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This is a film about love, about family and about the love between the members of a family. A simple village girl falls in love with a primary-school teacher, and their love story unfolds during a particularly difficult period in China's modern history. In the past, artists have tended to deal with this period in a rather serious and analytic way, but I prefer to use more poetic and romantic methods to tell this pure and simple love story. It was just this kind of true love which enabled us to survive such difficult periods in our past.
In the film, the elements of history and present-day reality are both grounded in the notion of study. At the same time, the story shows the attitude of country people towards learning - essentially, an attitude of respect and veneration. All of this brings to mind the ways that Chinese people have reacted to 'learning' at two particular moments in our modern history. The first of these was several decades ago. For purely political reasons, learning was cruelly devalued. Intellectuals suffered physical abuse and were made to 'disappear'. The second of these is today. Everyone now understands the principle that knowledge equals power, and yet so many of us are ultra-materialistic and obsessed with money. Learning is once again being devalued.
I want to use this film to take a fresh look at these fundamental issues in Chinese society and history.
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