world of business, there is room for unselfish friendship. The characters of Sister Hong and Mr. Dessert are supportive of Jianhe without expecting anything in return. Whether or not these characters were fabricated for the movie, it’s a realistic bright spot in this story that sometimes falters in other areas that look too saccharine.
The movie also shows that Jianhe’s success came from not only believing in herself but also having the humility and good sense to listen to constructive criticism. For example, during the first few months of that Jianhe sells her dumplings at Wan Chai Pier, a customer suggests that Jianhe make the dumpling linings thinner. Jianhe takes this advice, and it ends up vastly improving her sales.
“The Dumpling Queen” is not the type of movie to get into all the business details of what it takes to create a company that ends up being worth millions. Nor is it a fantasy that peddles a “get rich quick” scheme. The movie—although at times clunky and trite—succeeds at the very least in its intention to be inspirational.
CMC Pictures released “The Dumpling Queen” in select U.S. cinemas on May 2, 2025.