Xu Xing and Hist Independent Films in China
Xu Xing, director
Moderated by Ying Qian, Assistant Professor, Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures, Columbia University
XU Xing 徐星 is a writer, documentary film maker and public intellectual currently residing in Beijing. As a writer he announced his literary presence with a collection of short stories, Variations Without a Theme, that established his iconic status in the new modernist movement in the 1980s. His short stories and novel, All That is Left Is Yours, have been translated into many languages and he has been called the “Chinese Jack Kerouac” by foreign critics. His film work focuses on subjects such as the Cultural Revolution and the poor, marginal, and abject in Chinese history and contemporary society.