1930s Chinese cinema established a tradition of realism of which The Spring Silkworms is a representative work. Depictions of the urban poor and impoverished rural areas reveal the structural problems of Chinese society. The Spring Silkworms is adapted from the novel by Mao Dun, one of the major activist artists of the 1919 May 4th Movement. In this film farmers cultivate silkworms to sell in the city, only to end up further in debt.