Original subtitles

Sometimes when I go out to herd the sheep...

I pass by the decaying houses and I feel bitter.

It was in 1986 when the last family moved away from here.

Before that there were more than 100 people in our village.

Their departure was hard, but there was no water.

When the other families began to move out...

we helped them load up and saw them off.

Seeing them leave we cried, and they cried, too.

I was very sad, and felt very bitter in my heart.

We all lived together here.

We really regret that we didn't leave too.

When I was a little boy... it rained a lot.

Sometimes water flooded everywhere.

The animals grazed by the river.

They came on their own to drink, there was so much water.

But in the late 1980's the water level began to sink.

The weather got dryer and we used the water to irrigate the fields.

Since it didn't rain much, we started to drill deep wells.

We pumped the water with diesel engines.

That's when the groundwater started to sink even further.

Now we face a severe water shortage.

All the young people left to work in the industry.

So did my son and daughter-in-law.

Though they work far away...

they come home each year to help with the harvest.

Here we go...

He climbed on the bed without taking his shoes off.

On the way here we saw an accident...

One car was completely destroyed.

Though I work away from home,

my heart is here with my parents.

I'm always wondering if they are well or not.

I worry about this all the time.

Everytime I come home, I feel so happy.

- What's that noise outside? - A cock.

At first I didn't agree to marry him.

Because his family lived in such a bad place.

There were very few families living here at the time.

Most of them had moved away.

When he got a job away from here I finally agreed to marry him.

We then left to work instead of farming here.

Only under this condition did I agree.

If he had decided to stay here, I would not have married him.

I don't know where fate would have taken me.

Come on, be a good boy!

Because we are short of water...

we can only grow fennel seeds here.

Nothing else... other plants won't grow.

I hate working in the field.

Cutting grass is really hard.

When the plants are fully grown...

this work is so difficult.

Your legs hurt... and your hips.

If you work in a factory, at least you don't have to stand in the sun.

My wife doesn't want to stay here.

She always thinks someplace else is better.

In my opinion, there's no better place than home.

I feel very connected to this place.

I hope I can persuade her to live here.

We could take care of both child and parents.

I would feel relieved at heart then.

Stop it... let me do it.

I need the support of my parents.

My father can make decisions for me.

It's a kind of reliance...

a kind of dependency.

Put it in front...

I don't want the bags to fall off.

Tie it down from there...

My parents raised me for more than twenty years.

Now they're old and they should enjoy life.

It was not easy for them to raise me.

If we are not able to take care of them now...

It will make me sad at heart.

If his parents can't take care of themselves, they should come with us.

That's what I think.

I don't know what he thinks, we never really talked about it.

I carry the whole family in my heart...

he only thinks about his parents, since he's a dutiful son.

But I look at the big picture.

I think my son and his wife need to go back to their jobs.

Life here is difficult for people and animals.

Without water... we have trouble surviving.

I really hope they find a better life elsewhere.

Ok... that's it.

Since we stayed with my parents for so long

I was worried about losing my job.

So immediately after we got back, I called my boss.

I asked him if I can have my job back.

The boss said yes on the phone.

They still need people.

Now I'm driving a loader.

I'm not very good at it... but I'll manage.

When we arrived yesterday, Wei asked me on the stairs...

Why are you so happy here?

I said, I am just happy.

Why am I not like you, he asked. Why am I only happy at home?

I am just the opposite, I said.

I just want to settle here...

Hello, dad, what are you doing?

Oh, you've just finished the meal?

Is the boy there?

What are you doing?

I'm at work, what are you doing?

I'm playing.

Have you had your dinner?

Not yet.

Are you behaving?

Not really.

Oh, you should behave.

I got it.

I'll bring...

I will bring the toy car to you.

What? - Do you miss me?

Do you miss me?

Taotao said that his willie misses me!

That's what he said...

Children! - When he understands, he won't say that anymore.

Next time we will bring his toy car...

Though I miss my son I had to leave him and come here.

I need to make as much money as I can.

Missing him doesn't help.

We had to come here to make money.

As soon as I start working again it will distract me...

from missing him too much.

Most people who work here...

don't go back anymore.

First just one person comes, and later the whole family.

Many settle down here.

The drivers here come from all over China.

They don't have farmland anymore... so they come here to work.

Some of them want to explore the world.

They feel good being workers.

But for me farming is still better than working here.

Maybe my thinking is too backward.

Wei doesn't want to work for others...

he says his boss constantly checks on him.

He hates that, he just wants to farm.

Our boss made tens of millions with this coalwash business.

The boss is doing well, we are not.

We workers can't make money, but the boss sure can.

This place is not so bad after all.

This work just makes your face black.

What you cough up is like coal.

To be famous you need a good name...

Mine is Zhang Zui!

Ok, I'll call you Zhang Lang then (cockroach).

Wei and I have been married for ten years now.

He has always been nice to me.

We have never quarrelled.

We only have this one big problem we can't solve.

We hardly ever talk about it.

You ask me about my dreams?

What kind of dream could I have under these conditions? Just...

To be realistic...

I work here, save some money...

buy an apartment and settle down here.

A bigger dream will not come true.

Peace and security for the family... just an average life.

I don't have dreams.

Want to move over?

I feel relieved after speaking about it.

If you hadn't asked... I would have never talked about it.

It would still be buried deep in my heart.

The weather is quite ok today...

Keep it down!

Fuck!

- Holy shit. - They all get away.

Keep the net down!

Caught anything yet?

Just wait... it can't be that difficult!

Let's try again...

That's a big one.

The mountains you see in the background...

look like a row of guards protecting us.

Like I told you before...

one hill looks like an inkstone, the other like a writing brush.

It looks like someone writing at a table.

That's why many scholars come from this place.

One of my ancestors was a high-ranking official in the Qing Dynasty.

He always had a book in his hand.

He was very strict with his children.

You should all study hard, he kept saying.

Education is what we inherited from our ancestors.

They all studied so hard.

Why couldn't we do the same?

In each generation we had scholars.

That's our story.

Studying hard in a cold chamber with a burning will.

Like a huge eagle with powerful wings in a small sky.

I won't write anymore, I've had enough.

I could write my name...

but I'll just leave it at that.

All the houses in the village belonged to my family once.

They all belonged to my family.

This house here goes back over 300 years.

My ancestors worked for the Old Government. They built the houses.

It was after the Chinese Revolution in 1951...

that the houses were handed over to others.

This happened because my family had been officials.

In Chinese history, each new dynasty had to overthrow the old one.

You could not do anything about it.

It was in November 1965...

that the Cultural Revolution began.

The students began to march with red flags in their hands.

During that time...

the Red Guards started to attack rich farmers and landlords.

They recklessly raided their homes.

Under the leadership of the old elite...

there had been permanent class conflicts.

Full of hate the Red Guards captured the landlords.

They paraded them through the streets, with tall hats on their heads.

The red slogans on the walls go back to the Cultural Revolution.

They were written by Mao's propaganda teams.

They could write whatever they wanted.

We had no rights, we couldn't stop them.

You can't erase the slogans, no matter how hard you try.

But that's all history now.

Life goes on...

What happened lies in the past.

I didn't experience the Cultural Revolution in China.

I was fighting in Vietnam during that time.

When I returned I was appointed to take charge of the village.

I became the Party Secretary and the local leader.

The leadership here was in a mess.

The people in charge were from a radical faction of the Red Guards.

What they had done was bad.

They beat, denounced and imprisoned people.

There was no law. They did what they liked.

Our books were piled up and burnt in the courtyard.

It was such a shame, but we could do nothing.

Those books were very precious.

My ancestors collected ancient masterpieces.

They even had literature from foreign countries.

They really honored the past.

But some villagers said the old books were not suitable for us.

The books should all be burned!

Without mercy the landlord's family members were beaten to death.

In our village alone five or six people had been killed.

Six were brutally killed.

They were hung from trees and their bodies were slashed by knives.

The worst case was a boy named Shen Jicheng.

He was not even 15 years old when he was beaten to death.

They brutally beat him with firewood.

After the boy's killing no one took care of his parents.

When they died some years later I organized their funerals.

Being the local leader, I took care of all the details.

I dealt with everything... and organized the funerals.

I buried them.

At the time I was in my late thirties.

After their funeral this 80 year old teacher came up to me...

and knelt down in front of me like this.

Later on... in the year of 1986

after Deng Xiaoping came to power, the rehabilitation of the victims began.

The crimes of the Cultural Revolution were redressed.

I went to see this old man in his home...

to find out how his father was killed.

After learning the truth I gave him a compensation payment.

Since the country killed his father, he got compensation.

I brought him the money to redress his grievance.

The man treated me well...

because I was exonerating his family.

When I visited him, he sobbed.

He said, it's good that you're back in the village.

Why the fan? It's not that hot.

I just use it to cool the vegetables then.

The situation in the village is slowly getting better now.

Many of the old conflicts are resolved.

But some people still hold grudges.

The children still remember who had killed their parents.

The exoneration may have mollified some of the anger.

But certainly not all of it.

I hope in the future our village will live in harmony.

What happened in the past is over.

We have to put it behind us.

I told this to people when I was still the local Party Secretary.

Our village should unite as a whole.

When old people die in the village...

people from all over come together to grieve.

The communal life has been fine so far.

The village is developing quite well.

It would be bad if there were no ceremonies.

Only in this way can the village develop.

If we continue to hate each other, there will be no hope.

May I make a call? With this...

Yesterday we went to a karaoke bar.

We had a lot of fun.

Five of us came here and slept on the same mattress.

It was really fun pushing each other around.

We were all stacked on top of each other, but we were happy.

Actually we don't ask for much... as long as we are happy!

Living alone... I like having a small home.

I feels good to be living alone.

At least nobody will call me lazy, if I don't clean the floor...

or just wait for someone else to do it.

I'm allowed to be lazy now.

Stop it... I feel embarrassed.

My childhood dream was always to pursue a different kind of life.

To walk down a unique path.

My mother insisted I should study, but I just couldn't.

I didn't like studying. I would do everything but study.

My parents are quite open-minded.

But my character means that they can't really control me.

After all, I'm grown up now.

At times, when I was too much for them they would say...

It's your path. We hope you don't regret your choice later.

- That's embarassing. - But it itches!

I'll show you something...

My childhood memories are all about playing.

Sometimes I helped my father spread the fishing net.

When there were not many fish, I would try to count them.

Once I fell into the river. My father didn't see it.

I floated in the river...

My mother finally saw me and pulled me back on the boat.

Our daughter is a warm-hearted person.

She's intelligent, she can do things well if she wants.

Her only problem... she doesn't have a degree.

I always told her, having no degree will hold you back.

At the time she didn't understand.

She didn't listen.

Instead of studying she just hung around.

She still hasn't found her path yet.

I guess her future will be about working for others.

A big river with wide waves...

The wind carries the scent of the paddy fields to the riverbanks.

My home is on the riverbank...

I used to hear the boatmen's song...

and saw the white sails passing.

After decades I still remember this song very well.

I am very proud to sing it, since I grew up by the river.

I saw the environment in our country getting worse day by day...

with toxic fumes, soil contamination and waste water.

I always had these questions and worries.

So I shared my ideas with my colleagues at work.

I was criticized because of that.

They said I was capitalist in my thinking.

I had to write a self-criticism...

and was punished for my ideas.

Get off the boat, it will tip over.

A few more...

- How many? - Just three or four.

This fish is very smart!

This fish is so strange.

Watch your step.

Thanks, I'll put it in my bag.

The fish are heavy.

Thanks, Old Chen!

What the fuck! I have more than enough...

All my ancestors were fishermen.

If I had gone to school, I wouldn't be fishing...

It's better if you don't have to fish.

People say fishing on a windy day is the worst.

When I was little...

I was on the boat every day.

It was a hard time...

We were very poor.

I have a simple mind, I can only catch fish.

Those who have an education can go work somewhere else.

The next generation won't go fishing anymore.

They will work elsewhere. Fishing has no future.

Chaomei doesn't want to live on the boat anymore.

She thinks a fisherman's life is meaningless.

She says it's no fun.

Working in the city is more fun... she can gain experience, she said.

That's what she said to me.

She said she can't gain experience here, it's too quiet.

She says, it's too quiet here.

Chaomei was born in 1994.

Her life was very tough...

I found her in Guangxi Province.

Do you understand?

Her parents had put their newborn baby in a tree.

They left her in the tree...

I took her home, but she refused to eat for a week.

I fed her water... and she came to life again.

In September 1994 we took her to the hospital.

The doctor said she wouldn't survive.

But we continued to feed her...

In the end she survived.

Sometimes I think about it, sometimes I don't.

I think my real parents went too far dumping me.

They brought a new life into this world and dumped it.

I think it's too much.

Sometimes I think it would be impossible to find them.

The probability of not finding them is 99 percent.

The likelihood of finding them is less than 0.0001 percent.

I don't think it's necessary to find them. It's impossible.

It just is.

I accept reality... it's not so cruel.

After all, my new mother has treated me well.

Because we adopted her we had to pay a heavy fine.

They even raided our place and confiscated the TV.

We were fined and the authorities took the TV.

They were strict about the One Child Policy.

They assumed that I had given birth to a second child.

After marriage you were only allowed to have one child.

I don't enjoy being a Chinese woman, I want to be a Chinese man.

To this moment I don't know where my real mother is.

And my new mother doesn't know either.

I may have been an illegitimate child... and they dumped me.

Possibly they wanted a boy, so they dumped me.

Or they were too poor and couldn't afford to raise me.

I've thought of it all... but you can never really know.

Yesterday we went to a karaoke bar.

We had a lot of fun.

Five of us came here and slept on the same mattress.

It was really fun pushing each other around.

We were all stacked on top of each other, but we were happy.

Actually we don't ask for much... as long as we are happy!

Living alone... I like having a small home.

I feels good to be living alone.

At least nobody will call me lazy, if I don't clean the floor...

or just wait for someone else to do it.

I'm allowed to be lazy now.

Stop it... I feel embarrassed.

My childhood dream was always to pursue a different kind of life.

To walk down a unique path.

My mother insisted I should study, but I just couldn't.

I didn't like studying. I would do everything but study.

My parents are quite open-minded.

But my character means that they can't really control me.

After all, I'm grown up now.

At times, when I was too much for them they would say...

It's your path. We hope you don't regret your choice later.

- That's embarassing. - But it itches!

I'll show you something...

My childhood memories are all about playing.

Sometimes I helped my father spread the fishing net.

When there were not many fish, I would try to count them.

Once I fell into the river. My father didn't see it.

I floated in the river...

My mother finally saw me and pulled me back on the boat.

Our daughter is a warm-hearted person.

She's intelligent, she can do things well if she wants.

Her only problem... she doesn't have a degree.

I always told her, having no degree will hold you back.

At the time she didn't understand.

She didn't listen.

Instead of studying she just hung around.

She still hasn't found her path yet.

I guess her future will be about working for others.

A big river with wide waves...

The wind carries the scent of the paddy fields to the riverbanks.

My home is on the riverbank...

I used to hear the boatmen's song...

and saw the white sails passing.

After decades I still remember this song very well.

I am very proud to sing it, since I grew up by the river.

I saw the environment in our country getting worse day by day...

with toxic fumes, soil contamination and waste water.

I always had these questions and worries.

So I shared my ideas with my colleagues at work.

I was criticized because of that.

They said I was capitalist in my thinking.

I had to write a self-criticism...

and was punished for my ideas.

Get off the boat, it will tip over.

A few more...

- How many? - Just three or four.

This fish is very smart!

This fish is so strange.

Watch your step.

Thanks, I'll put it in my bag.

The fish are heavy.

Thanks, Old Chen!

What the fuck! I have more than enough...

All my ancestors were fishermen.

If I had gone to school, I wouldn't be fishing...

It's better if you don't have to fish.

People say fishing on a windy day is the worst.

When I was little...

I was on the boat every day.

It was a hard time...

We were very poor.

I have a simple mind, I can only catch fish.

Those who have an education can go work somewhere else.

The next generation won't go fishing anymore.

They will work elsewhere. Fishing has no future.

Chaomei doesn't want to live on the boat anymore.

She thinks a fisherman's life is meaningless.

She says it's no fun.

Working in the city is more fun... she can gain experience, she said.

That's what she said to me.

She said she can't gain experience here, it's too quiet.

She says, it's too quiet here.

Chaomei was born in 1994.

Her life was very tough...

I found her in Guangxi Province.

Do you understand?

Her parents had put their newborn baby in a tree.

They left her in the tree...

I took her home, but she refused to eat for a week.

I fed her water... and she came to life again.

In September 1994 we took her to the hospital.

The doctor said she wouldn't survive.

But we continued to feed her...

In the end she survived.

Sometimes I think about it, sometimes I don't.

I think my real parents went too far dumping me.

They brought a new life into this world and dumped it.

I think it's too much.

Sometimes I think it would be impossible to find them.

The probability of not finding them is 99 percent.

The likelihood of finding them is less than 0.0001 percent.

I don't think it's necessary to find them. It's impossible.

It just is.

I accept reality... it's not so cruel.

After all, my new mother has treated me well.

Because we adopted her we had to pay a heavy fine.

They even raided our place and confiscated the TV.

We were fined and the authorities took the TV.

They were strict about the One Child Policy.

They assumed that I had given birth to a second child.

After marriage you were only allowed to have one child.

I don't enjoy being a Chinese woman, I want to be a Chinese man.

To this moment I don't know where my real mother is.

And my new mother doesn't know either.

I may have been an illegitimate child... and they dumped me.

Possibly they wanted a boy, so they dumped me.

Or they were too poor and couldn't afford to raise me.

I've thought of it all... but you can never really know.

Often the guests ask me if I'm a boy or a girl.

Sometimes I answer: I may be both!

Then they are speechless or shocked.

Most customers in the restaurant ask me the same question.

I've gotten used to it, it happens everyday.

This cucumber must be really old.

No, it's a fresh one.

This one, fresh? You must be joking!

Since my childhood my character has been very masculine.

I like to do what boys do.

That's just my character.

At first sight you would definitely think I'm a boy.

But if you got to know me, you wouldn't think that anymore.

Pollution does not discriminate in terms of class and politics.

It's not only a problem in imperialist and capitalist countries,

but also in developing countries like our own.

Environmental groups were unthinkable before the Student Movement of 1989.

There was no political space for them to exist.

But after the Student Movement...

many environmental organizations emerged in China...

and started to grow.

That was an important political breakthrough.

Though the Student Movement in Beijing was suppressed...

it promoted changes in society, the legal system and democracy.

It was a process of social advancement,

a struggle between the Old and the New.

New ideas were in conflict with the old ones.

To introduce new ideas...

you have to pay a high price.

The students of 1989 paid that price.

You won again!

Shut up and keep playing!

- I lost 22. - Me only 18.

Playing Mahjong is actually a good way to kill time.

Even if I lose, I lose happily.

But sometimes... it's like a mirror of life.

Actually Mahjong is like life!

I may be losing today, but I won't lose all the time.

It's not possible to fail every time...

One day I will win.

Our country is facing an imbalance of wealth and social development.

The rich are getting richer and they spend their money on luxuries.

The poor are starving and struggling in poverty.

We need balance and fairness in society.

We create the wealth together, we all have a right to fairness.

When I was little I watched a TV program...

It was about a little girl.

Her parents were dead. She only had an uncle left.

She had to take care of herself...

and her little brothers and sisters.

She experienced a lot in her young life. All by herself...

How can I put it? She underwent a lot of hardship.

Later she opened a restaurant and struggled to gain experience.

In the end she made it and became her own boss.

I admire women like her.

I want to learn from her spirit.