A Soul Haunted by Painting

At the beginning of the twentieth century, Yu Liang leaves a brothel in a small Chinese town to become the second wife of Mr. Pan. While Pan is away at the revolution in Yunnan, Yu Liang learns to paint and takes art classes at the Shanghai Art Institute until it is closed for painting nudes. Because she cannot bear him a son, Yu Liang leaves Pan to his first wife and studies art in Paris, where she wins an award for a nude self-portrait. She returns to join Pan in Nanking in the 1930s and becomes a Professor until it is discovered that she came from a brothel.
(Source: IMDb)