The Epic of Central PlainsThe Central Plains | Chinese Independent Film Archive

The Epic of Central Plains

Ai Xiaoming and Hu Jie

Release year: 2006

Run time: 122 mins

Film type: Documentary

Many farmers in the poor villages of Henan Province are infected with AIDS through blood sales. This film takes a closer look at how these people are coping with life, how officials are dealing with these facts, and how volunteers are helping villagers who have contracted the disease. The director goes into a number of villages in Central China with a high incidence of AIDS, listening to farmers talk about the historical background of the rise of the "plasma economy", showing the survival of families, especially women and children, infected with AIDS through blood donations and transfusions, and documenting the formation and efforts of civil society organisations at grassroots level.

A feminist professor at Sun Yat-Sen (Zhongshan) University, the Director of the Comparative Literature Section in the Department of Chinese, and the Program Leader of the Sex/Gender Education Forum. She has also worked as a translator and director for the Chinese version of the performance 'The Vagina Monologues.' Additionally, she has collaborated with Hu Jie on documentaries such as 'Taishi Village,' 'Painting for the Revolution - Peasant Paintings from Hu County, China,' 'White Rainbow,' and 'The Vagina Monologues: Stories from China.' The latter was selected for the Women’s Film Festival organized by City University of New York as a side event of the United Nations' 49th session of the Commission on the Status of Women.

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The Epic of Central Plains