Showing posts with label Zhang Yimou. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Zhang Yimou. Show all posts

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Internet: China's Kangaroo Court - Jeremy Goldkorn

Jeremy Goldkorn
Jeremy Goldkorn
The famous film director Zhang Yimou was one of the last celebrities, scrutinized by a diligent internet for supposed breaches of the one-child policy. Chinese turn to the internet for real and imaginary injustice, explains internet watcher Jeremy Goldkorn in Marketplace. "It’s a kind of Kangaroo Court mentality."

Marketplace:
The first indication that Zhang had broken China’s one-child policy reportedly came last year, when an actress who failed an audition for Zhang’s last film posted the information on the Internet. Chinese social media observer Jeremy Goldkorn says turning to the Internet for justice -- or revenge -- has become common in China. 
"The Internet generally is really the only place that Chinese people can turn to if they feel they were victims of an injustice or if they feel the government is doing something wrong," says Goldkorn, "but there is a negative side to it. There is a sort of vigilantism that can be very nasty. It’s a kind of Kangaroo Court mentality.”
More in Marketplace.

Jeremy Goldkorn is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers' request form.

China Weekly Hangout: 

Next week the +China Weekly Hangout will focus on the changes in China's labor force, with +Dee Lee (Inno) of the NGO Inno in Guangzhou, running since 2007 a workers' hotline. You can read our initial announcement here, or register directly for the event here.

China has no shortage of injustice to discuss. The China Weekly Hangout discussed food security and dead pigs in Shanghai's Huangpu river earlier this year with sustainability expert +Richard Brubaker, +Andrew Hupert and +Chris Brown on food security and how the ongoing problems will lead to massive food inflation. In the end we (both in China and outside) will have to pay the price for safe food. Moderation: +Fons Tuinstra of the +China Speakers Bureau.
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Saturday, January 07, 2012

Why Zhang Yimou's movie did not convince me - Zhang Lijia

Zhang Lijia
Author Zhang Lijia reviewed for the BBC film director Zhang Yimou's latest movie The Flowers of War. On her weblog she explains why the movie did not convince her.

Zhang Lijia:
[The film] certainly stands head and shoulder higher than most of the Chinese films. Yet I found it unsatisfying despite its enormous potential to be a truly great one. 
I don’t think it is a propaganda film but rather China’s effort in pushing its film industry onto the world stage and more importantly, director Zhang Yimou’s bid for Oscar, something he got his eyes on for a while. When he read the novelFlowers of the War by famous writer Yan Geling, he became very excited. I remember Yan, a friend, talked about this. I think Zhou saw it as his ticket to Oscar. He had wanted to produce a Chinese version of the Schindler’s list,something profound that reflects the insight of human mind set against a dramatic backdrop, such as a war.
I am afraid that he’ll be disappointed. To me, the film lacks depth. It places far too much emphasis on the American fake priest, played by Hollywood star Christian Bale, brought in perhaps to attract the international audience. But the character is unconvincing as the plot itself: his transformation from a ‘jerk’ to an unselfish noble man is far too abrupt. And we audience don’t know enough about where he was coming from to feel connected with him.
More on Zhang Lijia's weblog

Zhang Lijia is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need her at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers' request form.

More about Zhang Lijia and China's moral crisis at Storify.
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