Synopsis

The Songhua River runs through Harbin, the capital of China’s Heilongjiang province, and serves as the city's main water source. At all hours of the day, people flock to the crowded urban space where Harbin meets the river. By attending to the everyday activities of leisure and labour unfolding along the banks and promenade, Songhua depicts the intimate and complex relationship between Harbin city residents and their “mother river”. Through the use of the long take, this nonfiction video also explores the interface between art and ethnography in order to address social issues in a major waterway of northeastern China.