≡

Director: Ju Anqi
Documentary
Producer Country: France / Italy / Mainland of China
Year: 2008

China today resembles night-filled with imagination. For a long period of time China was a country that did not like to discuss darkness or night. For decades the “Red Sun” was the most direct form of allowed imagination. Under today’s sun office buildings and construction sights dominate one’s vision. But in the evening everything changes, and you can see the spiritual life of the people. Evenings everywhere provide us with an opportunity to see ourselves, as through a mirror’s reflection. In the evenings humanity is always more sensitive and vulnerable. In its darkness we are cloaked in intimacy and obscurity. All through the day, people work hard to put on and maintain appearances, and daytime resembles a stage on which people perform. Yet during the evening we are able to wander backstage. Today, China is no longer in the generation of the “Red Sun”. Now we can see a different side of China’s red sun. The reality of China today is a microcosm of the world. China is not just a socialist country; it’s no longer that simple. Today the leaders of China have told the world they are constructing a socialist country with “Chinese characteristics”. But what are “Chinese characteristics”? “Night in China” is my own view of what these characteristics are. This documentary is about the backstage of Chinese characteristics; a side of its reality that is rarely examined. In this film you will not see daytime in China, as all of the stories occur between dusk and dawn. Yet the night is like a tension that can be stretched so far that through the night you can better understand people’s day. If China is a metaphor for a person, the day resembles the skin and hair. The night is the bones and inner organs. With this in mind my camera lens will be like a scope probing through the inside of a person’s body. “Night in China” will not only let you see China’s reality, but it will also let you see its more surreal side.