John, a seasoned British journalist and Hong Kong veteran for 20 years, takes the opportunity to pursue his unrequited love in the last days before Hong Kong′s changeover to China. This love is Vivian, a bar hostess and former prostitute, whose sordid past prevents her longtime lover and new power broker Chang from marrying her. At the same time John is documenting the people of Hong Kong admidst the changes and runs into an intriguing street-wise woman, Jean, who exposes a new side to Hong Kong that John has never seen. Is it possible that despite having lived in Hong Kong for 20 years as a renowned journalist he still know nothing about Hong Kong? Is it too late for John to find both Hong Kong and love? Critically acclaimed director Wayne Wang to his birthplace, bringing with him three of the most respected actors in the world―Jeremy Irons, Gong Li and Maggie Cheung to shoot a film of passion and remembrance set against the event that the world has waited for over a century to happen. Jeremy Irons brings his considerable acting depth to playing John, whose deep love for Vivian is as strong and as complicated as the relationship between Britain and Hong Kong. The singularly historical presence of Gong Li brings conflicted passions to Vivian, as she weighs the choice between her Hong Kong power broker lover and John, who offers her the chance to leave. The marvelously refreshing Maggie Cheung brings life to Jean withe her inscrutable past and way of life. With a rich and mesmerizing award-winning score by Graeme Revelle and flowingly composed and articulate camerawork from Vilko Filac, Chinese Box opens with an air of oriental mystery in an animated sequence of a lacquered box, and closed by showing you a Hong Kong that you may not have seen before.