King of the Children (Chinese: 孩子王; pinyin: Háizǐ Wáng) is a 1987 drama film directed by Chen Kaige and starring Chen Shaohua.

[2] A young man is sent to teach at a rural school in a poverty stricken area of Yunnan province.

King of the Children received a highly positive review in Time Out, where a reviewer wrote, “There are echoes here of a film like Padre Padrone, but Chen's film is completely free of flabby humanist sentimentality.

[...] By Chinese standards, this is film-making brave to the point of being visionary.

By any standards, this follow-up to Yellow Earth and The Big Parade is also something like a masterpiece.”[3]