Up to the Mountain, Down to the Village

Film by Chris Billing, USA/China, 2005, 50’, Languages: English/Chinese; English subtitles for Chinese passages only. With an introduction by Mareile Flitsch

Up to the Mountain, Down to the Village

The title refers to Mao Zedong’s policy of sending more than 17 million junior high and high school students "up to the mountain, down to the village." The documentary film traces the memories of three of these then teenagers, now grown-ups living with their families in the USA. In order to make their children understand where they come from, they travel with them to the places of their former commune in rural China. During this journey, the parents and the Sino-American social anthropologist Yan Yunxiang reflect on their experiences in the People's Republic of China between 1966 and 1976 and on their lives.