Keyword Modern China

Four independent stories set in modern China about random acts of violence.

The rigorous city life of China, while bustling and unforgiving, contains the everlasting memories of days past. Three stories told in three different cities, follow the loss of youth and the daunting realization of adulthood. Though reality may seem ever changing, unchangeable are the short-lived moments of one's childhood days. A plentiful bowl of noodles, the beauty of family and the trials of first love endure the inevitable flow of time, as three different characters explore the strength of bonds and the warmth of cherished memories. Within the disorder of the present world, witness these quaint stories recognize the comfort of the past, and attempt to revive the neglected flavors of youth.

A woman married to the brutal and infertile owner of a dye mill in rural China conceives a boy with her husband's nephew but is forced to raise her son as her husband's heir without revealing his parentage in this circular tragedy. Filmed in glowing technicolour, this tale of romantic and familial love in the face of unbreakable tradition is more universal than its setting.

Shanghai, China, 1930. When young Shuisheng arrives from the countryside, his uncle Liushu puts him at the service of Bijou, the mistress of Laoda, supreme boss of the Tang Triad, constantly threatened by his enemies, both those he knows and those lurking in the shadows.

The films spans two decades as the story unfolds in a series of flashbacks that begin when Qiyue and Ansheng were just thirteen. The two became inseparable until they met a boy who ended up tearing their lives apart.

A detailed look at the gradual decline of Shenyang’s industrial Tiexi district, an area that was once a vibrant example of China’s socialist economy. But industry is changing, and the factories of Tiexi are closing. Director Wang Bing introduces us to some of the workers affected by the closures, and to their families.

A luxury cruise boat motors up the Yangtze - navigating the mythic waterway known in China simply as "The River." The Yangtze is about to be transformed by the biggest hydroelectric dam in history. At the river's edge - a young woman says goodbye to her family as the floodwaters rise towards their small homestead. The Three Gorges Dam - contested symbol of the Chinese economic miracle - provides the epic backdrop for Up the Yangtze, a dramatic feature documentary on life inside modern China.

A fragmentary landscape for a little train station in a suburban area and a bus stop in a mining town. A lonely soldier in his heavy coat, a tired old man, a bubbly young lady, a punk, a woman waiting in the street... From all those different people in these unfamiliar places, we can feel the exhaustion of every life.

A commercial airliner on a routine flight between Taipei and Seoul is hijacked and taken to mainland China by the Taiwan Revolutionary Army Front. Chinese authorities cannot seize the plane because of the presence of an important business figure on board, but agree to cooperate with Taiwanese authorities to defuse the tense situation.

An intimate portrait of a peasant-turned oil painter transitioning from making copies of iconic Western paintings to creating his own authentic works of art.

To really understand China, you have to get to know its people! Winston "SerpentZA" Sterzel travels across China’s first tier cities – Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen – meeting the cities’ most fascinating people, including a racy nude photographer, a mosquito breeding scientist and a DIY maker challenging gender and tech stereotypes.

Shot over the course of ten years on both film and video, the film consists of a series of carefully composed tableaux of people and environments. Pedestrians shuffle across a bustling Beijing street, steelworkers linger outside a deserted factory, tourists laugh and scamper across a crowded beach, worshippers kneel to pray in a remote village. With a painterly eye for composition, Wang captures China as he sees it, calling to a temporary halt a land in a constant state of change.

British sad sack Gary is a failed entrepreneur who has just arrived in Beijing's stylish Sanlitun district, allegedly to start a business. There are other reasons why he has uprooted himself — he's followed his ex-wife and young son, for one — but he soon finds out that China isn't the easiest place to succeed. Blissfully untouched by self-awareness, and only fitfully in tune with reality, Gary sallies forth to make money, armed with faith in himself and little to no knowledge of Chinese culture. He soon hooks up with Frank, a trust-fund kid from Australia who offers to mentor Gary in Eastern ways, although Frank's pedagogical method is restricted to yelling at Gary for being a Westerner and not being as "Chinese" as him.

Li Li, intelligent young woman is working in a mill Xian'an. The company knows the difficulties. Her husband, who worked in the same company, was among the first laid off and has launched a small business (fish). They have a little boy, Bing Bing. Tired, Li Li will visit the hospital. The verdict: acute leukemia. The bone marrow is financially out of reach. Rest chemotherapy less effective but require her husband to sell the family home. In addition, Li Li needs a little freedom to live a little for herself and get answers before ... She goes to Beijing to visit the one she was in love ten years ago, and who was not accepted by her parents.

September 2019. China inaugurates the largest airport terminal in the world, which covers 700,000 m2, the equivalent of 98 football pitches. Built in 5 years, it embodies the jewel of Chinese modernity but also of French know-how. Go behind the scenes of a pharaonic construction site.

They are four of the most successful businesswomen in China: Belonging to a generation who experienced the austerity of China's cultural revolution, followed by the subsequent economic boom, they have worked their way to the very top in a patriarchal society. Today, Yang Lan is the owner of one of the leading private media companies. Dong Mingzhu is a tenacious female CEO, heading up the world's largest manufacturer of air conditioning systems. Zhang Lan is a tycoon in the luxury restaurant business. Zhou Yi is a top manager working for a big american IT company. How were these careers built? What are the social and economic contexts in which they operate? And what do these women think about the political, social and cultural state of their country?

Game developer Elliott Marc Jones, his girlfriend Stephenie and musician Matthew Sayers travel to three major Chinese cities to conquer the country's most dangerous activities and extreme sports.

10 May 2007 - China's staggering economic growth has overshadowed a more subtle shift in Chinese society. In domestic life, many women are now ignore the advice of their mothers and grandmothers, turning instead to counselling hotlines and, increasingly, divorce.

This short documentary follows a group of students from Hamilton, Ontario, on a rare three-week “tour” of China in 1972. These teenagers were the first North American students to visit China since 1949, when Mao Tse Tung’s Communists overthrew the Nationalist Government of Chiang Kai-shek.

Bei Er Duo, a girl from an ordinary family, dreams about studying in Japan to be a professional voice actor. However, her mother wants her to marry rich whilst she is young, leading to continuous blind dates which irritate Bei Er Duo. In her desperation to raise funds for studying overseas as well as helping her best friend Tang Li out of a crisis, Bei Er Duo joins a couple reality program, encountering top violin maker Ye Shu Wei.

Aisin Gioro Puyi, the last emperor of Qing dynasty, as well as the last emperor of entire Chinese history. This TV series explore modern history and its main incidents in Puyi's perspective.

After being chased by space criminals, Stitch lands in China’s Huangshan mountains where he befriends a girl named Ai.

The journey of four childhood friends who join the Kunlun Division of the People's Liberation Army and are posted to Ürümqi and the Kunlun Mountains.

In the travel series Through the heart of China photographer Ruben Terlou and director Maaik Krijgsman make their way from the far North to the Southern tip of China: from the dried-out steppes of inner Mongolia to the tropical coast of Macau-straight through the heart of China indeed.

China is rapidly becoming a world power, but much of the country and its people remain hidden to those outside its borders. China from the Inside, provides a rare insider's view of China, her institutions and people. China is at a critical point in its history -- it is richer and stronger than ever, but the clash between economic policies and the Communist political agenda complicates the lives of many of its citizens. China from the Inside includes perspectives ranging from those of the powerful to the powerless, the scholars and the uneducated, and the supporters and detractors of today's China. It does not shy away from China's many contradictions, with scenes from some of the most breathtaking places on the planet as well as the most polluted. Across four extraordinary hours, the series explores a country of 1.3 billion people undergoing astonishing growth while facing prodigious obstacles.