ii: L iiiiliiliilii)iiiiii) 5. -. E5‘ M- 9. HS-R [lllii1 F, T 1° mm: , @ HFRFIVIIF RIIRIVIF 1! IIIIIN IVIINFHRII SEEDS OF ti W FIRE P .0 CHINESE VOICES .;~ OF CONSCIENCE r’ _ Edited by i Geremie Barmé A and cg B L 7 1-_i__flJ‘D John Minford F 1 . 1 . Foreword by ’:(‘~~~~~ Y5» ,~1(.>‘*11..‘/. 1 "" Orville Schcll ,3 ..,_p 1 1 .4. _ I“!_._ .k ‘ “As 1ong as 111ere s11a_11 be s10.6.’,n < j MH A j H . the seeds of fire w1ll not d1e. Lu Xun, December 1935 _ N 1 (from the original manuscript) . Foreword copyright © 1989 by Hiii and Wang. Copyright ©19B8,1989 by Geremie Barmé 81 John Minford. Copyright ©1986 by Far Eastern Economic Review Ltd. ISBN: l 85224 O56 3 This edition published 1989 by Bloodaxe Books Ltd, P.O. Box 1SN, To Lu Xun, Newcastle upon Tyne NE99 1SN. on the fiftieth anniversary ofhis death Published simultaneously in the USA by the Noonday Press, a division of Farrar, Straus & Giroux, Inc, New York, October 19, 1956. and in Canada by Harper 81 Coilins, Toronto. Published originally in hardcover by Hili and Wang, a division of Farrar, Straus & Giroux. First American edition 1988. First UK edition Bloodaxe Books 1989. Bloodaxe Books Ltd acknowledges the financial assistance of Northern Arts. Substantial portions of this book were first published by Far Eastern Economic Review Ltd, Hong Kong, 1986. Material from In Exile in the Land of Snows by john F. Avedon. Copyright © 1979, 1984 by John F. Avedon. Reprinted by permission of Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. LEGAL NOTICE All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form, or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of Bloodaxe Books Ltd. Printed in the United States of America. Published by arrangement with Farrar, Straus & Ciroux, Inc, 19 Union Square West, New York, NY 10003, USA. -.»---—\---e___.,....s.._-....._.,,,_,_,, .‘ , if _.-..1 Fa 5 Q-4jfjz ‘Q;1:: Si?=;: 5..‘__§.1‘_‘\‘-4! —-1 1;"ti;§=-L -A_---. 1--_a<. 1 1". ,."."1;~m.1r ' 5~‘<rT~‘!‘:.f"‘~;i 51 ~ --aw... \'1v*>~¢v- 1....“ M. .i-.......-. J4)» rmI."W‘$ NW"!‘\’V' Made for the University of New South Wales VI I I : Yl€LL(f)VV EARTH under Part VB of the Copyright Act 1968 in reliance on (circle one of the following): s135ZJ (article contained in a periodical) st work contained in an anthology) 3 any other print or graphic copying) te) .... Made for the University of i\_lew South Wales under Part va of the CoPV"9h1A°* 1965 in reliance on (circle one of the following): 51352.1 (article contained in a periodical) s1 ZK (work contained in an anthology) n other rint orgraphic copying) on (date) ./_.. .c2c1c) \ The makers of this film have thought deeply and seriously about society and life; and even if their feelings are vague and obtuse at times, they have gone far beyond the social analyses and statistics of our philosophers and sociologists. Huang Z0/rgying . cinematic innovation must keep pace with what the masses can accept and enjoy . .. if we let things go, there will be an un- conscious drift towards “art for art's sake” and “innovation for the sake of innovation". Xia Yan Ycl/our lf.‘arIlr 353 Yellow Earth Although critics tirade much of the tragic fate of the heroine, Cuiqiao, it is perhaps in the character of her younger brother, Hanhan, and the —an Llmvelcome Guest deceptive silence with which he preserves his individuality, that we can find the most striking message of the film. The dispassionate yet pessimistic picture presented by the makers of “Yellow Earth” and its relevance to China today struck the film’s supporters as well as its opponents. Huang Zongying, one of the most WHEN THE FILM “Yellow Earth” was screened at the Hong Kong open-minded members of China’s film establishment, demonstrated her International Film Festival in March i985, it was immediately hailed understanding of the real significance of “Yellow Earth” when she said: by local and international film critics as representing the long-awaited “l am convinced that the next generation of film-makers will leave us breakthrough in Chinese cinema. It was subsequently invited to festivals all far behind. But what worries inc is that the conservative stodginess in Europe and America, and bought for commercial release in many of our vctcran film-makers is making the young despise them.” countries, making it internationally the most popular Chinese film In the following we offer a short synopsis of the film and a pic- made since 1949. torial introduction to highlights of the work, along with a selection of “Yellow Earth” was completed in late 1984, and initially refused contrasting comments from a discussion of “Yellow Earth” by the international release by China’s film censors amidst considerable committee which chose the Golden Rooster Awards (China’s Oscars), controversy. Many critics found the perspective of the director, Chen in l985. Kaige, and Zhang Yimou, his cinematographer, to be politically suspect, condemning the film for using mass art as a vehicle to “display the backward and ignorant aspect of the Chinese peasantry.” Chen was regarded as being too young to understand what Yan’an was all about, and he was accused of distorting the Communist spirit. The striking simplicity of the plot and stunning cinematography»--both rare achieve- ments for a film culture that has if anything become more theatrical and contrived since l949——were roundly decried for being “arty” and “naturalistic”. In fact, “Yellow Earth” was only one of a number For Chinese film audiences and critics alike, the arrival of “Yellow of controversial films made by new directors—the so-called “fifth- Earth” was quite unexpected. It was like a pleasant social gathering where generation” of film-makers trained in Peking since the Cultural Revolu- people are awaiting the arrival_ofa friend: the doorbell rings, the door opens, tion. However, it was the popularity of Chen’s work with young urban but the person who steps in is a stranger that no one recognizes. The inter- audiences and the international attention that brought the debate lopcr and the guests gape at each other, a lively conversation that has been surrounding the new cinema into the open. in progress gradually dies out and there is an awkward silence. If the un- On a deeper and, for orthodox Communist viewers, more dis- biddcn stranger apologizes, says he has come to the wrong place, then tums and leaves, the matter could end there. However, if he is stubborn, and turbing level, “Yellow Earth” reflected the vision of the Urbling declares that he is going to join the party anyway, there could be some generation of the Cultural Revolution, the dispossessed young people trouble. Two things could happen: he might be rudely ejected, or he may sent to be “re-educated” by the peasants. The director as well as most be grudgingly accepted and become a friend. of his film-crew belong to this group, and the understanding of Chinese realities that their exile afforded them is in striking contrast to the dis- —~Li Tuo, film critic and novelist torted and blinkered vision of the older Party and cultural leaders. Yr'lIm\' /fill‘!/I 255 /\ young girl, Cuiqiao. has come to watch the wedding, anxious Synopsis to learn something of her own fate. Afterwards she goes to the Yellow River to fetch water, and sings to the tune of a local folksong: SPRING 1939, North Shaanxi. As part of a mass effort to niohilmc thle In the sixth month the ice in the River hasn’t thawed, lt‘s my own father who is dragging me to the wedding board. Deasant; against the Route rmy Pfopagiln ' “' T ‘ T Of all the five grains, the bean is the roundest, Of all the people, daughters are the saddest. of the villages on the loess plateauby the Yellow Rilger, \:l::@1i1§li1Ifv:-‘C65 Up in the sky pigeons fly, one with the other, 30Wedding'oin the Ifrocteséfligeas . ri:1<f:iiis,afii)rt1iOzi::»;t<>liii-iiiiil‘ iiiiiifvieih‘ TTIILIET \1>vooden fish The only dear one that I long for is my mother. iireloffered instead of live ones to the guests- That night Gu Qing stays at a peasant’s cave home. The father is in his late forties but looks much older, and he lives with his two children: fourteen year~old Cuiqiao, and her brother Hanhan, who is l about tan. Gu Qing explains that he has come to collect folksongs, l and asks them if they can sing, but they are non-committal. He learns that the bride he saw earlier was only fourteen. He tells the family that the Communist Party opposes child marriages, but the father is not impressed. The next morning Cuiqiao brings water for Gu Qing. He starts mending his clothes, explaining that in the Eighth Route Army the women are soldiers just like the men, and the men mend their own clothes. On the doorframe outside, Cuiqiao sticks up the New Year couplets. Gu Qing is surprised to see that instead of Chinese characters there are only black circles. Cuiqiao tells him that there is no one in the area who is literate. She also explains that her father is suspicious of Gu Qing’s notebook. Gu Qing climbs up the ridge to the family’s field, desolate in the spring drought, where he finds the father and son. He lends a hand, and the family is surprised at his skill.