Happy Lunar New Year from the USC US-China Institute!
1428 Tours the U.S.
1428 won last year's Best Documentary Award at the Venice International Film Festival. Director Du Haibin will attend the screening.
Where
The Great Sichuan Earthquake took place at 14:28 on May 12, 2008. Days later, victims were reduced to salvaging destroyed pig farms in the mountains, recuperating scrap metals for the equivalent of pennies in profit, and pillaging homes. Some seven months after the earthquake, when villagers are preparing for the Lunar New Year, and promises made for all to live in houses in winter seem tough to keep, the director goes beyond the highly mediated official visits to shows us scenes not seen on official TV. New Year‘s Day starts as never-ending parade of tourists buying DVDs of the most horrific scenes, souvenir albums of corpses being pulled out of the ruins, and photo-taking in front of Beichuan, the town most severely hit, where tens of thousands of people perished in seconds.
Written and directed by DU Haibin.
Produced by Ben TSIANG. Cinematography by LI Ai’guo.
“This is independent documentary at its most sophisticated.” – Shelly Kraicer, Vancouver International Film Festival
Featured Articles
We note the passing of many prominent individuals who played some role in U.S.-China affairs, whether in politics, economics or in helping people in one place understand the other.
Events
Ying Zhu looks at new developments for Chinese and global streaming services.
David Zweig examines China's talent recruitment efforts, particularly towards those scientists and engineers who left China for further study. U.S. universities, labs and companies have long brought in talent from China. Are such people still welcome?