Director/photographer: Ji Dan
Editor: Ji Dan, Sha Qing
Length: 82 mins
Production: 2006
Synopsis：
The village of Xiaomo located on the banks of the flood-prone Yellow River, has seen more than its fair share of demons. Half a century ago, after a devastating flood wiped out nearly the entire community, the village was left with the rather unfortunate moniker “Xiaomo Village” (which translates roughly as “Death Village”). Today, the village faces new calamities: poverty, backwardness, death, disease and the steady migration of its young people to cities that seem to offer greater opportunities and the hope for a better life.
The film is about the separation between two genaration in countrside of China. YunYun,a talent boy from this village gave up his career as a village schoolteacher, turned his back on local tradition and migrated to the thriving economic metropolis of Guangzhou. In 1998, Yun Yun was arrested, charged with membership in a criminal gang and participation in a gun-related double homicide and sentenced to three years in prison. As of 2001, his parents have still had no word on his case or his whereabouts; their greatest fear is that he may have been executed. Facing an uncertain future, the aging couple continues to farm the family plot, mourn their unfortunate fate and burn paper offerings for the soul of their only son..
Eventually, Yun Yun’s father makes the long journey to Guangzhou, only to be informed that his son is still in custody, but allowed no visitors or correspondence. He returns to the village dejected at not being able to meet with Yun Yun but cheered that he is still alive. Not long afterward, the couple receives a letter from Yun Yun, announcing his imminent release from prison. Once again, they begin planning for their son’s future, organizing a homecoming and making arrangements to find him a bride. But the homecoming does not go as smoothly as they had envisioned…after so many years in the big city, Yun Yun chafes at the narrow conventions of village life, and seems eager to set out again in search of his fortune. The conflict that ensues highlights the many contradictions inherent in contemporary Chinese society: the conflict between tradition and modernity, materialism and spirituality, village and city, parent and child and the delicate balance between the collective good and personal fulfillment.