WOMEN CENGJING DE WUCHANZHE (ONCE UPON A TIME PROLETARIAN: 12 TALES OF A COUNTRY)

“Don’t worry about what has passed, look towards what is coming.” This far-eastern proverb works as a mission statement for Xiaolu Guo’s filmic kaleidoscope of China in post Marxist times. In twelve stories a range of different people tell of their everyday lives: a restaurant owner, a factory worker, a fishmonger, a park manager, a millionaire stockbroker. They all give an insight into China after Mao. Complementing these stories are subtle parables, which with their simplicity and their subtle humour shrewdly shed light on Chinese society. Looking back is thus always accompanied by a perspective on the future. This is a multi-faceted portrait of social and political China.