New Life

Since the beginning of 1980s China’s reforming and open policies have changed the people’s lives in many ways.  The options of jobs are much wide than before.  More and more rural residents try to find new jobs improve in the cities.  
24-Year-old Tao Guoqing is from Guizhou, Guizhou Province in the south.  After graduating from college, he comes to Beijing to search for job.  His first job is to sell children’s books door-to-door. He travels in various places like train stations, shopping centers, and restaurants to learn his trade –selling.   Later he becomes an outstanding sales person.  Mr. Tao eventually starts his own business with his partners. He is one of the China’s floating worker-force in major cities, jobs ranging from low-income laborers to entrepreneurs.
 
According to official documents, China’s floating population has grown from 30 million in 1982 to 100 million in 1997.  It is estimated that China’s floating population will grow 5 million per year in the next 5 to 10 years.
Director: Li Xiaoming, Liu Hongyan, 28 Min. 2001, with English Subtitles

The Other Bank

This is a documentary about a group of unusual actors, their training, their groundbreaking performances in contemporary Chinese theatre and what happened to the young performers afterwards in real life.

In early spring of 1993, independent artist Mou Sen was invited by the Actors Exchange and Training Center of Beijing Film Academy to take charge of a short-term performance workshop.  More than 30 high school graduates from all over the country attended the intensive training.  Fourteen students, who stay till the end of the training, performed “The Other Bank – a Chinese Grammatical Discussion”.  The play was written by Gao Xingjian (Nobel Prize Winner 2000) and Yu Jian, and directed by Mou Sen. Seven performances by the 14 students shocked Beijing artistic and intellectual circles.  These young actors, in the middle of this shock, greeted with applause, flowers and tears. The show was over.  But where did the 14 young people go?  They chose to stay in Beijing.  But the reality they encountered was cruel.  The dreams in the classrooms were broken.  For 6 months they stayed in Beijing, reality had taught them a lot.  In the end, all 14 young actors left Beijing one after another.  One student brought back two actor friends to his remote village in Heibei Province where he staged a theater piece they wrote together, “ The Black Bird that had Flown Over the Paradise”.  Mou Sen went to see the play of his students.  In the end of this play, they were pushing a broken tractor, disappearing slowly into the field.

This documentary took two years to finish and it recorded the process of the training and the performances.  It attempted to reflect the major conflict between ideal and reality of contemporary Chinese youth.
Director: Jiang Yue, 140 min. 1994, English Subtitles

Defendant

A forty-year-old man was indicted as a swindler and murderer suspect.  His house was confiscated and his property was expropriated.  He was forced to escape.  After eight years of struggle this man made his case re-opened because of his strong will and persistence.  His wife, who had supported him throughout these years, got hurt deeply physically and emotionally. 
Director: Deng Lei, 45 min, 1999, English Subtitles

20 Weihai Road, Shanghai

Near the Northwest corner of the People’s Square there remains a vestige of a stable built by the British in the beginning of the 20th century.  Back then the people’s Square was known as the Racecourse.  The film focuses on the lives of the people residing in the stable.  Through them the film explores the evolution of the People’s Square, which has been in the center stage of Shanghai’s major events for many years.  This documentary has rare footages of early 20th century’s British lives in Shanghai.  The theme focuses on those major events in Shanghai and its influence over people’s life over the period of one century. 
Director: Zhu Xiaoqian, 30 min, 1997, English Subtitles
 

Dafeng and Xiaofeng

Dafeng and Xiaofeng are twin sisters.  Their mother died when they were born.  Their father, Zang Hongyou could not raise them.  He sent the twin sisters to their aunt.  Two years later remarried Zang felt desperately missed the twins and he decided to take them back to raise them himself.  He took legal procedures and demand to have the children back.

Now Dafeng and Xiaofeng called the aunt Mum.  The aunt blamed Zang Hongyou that he did not take the responsibility of a father and he should not have the twins.  In order to get the right to raise the twin baby girls, two sides wouldn’t give up.  Circuit court had the final say: Dafeng and Xiaofeng should go back to their father.
Director: Lu Min
Photographer: Lin Hong, 40 min, 1999, English Subtitles

Lighting of Candle

In a remote village of Baoding County, Hebei Province, it is said that the poorest of the village are the elementary school teachers.  Their salaries are roughly $20 US dollars per month.  In two year period 16 teachers has left the village.  Mr. Yang, a 39-year-old elementary school teacher, is too poor to support his family. His wife left him.  His only child has never played any toys.  He has nothing but some award papers.  Apart from teaching Mr. Yang will have to do other jobs to support his three-generation family.

Miss Wang is a replacement teacher.  Although she is accepted by university her family can’t afford her college tuition.  She comes back to the village to teach.  Her dream is to become a professional teacher, not a replacement.
This well-done documentary reflects the cruel reality of education in one of the China’s poorest countryside. 
Director: Zhao Yanying, 43 min, 1999, English Voice over

A Village Story

Zhaobi Village is a rich and beautiful village near Chengdu City, Sichuan Province.  Here, like other rural villages in China, most of farming families like to have to a boy instead of a girl.  Although one child policy in China is much less strict than before, farmers, believing in boys are better than girls, like to have boys more than girls. 

In the story the family already has in two baby girls, the parents still want to have a boy. The documentary explains how family planning administrators in rural China deal with child policy and how one child policy has given its way.
Director: Shen Xin, 24 min, 1998 English Voice over

Baka Village

The mountain people in Baka Village in Yunan Province are called Jinuo.  The provincial government of Yunnan has announced that destroying forest for farming must be stopped before the new millennium comes.  For centuries Jinuo people have practiced burning forest for their living.  Thus the existence of entire Jinuo people is put into risk.  They have no choices but imitating Dai people by planting rice. 

To start, they need to dig a ditch to bring water to the field. Jinou don’t have enough funding for the ditch, therefore they have to ask for funding from the local government.  The documentary has depicted the conflict between the people of Jinuo, the nature and the outside world. The filmmaker hopes to present Jinou people’s life in coming modern age and their conflict with “civilized” man and their struggle of self-understanding.
Director: Tan Leshui, 30 min, 1998 English Voice over

A River Stilled

In 1997 there were two major events in China.  One was the reunification of Hong Kong with China.  The other one was the stopping of the Yangtse at the Three Gorges.  Both events were completed successfully.  The Yangtse River is the third largest river in the world.  When Chinese government decided to build the world’s largest hydraulic station there, the two workers were assigned to work there.  Their parents were also workers in hydraulic power stations.  Now it is their turn.  They fall in love while working together.  At the start of our documentary they wanted to work at the Three Gorges until they retire.  But by the time they have their baby, they are already out of job.  What future lies ahead?  Thousands of workers like them are facing the same fate.  Through this film you can understand how they work, learn, and live.
Director: Jiang Yue, 67 min, 1999, English subtitles

The End of the Earth

Phala Grassland is located on the northwest of Tibet Plateau: the altitude between 4800 to 5000 meters. bSam-grub is a herdsman with a private automobile in Phala.  Winter came. bSam-grub, without driver’s license, was driving his worn-out truck loaded with salt from a salt lake.  He planned to exchange some grains with it in some farming area.  His truck broke down.  bSam-grub, with his son and his son-in-law, tried every possible way to repair the truck.  The lambing season came.  Herdsmen started to migrate to lambing spots.  bSam-grub’s truck started to work finally.  He decided to use his truck instead of yaks to make his migration for the first time.  bSam-grub’s family was caught in strong wind.  It was already dark.  The flocks of sheep had arrived home, but again the truck broke down on the road.

Rab-rgyas us respected doctor in Phala Grassland.  He practices Buddhism.  Besides curing diseases for herdsmen, he also holds all kinds of ceremonies, such as wedding and funeral.  He has a traditional and wealthy family.  Summer has come. Rab-rgyas is building his new house.  All family members are very excited about the coming horse racing. The truck was fixed up again.  But bSam-grub could not afford a new house because he had spent all his money on the truck.  He hoped that he could get some money from horse racing this year.  His truck broke down again on the horse racing day, and it had to be postponed to wait for bSam-grub and his passengers.  This time the truck was in a very bad shape and bSam-grub had no way to repair it any more.
Director: Duan Jinchuan, 140 min, 1996 English subtitles

16 Barkhor South Street

Barkhor Street is a street surrounding the Jokhang Monastery.  People consider it the center of Lhasa.  Old courtyards, alleys paved with rocks, newly built Tibetan style houses and shopping centers in Barkhor Street are under political influence.

16 Barkhor Street is an old courtyard in Lhasa.  It is the office of Barkhor Neighborhood Committee, one of the four committees in Barkhor Street.  The main characters in the film are Ci-ring-Ide-rje, the Party Secretary; Chos-rgyal, the Deputy Directors, gSal-gron, the Director for Women Affair, Wei Dong, Community Policeman and their leader dbang-dus.  This film records various events and stories in 1995.

The Barkhor Street Neighborhood Committee is the most basic unit of the Party and government here.  Its main responsibility is to implement government policies, measures and directions.  With the help f such units, the government at all levels manage Barkhor Street, as well as the whole society effectively.
Grand Prize --- Le Prix du Cineel
Cinema du Reel 1997 Documentary Festival, Paris
Director: Duan Jinchuan, 100 min, 1995 English subtitles

Mask

In the village of Xiaotun, Cheng Jiang county of Yunnan Province, folk opera actors play all roles wearing masks. Local people call it Wan Guan Suo, meaning perform Guansuo.  In 1949 it was renamed as Guan Suo Opera.  This particular opera was originated in Qing Dynasty and it has been performed for more than two hundred year since then.  Since 1950 Guan Suo Opera has been through ups and downs during political movements in China.  During the Cultural Revolution, the performances were suspended, the scripts were burned and the masks were put away.  In 1980 Guan Suo Opera started again after the approval of local government.
Director: Liu Xiaojin, 120 min, 2000, English Voice Over

The Cormorant and the Lake

The Lake of Erlai is on Yungui Plain.  Bai fishermen around the lake have raised a bird called Cormorant.  Since it can catch fish, it is also called Fish-Eagle.  Originally a wild animal, the Cormorants around the lake live with humans and they catch fishes.  Bai fishermen train them, and they become pets and help fishermen make a living in fishing.

The film follows the lives of a fishing family: six sisters.  They catch Cormorant, train them and Cormorants become part of their daily lives.
Director: Zhou Yuejun, 30 min, 1998, English voice over

Romantic Lake

Lake Lugu is located in Northwest part of Yunnan Province, China.  The people of Moso are among the last group of minority in China, who live along the lake of Lugu, practice a marital system called “Roving marriage”.  The lake of Lugu is called the “romantic lake”.
In Roving marriage, a mature man or woman can have several spouses at the same time.  Men and women live in separate dorms in organized tribes.  Their children are raised the mothers.  Children often don’t know who their fathers are.
The film depicts how the system affects people today and how the system itself has begun to change.
Director: Zhou Yuejun, 30 min, 1997, English subtitles

Happy Swan Song

Gelanghe is located in southwest China, about 50 kilometers from the Burmese border.  It is the home of the Aini, a Chinese minority.  The Aini believe that the dead can only leave their families and overcome all the obstacles to paradise by lavish and exciting celebration.  Fate, honor and reputation of a family all depend on the size of the festival.  The ritual lasts for three days, three days of laughter, joking, story-telling and delicious food.  It is a declaration of love of life and death.
Director: Li Yang, 42 min, 1995, English Subtitles

Dabiya

Dabiya is a musical instrument of Nuzu in Yunan Province, Southwest China.  Nuzu is a minority group.  They have never developed any written characters.  At present people of Nuzu still keep their primitive style of life.  They play Dabiya singing about their stories and history.  Oudede, the hero of our story, can play and sing 40 songs.  According to the ancient rules of Nuzu, only boys are allowed to learn how to play Dabiya.  Oudede has three daughters.  The secretary of the village asked him to choose a boy to teach Dabiya in order to save the folk art form.  He is not happy with the ancient rules but is afraid to violate them.  He visits the graves of his father and his grandfather and he abandons Dabiya of 100 years’ of history.

The village will have electricity after June.  The road will be built.  Changes will come.  What belongs to Nuzu people will become less and less.  Can the people of Nuzu survive the commercialization of the world?  How Nuzu will be affected by big cities?  Confronted with the commercial society can people of Nuzu keep their traditions?
Director: Wang Qinze, 36 min, 2001, English Subtitles

Art in the Cultural Revolution, Part One
The Establishment of a New Image

The Cultural Revolution, which spans from 1966 to 1976, is a period of Ultra-leftist fervor in the People’s Republic of China. In their pursuit of ideological purity, Mao Zedong’s Red Guards conducted a vigorous and violent campaign to purge the country of any element that might be associated with the old “feudal” past or the capitalist and imperialist west. 

The arts, which are often considered political instruments for thought education of the masses, came under stringent control of the Communist Party. Artists worked under the aesthetic dominance from the Party to produce the perfect revolutionary vision.
The Establishment of a New Image discloses the supremacy of Jian Qing’s rigorous rules behind every piece of art during the Cultural Revolution.

Through a close study of many important painting during that time – from their content to their form, from their color scheme to their treatment of light and shadow, and from their character posing and facial expressions to the clothes they wear, this video reveals how Mao’s wife Jian Qing accentuates a new image of Mao’s illusory new world.
1997 Silver Apple Award, USA
Director: Kubert Leung, 33 min, 1996, English voice over

China’s Avant-Gardes Performance Art: 1986 -- 2001

This documentary film focuses on the newest art form in contemporary Chinese art world: new Performance Art.  Artists perform in public locations demonstrating artistic various talents in major cities.  Underground public performances have become one of the most important outlets for artists in China.  This film records historically some of the most outstanding works in performance art in China.  
Produced by REC foundation . 60 min, 2001, English subtitles

Dance with Farm Workers

The film is about very unconventional performance of the same name.
Unconventional inasmuch as the project involved not only actors and
dancers, but also 30 Beijing farm workers from the poorer regions of Sichuan Province. In addition, both the rehearsals and the performance took place in the production hall of former textile factory that could soon be torm
down as part of Beijing’s rapid modernization, as had thousands of such production halls before it. The superbly fit farm laborers, who can to the city
when they lost hope that conditions would improve at home, are the supporting pillars of this modernization. The performance was initiated and organized by choreographer Wen Hui, artists Song Dong and Yin Xiuzhen, and Wu Wenguang. We invited 10 professonal dancers and actors, 30 farm laborers working on building sites in Beijing whose sole wish as first was to be paid 30 Yuan a day, which we promptly did. It was only some time later that they discovred that them, the lowest of the low, would be standing center stage.
Director: Wu Wenguang, Camera: Su Ming, 57 min, 2001, English Subtitles

Jiang Hu: Life on the Road

If translated directly from Chinese to English, is “ River and Lake”. In Chinese, it means that “ the world away from home”, or “on the road”. This film is about the story of a traveling performing group made of farmers. Its boss is Old Liu who founded the group traveling with and living in a big tent. Its members include Liu’s two sons, their girlfriends and some young farmers. They want to improve their existence and find their fortune by approaching big cities, but cities always reject them.
Director: Wu Wenguang, Camera: Su Ming, 60 min, 1999, English Subtitles

Along on the Railroad

Spring of 2000, in BaoJi county of China, a group of vagrants gathered on a trash platform near the railway station, celebrating the New Year.
This group of people is mostly in the same age group. They came from everywhere of the country. During the day, they venture into the city aimlessly. At night, they sleep along the rails of the station. They pick up trash and bottles around the railway for a few RMB in order to survive their hunger.
Among them, there is Zhou Fu, who had lost his money and identity card on his way home after working in the city. The other two, Li Xiao Long and Huo Hong Chang, had run away from a detention house. LittleYunnan was dumped by his boss after working for 3 years with the latter. Feng Xiang had run away from home after an argument with his family about getting married.

Six months later, most of them were nowhere to be found. It was heard that someone had seen Zhou Fu dancing on the streets naked. What drove him to the edge of madness was not known. Li Xiao Long was picked up by a policeman who kept him under his arm. Xiao Long might be the luckiest one as he had a chance to start a little stall selling barbecue mutton. Little Yunnan is now the leader among other younger vagrants. Huo Hong Chang was sent back to his hometown but had run back to the rail station again. Feng Xiang was locked up due to thefts.

Life along the railroad might seemed dramatic to a lot of people, but it is moving on ……
Director: Du Haibing, 125 min, 2000, English Subtitles

Village Head Election

The rural areas of China are inhabited by nine hundred million farmers.there,
The villagers’ committee is the autonomous organization at the grassroots level. The head of the committee, or the head of the village, used to be appointed by higher authorities. This was changed on June 1, 1998, when China introduced the organization Law at the Village Level, making the dawn of a new ear in China’s rural areas. According to this law, when the tenure of the village head expired after three years, the new head would be elected by the villagers. Even though the villagers were given the right to vote in the final election, the candidates were still nominated by bodies at a higher level.
Since the early 90s, however, some villagers in northeast China have been experimenting with what they call the sea election method to select their village head. What is a “sea election?” A phrase created by farmers in northeast China, it borrows the word “sea” from the Chinese idiom, “searching for a needle in the sea”. The term describes the newest way of election a village head, by a sea of voters. In contrast to the former practice of nomination, a sea election is a more democratic method, considering the voters as a broad and vast sea.

In the northwest province of Jilin, there is a small village called Daguan. There, in March 1998, for the first time in Daguan’s history, the sea election method was used.
Director: Hu Jingcao, 53 min, 1998, English Subtitles

ROOT – Talk between TanDun and his hometown
TanDun: Composer, Academy-Award- Winner for the score of      Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon 2001

Culture and ration documentary telefilm “ROOT” will follow the route of TanDun in his hometown Hunan,China. It will from pictures by culture and Hunan- Xianxi. The film will develop sound from TanDun’ works and nature sound to stress the life and the plot and the feeling of the documentary film. It will also try its best to emphasis between modern civilization and traditional culture; contradiction between modern culture and vulgar culture; relationship between art life and life art; etc. The whole film has a new structure and plentiful in formation. It also has artistic appreciation and ideological taste.

The film describes the days of TanDun in Miao nationality, Tujia nationality and Dong nationality to reveal beautiful mountains rivers there, dream of artist and also fusion of China and Western culture.
Director:  Sheng Bo-ji ,  29 min, 2000, English Subtitles

The Petrel Returns

“ The Petrel Returns” is the story about the pioneer of Taiwan modern dancer Ms. Tsai Ruiyue, who was born in Tainan, and had been educated in Japan. After she came back from Japan, she had met the famous poet Mr.Lei Shiyu, soon they were engaged and married while Ms. Tsai Ruiyue had decided to devoted her life to dance art and education.

“ The Petrel” is the poem dedicated to Ms. Tsai Ruiyue by Mr. Lei Shiyu. However, the political situation of White Terror after the Incident of 2.28 in Taiwan modern history seems to predict and reflect the destiny of Ms. Tsai Ruiyue in the future in the verses of the poem “ The Petrel”, However she was suffered from the political climates at that period and departed from her husband for 40 years since 1948. It’s a sad story of exile of the artist in modern society.
Director: Huang Yu Shan, 63min, 1999, English Subtitles

I Love 080

I love 080 is the Winner of the Public TV Program Award at the Documentary Festival in Taibei, 2000, a documentary story about young men serving the required two years in the Taiwanese military. It shows how those young people can start their true and meaningful life only when they get out of the army.
Director: Yang Li-chou, 60 min, 2000, English Subtitles

My Homework

The director is a student of the Tainan National College of Arts. Her motive to make this video is that she has an assignment to make a documentary. So she began a process to record the daily life of her own family. Her mother is the major narrator of this work and the center of the family. She talks about the hard time in the past. All the toil is to buy a house to shelter the children.
She wishes all the children would have a happy marriage.
The mother, as the object of the filming, is very curious about the camera. The interactions and communication between the subject of filming and the object being filmed are revealed spontaneously. The family is ordinary and simple, like a microcosm of most families. In the mean time, the work reveals a mother’s persistence and strength in facing difficulties, her contentment with the better living condition and her wishes for her children.
Director: Tseng Wen-chen, 41 mins, 1998, English Subtitles

Nei – Mong

Wu Shan-Keng Oxen Troupe has 30 members. They carry out their performance by songs & dances that describe dialogue between husbands and wives in the agricultural communities. Mr. Yang Chung-hsiung, a member of the Oxen Troupe, Soong-Chiang Formation was originated in the Qing Dynasty for the purpose of resisting the invasion from outside.
Villagers in Nei-Mong, in conjunction with the rites to honor the Goddess of Mercy held by the Purple-bamboo Temple, parades the streets on a yearly basis. Soong-Chiang Formation in Rei-shan comprises of 50 people plus. They practice the arts in the evening every Saturday. Leaving their jobs behind, Villagers and local citizens who work outside the village take part in the practice.

Chi-li Troupe in Hutou Shan has 40 plus members. Its performance is mainly ballads and delicate dancing which express love stories.
Mr.Zheng Gin-fu, a member of the drum troupe, Lungtan Drum Troupe boasts 50 plus drummers. They roar the earth to pray for rain by drumbeats and Dragon dancing.
Mr.Cho Chung-sho is a member of the peach-blossom River Crossing Singing Troupe which has more than 30 members in the troupe. They praise people’s virtues by songs and beautiful dancing style.
The year of 1999, February 14 through 17 on the lunar calendar, Purple-bamboo temple began its 4-day parade for the Buddha.
Producers: Hsu Po-hsin, Tzeng Chi-shan, 46 min, 1999, English Subtitles

Ka-Bak-Sua and the Siraya Ping Pu Grandmother

Since the mid-1600’s, when the Dutch invaded Taiwan, followed by colonialists from other countries, the Siraya (one of the ping pu ethnic group) suffered in life and “ death”, Now, over 300 years later, it appears that the Siraya have finally disappeared from the plains of Tainan County in Taiwan.
Due to the political agenda of the Chinese Nationalist KMT, the Siraya are not mentioned in history textbooks. As a result, younger Taiwanese do not know of them. Nor do they live in the memories of the elder citizens.
Siraya are not even found in official documents listing Taiwanese Aborigine tribes, because they lack official recognition as a separate indigenous group. It is as if the Siraya no longer have any relationship with Taiwan.
Is this true? In fact, the Siraya never ceased to exist. They still live under the same sun, breathe our air, and work the land of south Taiwan. Years of ethnic warfare have not eliminated them. Their traditional beliefs, culture, and religion still survive on the island. They still survive under political pressure.

Scholars often mistakenly presume that the Siraya have been completely assimilated. Since the Siraya supposedly have absorbed “ too much” Han Chinese culture, it has been determined that they should not be categorized as Aborigines. Such scholars cannot distinguish Siraya culture from the appearance of the Han Chinese. Yet Siraya know in their hearts that they are very different from Han Chinese. This is why they refuse to give up their own distinctive culture and accept that of the Han Chinese. They insist on performing traditional rituals, such as worshipping their goddess, A-li-mu, even though they may be stigmatized as fan-a, or even mocked as “ savage”.
Ka-Bak-Sua is the ancient name of Tung-she village in Tung-shan Hsiang, Tainan county. Scholars say the village once belonged to Soe-Langh of the Siraya, who migrated from Chia-li, Tainan in the Chien-lung period, during the Ching Dynasty.
Present-day Tung-he is one of the few villages which preserves relatively complete Siraya traditions and rituals. Villagers still use traditional forms to worship A-li-mu, for instance, they do not burn incense and paper money for their gods, nor worship gilded idols, as the Han Taoist Chinese do.
Director: Pan Chao-cheng, 48 min, 2001, English Subtitles