A handful of good yiwu fair pictures I discovered:
IMG_4693
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 economic reforms initiated in China in 1978 by Deng Xiaoping aimed to finance the modernization of the nation. But what Communist Party leaders known as “Socialism with Chinese characteristics” looked suspiciously to several as a return to capitalism. Today, some three decades later, the results of those sweeping financial reforms have become plainly visible in a nation increasingly divided amongst its rural and urban sectors.
Filmed in 5 different regions of China, UMBRELLA gives a telling look at the vast changes that have taken location 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 largest 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, where they engage in monotonous, endlessly and rapidly repeated routines to manufacture umbrellas, for which they are paid a meager piece rate. At a huge buying mall, the “World’s Largest Small Commodity Marketplace,” in Yiwu, Zhejiang Province, these multicolored, multipatterned umbrellas are sold at much larger rates by wholesale merchants, who are among China’s nouveaux riche.
The film also shows throngs of young men and women 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. Lastly, 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 wealthy 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 expanding pains.
“Fascinating, if brutally depressing. It paints a decidedly diverse picture than the Chinese government would want you to think.”—Jeffrey M. Anderson, Combustible Celluloid
“In creating a vast societal portrait through his concentrate 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 department. In 1998 he began documentary filmmaking and creative photography function. Du Haibin has made many feature documentaries and two fiction films.
IMG_4710
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 system 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 a lot of as a return to capitalism. Nowadays, some three decades later, the outcomes of these sweeping economic reforms have grow to be plainly visible in a nation increasingly divided amongst its rural and urban sectors.
Filmed in five different regions of China, UMBRELLA offers a telling appear at the vast modifications that have taken spot in Chinese society, like 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 largest 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 swiftly repeated routines to manufacture umbrellas, for which they are paid a meager piece price. At a enormous shopping mall, the “World’s Biggest Small Commodity Market place,” in Yiwu, Zhejiang Province, these multicolored, multipatterned umbrellas are sold at considerably larger costs by wholesale merchants, who are amongst China’s nouveaux riche.
The film also shows throngs of young men and women 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 wealthy 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 producing a vast societal portrait through 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 division. In 1998 he started documentary filmmaking and inventive photography function. Du Haibin has created quite a few feature documentaries and two fiction films.