The Quiet Revolution: Documentaries on Chinese Village Self-Governance

Description

Screening: Wednesday 11 October 6pm – Cambridge Arts Picturehouse
Discussion and Reception: Thursday 12 October 5pm for 5.15pm – CRASSH, 17 Mill Lane

The Quiet Revolution: Ten short ground-breaking documentaries on Chinese village self-governance, filmed by the villagers themselves (total 95 minutes, Chinese with English subtitles).

Plus Seen and Heard: a documentary by Jian Yi which tells the story of how the villagers became the DV story tellers in their home villages (55 minutes, Chinese with English subtitles).

Acclaimed as a 'quiet revolution', China's village self-governance system, which started in the early 1980s, can be considered a significant step in the political history of China. In this new rural governance mechanism, installed and protected by the Chinese law, state power withdraws from the rural areas, while the villagers become entitled to elect their own Village Committee and to manage and supervise village affairs. This unique footage gives the insiders' perspective on the politics of village life under these post-Maoist reforms. The films will be presented by Mr Jian Yi, filmmaker and photographer, formerly based at the EU-China Training Programme on Village Governance, a joint venture between the European Union and the Chinese Ministry of Civil Affairs.

Following the UK premiere of the films at the Cambridge Arts Picturehouse on October 11, Yi will discuss the project at CRASSH on October 12. The seminar will be chaired by Professor David McMullen of the Faculty of Oriental Studies.

The villagers' films (approx 10 minutes each) are:

    * A Welfare Council
      By NONG Ke, Male, 59, ethnic Zhuang farmer from Guangxi Autonomous Region
    * A Futile Election
      By ZHANG Huancai, Male, 45, a Shaanxi native, a farmer plus freelance writer
    * Village Leader Wu Aiguo
      By ZHOU Cengjia, Male, 42, a farmer from Hu'nan Province
    * I Film My Village
      By SHAO Yuzhen, Female, 55, a farmer from Beijing
    * Returning Home for the Election
      By NI Lianghui, Male, 35, a Hu'bei native, currently running a barber shop in the coastal province of Guangdong
    * Spirit Mountain
      By TSHE Ring Sgrol Ma, Female, 24, an ethnic Tibetan living in Yunnan Province
    * Quarry
      By JIA Zhitan, Male, 55, a farmer from Hu'nan Province
    * Our Village Committee
      By FU Jiachong, Male, 49, a village Communist Party chairman from He'nan Province
    * Land Distribution
      By WANG Wei, Male, 28, a farmer from Shandong Province
    * Did Go Back to Vote?
      By YI Chujian, Male, 26, a villager from Zhejiang Province, currently making a living by doing camerawork for a wedding video studio in a nearby town

Event sponsored by CRASSH, St John's College and Magdalene College