Visual Anthropology in Kunming, China

The film is a por­trait of the vil­lage Xiang­shui­ba in Lulian county, of the Yunnan province. This is Chen Xueli’s home­town. The film doc­u­ments the main sea­son­al eco­nom­ic activ­i­ties such as mush­room col­lect­ing, fish­ing, sand col­lec­tion and trans­porta­tion. In order to give a more vivid por­trait of the sit­u­a­tion of younger women living in today’s rural coun­try­side of China, a wed­ding which took place in Chen Xueli’s family is filmed. By inter­view­ing the older women and jux­ta­pos­ing these parts with the mus­ings of the younger girls, they show how and why gender rela­tions and posi­tions slowly begin to change.

Yi Sicheng’s film doc­u­ments a day in the life of Qing Baohua. The film starts in the morn­ing when Qing begins his day as a news­pa­per-seller, which in China is … read more