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Carriage

Xu Xin

Release year: 2004

Run time: 18 mins

Film type: Documentary

Synopsis

Spring Festival is coming. In China, it is the time for family reunion and people keep up the tradition of returning home for the New Year celebration, especially the migratory workers who have been away from their hometown all year long struggling for a living in big cities. A cheap train ticket is their first choice. So begins the annual overcrowding of railroad transportation. The filmmaker shares with us his experience of traveling in the congested carriage of a train heading westwards from Shanghai. Among those passengers, there is weariness, anxiety and joy, which is highlighted by the singing of a small group of Tibetan women showing their love for life and paying tribute to the Party and Chairman Mao.

 

Director biography

Xu Xin was born in Taizhou, Jiangsu Province, in 1966. He is an independent documentary filmmaker based in Beijing and Nanjing. In his early years, he experimented with oil paintings and photography. His documentaries focus on marginalized communities in China.