China Magazine - amazing stories from China and Hong Kong

Woman with bound feet, photograph by John Thomson

Footbinding in China: 25+ old pictures of lotus feet in China

Foot binding in China: From Cultural Practice to Historical Controversy Footbinding, 缠足, is the antique custom of traditional Chinese society of binding the feet of … Read more

Sad documentary about AIDS condition in Henan

Hiv in China

Mistakes, abuses and prejudices of an entire system that underestimated and then inadequately treated a dangerous health problem with the wrong tools: inadequate medicines, medicines not approved by the United Nations, discriminations.

In China AIDS spreaded mainly thanks to selling blood. “In many rural areas of China during the 1990s, particularly in the province of Henan, hundreds of thousands up to millions of farmers and peasants were infected with HIV through participation in state-run blood collection programs in which contaminated equipment was reused.”(Wikipedia).

[embedyt] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcW1YnXMfec[/embedyt]

21 rares and beautiful hand-painted pictures of old China

Directly from the archives of the University of Southern California (UCLA) twenty hand-painted shots of China almost completely disappeared. Related article: Old Restored Images of … Read more

816 Nuclear Military Plant, underground top secret facility

816 Nuclear Military Plant (816地下核工厂) was a huge underground top-secret facility hidden in the mountains of Baitao town, in the Chongqing area. Work on the … Read more

Chinese Man Builds Himself Bionic Hands from scrap metal (video)

Sun Jifa, a 51-year-old Chinese man who lost both hands when he was building a bomb for blast fishing built himself a pair of bionic hands after 8 years of work.

The hands can hold and grip things even if they get cold or hot in the extremes temperatures. He used mainly wires and pulleys from scrap metal. Now he is able to work, eat, wear clothes, etc.

Source Daily Mail via Micgadget , CinaOggi

All the movies from Far East at the Venice Film Festival

The 69th edition of the Venice Film Festival will start within a few days. After the break, all the movies from the Far East were presented at the kermesse: images, trailers, and more.

SAN ZIMEI – THREE SISTERS

Three sisters live alone in a small village family house in the high mountains of the Yunnan region.

BING WANG – SAN ZIMEI (THREE SISTERS)
France, Hong Kong – China, 150′
(documentary)

JINGANG JING – DIAMOND SUTRA

Xiao Kang in a monk’s red robe – / my third slow-walking film. / He walks past an electric rice cooker, / as slowly as ever. /

TSAI MING-LIANG – JINGANG JING (DIAMOND SUTRA) [SHORT FILM – CLOSING SCREENING]
Chinese Taipei, 20′
Lee Kang-sheng

GAOSU TAMEN, WO CHENG BAIHE QU LE – FLY WITH THE CRANE

73 year old Lao Ma and Lao Cao were once famous carpenters in the village, they would partner with elders from the neighboring villages to make coffins.

GAOSU TAMEN, WO CHENG BAIHE QU LE (FLY WITH THE CRANE)
China, 99′ by RUIJUN LI
Ma Xingchun, Lao Ma

BANSULLI – THE FLUTE

After a decade-long civil war that cost more than 13,000 lives, the Maoists have come into the front-line, to compete in the national election for the Constituent Assembly.

MIN BHAM – BANSULLI (THE FLUTE) [SHORT FILM]
Nepal, 15′
Nikita Budhthapa, Ghanashyam Giri, Naresh Bhandari

THE RELUCTANT FUNDAMENTALIST

Student demonstrations are raging in Lahore, as young Pakistani professor Changez Khan and a journalist, Bobby Lincoln, share a cup of tea and conversation.

MIRA NAIR – THE RELUCTANT FUNDAMENTALIST
India, Pakistan, USA, 128′
Riz Ahmed, Kate Hudson, Kiefer Sutherland, Liev Schreiber, Martin Donovan

SHOKUZAI (PENANCE)

Fifteen years ago, tragedy struck a small town when a young elementary school girl Emili was abducted and killed by a stranger. KIYOSHI KUROSAWA – … Read more

Tai Chi O

As an uncommonly gifted child, Yang Luchan had a fleshy abnormality that holds tremendous power growing on his forehead.

STEPHEN FUNG – TAI CHI 0
China, 100′
Yuan Xiaochao, Angela baby, Eddie Peng, Tony Leung Ka-fai, William Feng, Shu Qi

However being teased as the town fool, Yang’s mother spurs him to practice martial arts, and following her wishes, Yang travels the distance to come to Chen village to learn Tai Chi. In this legendary village, everyone practices Tai Chi and uses Tai Chi in every aspect of their lives. Nevertheless, it is forbidden for a villager to disclose Tai Chi to an outsider, and Yang learned this the hard way. Upon arriving at the village, locals discourage Yang by challenging him with fights. From the strong men to hold ladies to children, everyone defeats Yang with their Tai Chi moves. After facing the toughest battle and being defeated by Master Chen’s beautiful daughter Yuniang, Yang is determined to master the art of Tai Chi and he needs to find Master Chen. Little does Yang know, the poor strange man who he befriended with is in fact Master Chen who then saved him from the duel with Yuniang. Master Chen realizes Yang’s genius and disguises himself to secretly guide Yang to his self-realization of Tai Chi. One day, a frightening steam-powered machine came to the village, led by Fang Zijing, a childhood friend of Yuniang. He has bribed government officials to permit him to build a railway that will run straight through the village. Yang decided to join forces with Yuniang to defeat Fang Zijing and destroy the machine. This brave act may just win the hearts of the villagers…

SINAPUPUNAN – THY WOMB

Shaleha Sarail hails from a water-village in Sitangkai, Tawi-Tawi. The province is a seaweed-producing area in the southernmost part of the Philippines down to the Malaysian and Indonesian archipelagos.

BRILLANTE MENDOZA – SINAPUPUNAN (THY WOMB)
Philippines, 100′
Nora Aunor, Bembol Rocco
A woman of mature years, experiencing a 3rd miscarriage, Shaleha agonizes that she can’t bear a child. Though an adoptive parent to her nephew, she still feels that her husband Bangas An desires to be a father. To fulfill her husband’s only wish and to be blessed by Allah as having a child is tangible proof of divine grace, Shaleha decides to march to a different drummer. Her resolve is to find a new partner for her husband. Night and day, she and her husband sail island, floating-village, and nearby communities in search of a fertile woman. Providentially, Shaleha finds the girl as recommended by friends. But on the eve of her husband’s second marriage to Mersila, gnawing jealousy consumes Shaleha.