The movie calls out stigmas against female sexuality and stereotypes about single mothers. It name-drops feminist scholars, features a woman recalling domestic violence and laments Chinese censorship.

这部电影批评了对女性性欲的污名化和对单亲妈妈的刻板印象。片中提到女权主义学者的名字，片中一位女性回想曾经经受的家庭暴力，并谴责中国的审查制度。

This is not some indie film, streamed secretly by viewers circumventing China’s internet firewall. It is China’s biggest movie right now — and has even garnered praise from the ruling Communist Party’s mouthpiece.

这不是什么需要绕过中国的互联网防火墙到某个平台上偷偷播放的独立电影。这是中国目前最卖座的电影，甚至赢得了中共喉舌媒体的赞扬。

The success of “Her Story,” a comedy that topped China’s box office for the last three weeks, is in some ways unexpected, at a time when the government has cracked down on feminist activism, encouraged women to embrace marriage and childbearing and severely limited independent speech.

喜剧片《好东西》在过去三周连续占据中国票房榜首。在政府打击女权活动人士、鼓励女性结婚生子、严格限制独立言论的时候，这部影片的成功在某种意义上有点出乎意料。

The film’s reception reflects the unpredictable nature of censorship in the country, as well as the growing appetite for female-centered stories. Discussion of women’s issues is generally allowed so long as it does not morph into calls for rights. “Her Story,” which some have called China’s answer to “Barbie,” cushions many of its social critiques with jokes.

这部影片受到的欢迎反映了中国审查制度的不可预测，以及观众对以女性为主的故事越来越感兴趣。政府一般允许讨论女性问题，只要这些讨论不变成权利诉求。《好东西》用喜剧情节缓和了片中的许多社会批评，被一些人称为中国版的《芭比》(Barbie)。

The director of “Her Story,” Shao Yihui, has emphasized at public appearances that she is not interested in provoking “gender antagonism,” an accusation that official media has sometimes lobbed against feminists.

《好东西》的导演邵艺辉已在公开场合强调，她对挑起“性别对立”不感兴趣。官方媒体批评女权主义者时有时使用这种指责。

At a time of sluggish growth and anemic ticket sales, movie producers — and perhaps government regulators — have been eager to attract female audience members, an increasingly important consumer base. Other recent hit movies have also been directed by and starred women, including the year’s top box office performer, “YOLO.”

在中国电影市场增长缓慢、票房惨淡之际，电影制片人——或许还有政府监管者们——都在想方设法吸引女性观众，她们是一个越来越重要的消费群体。最近的其他几部热门电影也由女性导演和主演，包括今年春节档的票房冠军《热辣滚烫》。

Still, “Her Story,” the second feature from Ms. Shao, 33, was not expected to reach anywhere near this level of success. It was low-budget and at first released only in a few major cities.

尽管如此，人们并没有想到33岁的邵艺辉的第二部作品《好东西》会取得今天这样的成功。这部低预算的影片最初只在几个大城市上映。

It follows two women who become neighbors in Shanghai: Xiao Ye, a free-spirited but emotionally vulnerable singer, and Wang Tiemei, a no-nonsense former journalist and single mother to 9-year-old Molly. As their friendship develops, the women team up to raise Molly; encourage each other professionally; and laugh at their clueless suitors, who try to outdo each other in quoting feminist theory and declaring their “original sin” of being born male.

故事情节围绕两名在上海成为邻居的女性展开。歌手小叶自由奔放、但情感脆弱。当过记者的王铁梅严肃务实，是九岁女孩王茉莉的单亲妈妈。随着友谊加深，她们携手照顾王茉莉，在事业上互相鼓励；她们嘲笑追求她们的毫无头绪的男性，后者试图用引用女权主义理论、宣称自己生为男性是“原罪”，以此互相拆台。

影片的两名主角是自由奔放、但感情脆弱的歌手小叶（右）和当过记者、严肃务实的单亲妈妈王铁梅。

Ticket sales were initially slow, but the women who did watch became fervent evangelists. The film soon became ubiquitous. It now has a 9.1 rating out of 10 on the Chinese film-rating site Douban and has taken in more than $77 million, according to Maoyan, which tracks ticket sales. It is projected to be one of China’s top 15 highest-grossing films of the year.

这部电影的票房最初并不高，但看过电影的女性成了它最热情的宣传者，电影很快在全国各地上映。该片在中国电影评级网站豆瓣上的评分是9.1（满分为10）；据跟踪票房表现的猫眼网站，其票房收入已超过5.7亿元，它有望将成为中国今年票房最高的15部电影之一。

Among young women it has spawned memes, podcast episodes and T-shirts.

在年轻女性中，它催生了米姆、播客和T恤衫。

Xu Tianyi, a student in the central Chinese city of Luoyang, said she had never seen a movie that directly addressed so many topics women cared about. She cited a scene in which Tiemei is shamed online for writing about her sex life, by people who suggest she’s a bad mother.

洛阳市的一名学生徐天一（音）说，她此前从未看过一部如此直接地探讨诸多女性关注话题的电影。她提到了这样一个场景：铁梅在网上因为写自己的性生活而遭到网暴，留下恶评的网民说她不是个好母亲。

But the film’s heartwarming story made it accessible for people new to feminism too, said Ms. Xu, who counted herself among that group. “This movie is gentle, but it also has a little edge.” She and her friends had been quoting lines from the movie to each other. “It shows that feminism is spreading.”

但徐天一说，电影温馨的故事情节让刚接触女权主义的人也能接受。徐天一自己也属于这一群体。她说：“这部电影是柔和的，但是会有一点锐利。”她和朋友们一直在引用电影中的台词。“这是女性主义普及的现象。”

The movie has its critics, including some who griped that the men in the movie are portrayed as inept or clownlike. On Hupu, a sports forum popular with male users, the movie has a rating of 4.9.

这部电影也遭遇了批评，有些人抱怨电影中的男性被描绘成无能的形象，或者显得像是小丑。在深受男性用户欢迎的体育论坛虎扑上，这部电影的评分为4.9。

But generally, the response has been positive — even from somewhat unexpected quarters.

但总体而言，关于这部电影的反响还是积极的——甚至来自一些意想不到的方面。

A commentary in People’s Daily, the Communist Party’s mouthpiece, praised the movie’s depiction of “humorous and absurd” aspects of daily life. It did not explicitly acknowledge specific women’s issues the movie raised, such as domestic violence but it said that directors should, like Ms. Shao, reflect what audiences cared about.

共产党的喉舌《人民日报》在一篇评论文章中称赞了这部电影对日常生活“幽默与荒诞”的描写。文章没有明确认可电影中提出的具体女性问题，比如家庭暴力，但表示导演们应该像邵艺辉一样，反映观众关心的问题。

Xiaoning Lu, a scholar of Chinese cinema at the University of London, said that the authorities often left room for people to vent their frustrations, so long as they didn’t cross political lines.

伦敦大学中国电影学者陆小宁表示，只要人们不越过政治界限，当局往往会给人们留下发泄不满的空间。

Female-centered storytelling was not inherently anathema to the state, she added, noting that an actress in “Her Story” also recently starred in a television drama about a real-life female principal, a party member, who helps impoverished rural schoolgirls.

她还说，以女性为中心的叙事方式本质上并不是政府的禁忌，并指出《好东西》中的一位女演员最近还主演了一部电视剧，讲述一位现实生活中的党员女校长帮助贫困农村女学生的故事。

“There are many faces of feminism in China,” Dr. Lu said. “It’s for the artist or director to find a balance. What is the limit? How much can you push the boundaries?”

“中国女权主义有很多面，”陆小宁说。“艺术家或导演需要找到平衡点。界限在哪里？你能在多大程度上推动边界？”

Some of the movie’s sharpest references were not about feminism, but about censorship or people using accusations of political disloyalty to settle personal grudges (a classmate of Molly’s tries to report her to their teacher when she outperforms him academically). But those scenes were fleeting.

电影中最尖锐的批评并非关于女权主义，而是针对审查制度，或者人们利用政治不忠诚的指控来解决个人恩怨（茉莉的一位同学试图向老师举报她，因为她的成绩比他好）。但这些场景一晃而过。

Still, even as the director has been careful to avoid accusations of radicalism, she has defended so-called “extreme feminists.” At a question-and-answer session with audience members last month, she said that she simply may not be as brave as others who spoke out more pointedly.

尽管导演一直小心翼翼地避免被指激​​进主义，但她还是为所谓的“极端女权”辩护。在上月与观众的问答环节中，她说自己可能不像其他发言更尖锐的人士那样勇敢。

“It’s only because of extreme voices that people pay attention,” Ms. Shao said. “If everyone’s voice was very mild, it’s actually similar to having no voice.”

“是因为有偏激的声音才会有人注意到。，”邵艺辉说。“如果每个人的声音都很温和，那其实就相当于没有。”