Verify out these yiwu fair pictures:
IMG_4738
Image by uniondocs
Umbrella by Du Haibin
China, 2008, 93 minutes, digital projections
presented with
the MOCA Chinese Cinema Club
and the China Institute Sinomathèque Film Series
The plan of financial reforms initiated in China in 1978 by Deng Xiaoping aimed to finance the modernization of the nation. But what Communist Celebration leaders named “Socialism with Chinese characteristics” looked suspiciously to many as a return to capitalism. These days, some 3 decades later, the results of those sweeping financial reforms have turn out to be plainly visible in a nation increasingly divided among its rural and urban sectors.
Filmed in five distinct regions of China, UMBRELLA offers a telling appear at the vast changes that have taken place in Chinese society, such as a enormous migration from the countryside to the cities, the rise of a prosperous new class of businesspeople, millions of new college graduates competing for a shrinking number of jobs, and the neglect of China’s biggest population group, its rural peasants.
Filmed in a purely observational style, with no narration or commentary, UMBRELLA shows the workaday life of young staff in a factory in Zhongshan, Guangdong Province, exactly where they engage in monotonous, endlessly and swiftly repeated routines to manufacture umbrellas, for which they are paid a meager piece price. At a enormous buying mall, the “World’s Largest Little Commodity Marketplace,” in Yiwu, Zhejiang Province, these multicolored, multipatterned umbrellas are sold at significantly larger costs by wholesale merchants, who are among China’s nouveaux riche.
The film also shows throngs of young individuals filling out applications at a job fair in Shanghai or undergoing physical drills and ideological regimentation at a provincial garrison of the People’s Liberation Army. Ultimately, on a farm in Luoyang, Henan Province, we watch a group of elderly farmers struggle to salvage a premature harvest of drought-impacted wheat.
UMBRELLA makes sadly apparent the old adage about “the rich becoming richer and the poor becoming poorer,” with China’s peasant farmers, who are struggling to survive amidst the combined forces of globalization and the new Chinese economy, bearing the brunt of the country’s developing pains.
“Fascinating, if brutally depressing. It paints a decidedly distinct image than the Chinese government would want you to believe.”—Jeffrey M. Anderson, Combustible Celluloid
“In creating a vast societal portrait by way of his concentrate on umbrellas, Du pulls off the rare feat of capturing the ephemeral.”—Jennique Mason, San Francisco Bay Guardian
Du Haibin was born in Baoji City in Shanxi Province in China. He studied painting from childhood. In 1993 he studied Painting and Photography at the Beijing Central Academy of Arts. In 1996 he entered Beijing Film Academy in the Photography department. In 1998 he began documentary filmmaking and creative photography perform. Du Haibin has created several function documentaries and two fiction films.
IMG_4713
Image by uniondocs
Umbrella by Du Haibin
China, 2008, 93 minutes, digital projections
presented with
the MOCA Chinese Cinema Club
and the China Institute Sinomathèque Film Series
The program of financial reforms initiated in China in 1978 by Deng Xiaoping aimed to finance the modernization of the nation. But what Communist Party leaders called “Socialism with Chinese characteristics” looked suspiciously to many as a return to capitalism. These days, some three decades later, the outcomes of those sweeping financial reforms have turn into plainly visible in a country increasingly divided amongst its rural and urban sectors.
Filmed in 5 distinct regions of China, UMBRELLA supplies a telling look at the vast changes that have taken place in Chinese society, like a massive migration from the countryside to the cities, the rise of a prosperous new class of businesspeople, millions of new college graduates competing for a shrinking quantity of jobs, and the neglect of China’s biggest population group, its rural peasants.
Filmed in a purely observational style, with no narration or commentary, UMBRELLA shows the workaday life of young workers in a factory in Zhongshan, Guangdong Province, where they engage in monotonous, endlessly and quickly repeated routines to manufacture umbrellas, for which they are paid a meager piece price. At a huge shopping mall, the “World’s Biggest Small Commodity Market,” in Yiwu, Zhejiang Province, those multicolored, multipatterned umbrellas are sold at significantly larger costs by wholesale merchants, who are among China’s nouveaux riche.
The film also shows throngs of young people filling out applications at a job fair in Shanghai or undergoing physical drills and ideological regimentation at a provincial garrison of the People’s Liberation Army. Ultimately, on a farm in Luoyang, Henan Province, we watch a group of elderly farmers struggle to salvage a premature harvest of drought-impacted wheat.
UMBRELLA tends to make sadly apparent the old adage about “the rich becoming richer and the poor becoming poorer,” with China’s peasant farmers, who are struggling to survive amidst the combined forces of globalization and the new Chinese economy, bearing the brunt of the country’s increasing pains.
“Fascinating, if brutally depressing. It paints a decidedly distinct image than the Chinese government would want you to think.”—Jeffrey M. Anderson, Combustible Celluloid
“In generating a vast societal portrait via his focus on umbrellas, Du pulls off the uncommon feat of capturing the ephemeral.”—Jennique Mason, San Francisco Bay Guardian
Du Haibin was born in Baoji City in Shanxi Province in China. He studied painting from childhood. In 1993 he studied Painting and Photography at the Beijing Central Academy of Arts. In 1996 he entered Beijing Film Academy in the Photography division. In 1998 he began documentary filmmaking and creative photography work. Du Haibin has made many feature documentaries and two fiction films.