(East Ask) Exclusive | Oscar-winning director Ke Wensi: Can you tell the story of China's well-off society with "chai, rice, oil and salt"?
China News Service, Beijing, August 23. Title: Oscar-winning director Ke Wensi: Can you tell the story of China's well-off society with "chai, rice, oil and salt"?
China News Agency reporter Luo Haibing
Ke Wensi.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Bian Zhengfeng
China, which adheres to and promotes the common values of all mankind and leads 1.4 billion people out of poverty into a well-off society, has repeatedly encountered false accusations from the Western world. Is it just geopolitics or other reasons?
"China is not good at self-defense," Ke Wensi said: Western countries' poverty alleviation projects have not solved China's problems of this scale.
The well-known British director Ke Wensi, who has been nominated for 4 Oscars and has won 2 Oscars, recently accepted an exclusive interview with China News Service "Ask East and West".
Different from the grand narrative, he focused his camera on ordinary people who came from the bottom of China, explained the real China to Western audiences, and also explained the reasons why China is not understood by the West or even misunderstood.
On top of firewood, rice, oil and salt, it tells the Chinese story of empathy with Western audiences.
The documentary film "Above Fire, Rice, Oil and Salt".
Image source: Zhongxin Video
China News Agency reporter: Your latest movie "Above Fire, Rice, Oil and Salt" describes the changes in the lives of ordinary Chinese people. Each story shows how ordinary people make great efforts for their lives. How did you choose these four representative places and characters to tell the story of China's well-off society?
Ke Wensi:
"Above
Fire, Rice, Oil and Salt
" is a way I explain it to Western audiences.
I am very happy that it was released in China, but what this work really wants to do is to convince Westerners to take China seriously and understand what is happening in China.
The whole movie is a simple story.
We tried to make a series of films showing different regions of China, so we started from rural Yunnan and traveled all the way to Yiwu and Shanghai to let people experience the lives of people from extreme poverty to middle-income groups.
We start from Yunnan and talk about those very poor people who have to make some difficult decisions, such as whether to leave everything they are familiar with to find an uncertain future and get a better living environment.
We are concerned with the difficult decisions they discussed.
Then we found an outstanding young woman.
She is from a rural area and has little education. Now she drives a large off-road truck and makes a lot of money.
She believes that "women can hold up half the sky."
She wants to be responsible, free, confident, and successful like a man.
She is very admirable and I think she is a role model for many young Chinese women.
The third episode is about a man whose dreams come true. He was poor at first and had to leave his village, his family, his childhood, and work hard, but now he is a world-class Shanghai circus Acrobat.
Now he drives a luxury car, has a happy family, and his children go to a good school.
He realized the Chinese dream, which is the result of his hard work.
His hard work and toughness are truly appreciated.
New China has given the people many opportunities.
The fourth episode is a bit different, it's about those who have realized the Chinese dream to some extent.
They were born in poverty, but have accumulated resources and wealth through hard work in the past 20 years.
They use the money to give back to the place where they grew up when they were young.
This is a very touching story. It tells people who don't forget where they come from and contribute to the lives of their descendants and others.
These are all about people who have suffered a lot and are now realizing their own value.
When a country has a group of people with dreams, they have the freedom to dream, for a better future, then what they are doing is right.
We should all applaud what is happening in China.
The documentary film "Above Fire, Rice, Oil and Salt".
Image source: Zhongxin Video
Reporter from China News Service: Are you worried that filming these Chinese stories will be considered by Western society as "propaganda" for China. Does Western society have poverty, and how do they eliminate poverty?
Ke Wensi:
I did not intend to make a movie about how good Chinese people are.
We are not doing propaganda, but trying to tell everyone how far China has come and how China has created opportunities for so many people in such a short period of time.
I think this is worthy of attention and admiration, and Westerners should understand what is happening here.
Sometimes the West uses various reasons to attack China. In my opinion, those reasons are not valid.
I must say that China is not good at self-defense.
Soft power does not refer to political soft power, but to make ordinary people believe that China is not an evil empire, and of course China is not.
The purpose of these films is to show the human face of China and the Chinese people, and also show that the poor areas are indeed terribly poor.
The Chinese government is doing some positive things and has achieved extraordinary results.
Every western country has poverty alleviation projects, but the effect is not very good.
They have not solved China's large-scale problems.
Although poverty exists in Western Europe and the United States, it has not reached the level of China.
People living in Yunnan are like living in Western Europe in the 18th century. Although the photos are beautiful, they will feel very bad after personal experience.
I don’t like to see people suffering, and the Chinese government doesn’t want to see. In fact, they have done some very effective things to change.
This is not just to give people a better living environment. It is not as simple as putting money in their pockets or putting food on the table. It is a bigger change-giving them good education and opportunities.
Two to three million people are among the middle-income groups, leading a better life and realizing their dreams.
So in the end we (the film) named "a long-lasting precious dream" ("Above Firewood, Rice, Oil and Salt").
You may want to be an explorer, teacher, Olympic champion or any other profession, but if you live in that kind of poverty, the only thing you think about is how to fill your stomach and keep your children alive.
The "Xiaokang" initiative does much more profound things than this. It allows people to have dreams to realize, become the people they want to be, and live the life they want to live.
Director Ke Wensi.
Photo by Zhang Xinglong
China News Agency reporter: Why did you want to shoot such a film in the first place?
Ke Wensi:
"On top of
firewood,
rice, oil and salt" is the film I have always wanted to shoot. What fascinates me is opening up to a person and getting a deeper understanding of their true colors.
I am not interested in superficial, immediate things, because they are never the real ones.
Shooting is like a doctor diagnosing a disease. If you are honest enough, they will trust you and even tell you what they won't tell your family or friends.
Sometimes I succeed and sometimes I fail.
This is more difficult in China.
I can't speak Mandarin, which is a big disadvantage.
But I have a great team that understands our philosophy of doing things and how we should do it.
We finally chose this series, we must study hundreds of different stories, different people, and finally find these four stories.
I am British, so it is very important for them to see my respect for them.
In a sense, being a Westerner is an interesting advantage, because I can ask questions that no Chinese would ask, as well as very in-depth questions.
I hope people believe me because I will respect them.
In the movie, it will be presented in a true and respectful way.
So in these four stories, the audience can see people talking about very private experiences in life. This is something they rarely talk about and share, but they will share with me because they trust me.
This is what we must do. If we can build trust, we can make a good film.
China News Agency reporter: You have always followed China very much. Your documentary "The Good Angel" focuses on the people-to-people exchanges between China and the United States and tells the benefits of cooperation for the people of the two countries from the perspective of ordinary people. When the global new crown epidemic broke out last year, you also personally went to Wuhan to shoot. Why have you been so concerned about China's development and changes?
Ke Wensi:
I keep saying that I came here because I think China, this country and China's great revival, is the biggest news story of the 21st century.
This is a historic event. It will not stop in 100 years, but will continue.
This is a nation and civilization worthy of the world's thanks.
For centuries, China has made great contributions to the development of science and technology, but China’s achievements have not been praised. There are many reasons for this. We do not need to discuss geopolitics here.
But I think that China is the victim and has been unfairly judged.
When you come to China, you will see China's achievements.
The "well-off" initiative is just another brick on the "extraordinary wall" that China is building.
There are 1.4 billion stories to tell. China is writing history and it is exciting to be able to participate, so I want to record it.
The documentary film "Above Fire, Rice, Oil and Salt".
Image source: Zhongxin Video
China News Agency reporter: Nowadays, more and more people want to know more about China. As a documentary director, how do you think the world audience can truly accept or become interested in China?
Ke Wensi:
This is actually a very simple answer.
China talks about its tendency to use statistical terms, but rarely talks about Chinese people, such as millions of people getting rid of poverty, millions of people getting education, creating extraordinary technological achievements, and building more nationally than any other country. Data such as railway kilometers.
China always draws a happy smiling face, but there are very few 3D portraits. This is what we do. We try to show the good and the bad, the victory and the defeat... For example, I spent all my money this week. I have to wait for the next salary; for example, my daughter is in a relationship with a man who has not gained my trust, but she does not think so... This shows that although we live in different social and political systems, we all have the same experience.
The more you can prove that Chinese are like Americans, French, Indonesians and Brazilians. Whether you are rich or poor, you will have anxiety and hope that your children will have a better life. The more people will be more concerned about similarities. Where to pay attention.
If you see people fighting for their lives, and seeing people making mistakes and making decisions that they regret, then there is a commonality of experience and purpose. Westerners can say, "They (Chinese) are just like us. ".
Westerners can see (China) in movies, TV and images.
We just provide a stage, put the life of the Chinese people on the stage, and say "OK, tell us now (your story), we are listening, we respect what you say".
This will be very powerful.
The documentary film "Above Fire, Rice, Oil and Salt".
Image source: Zhongxin Video
China News Agency reporter: Will you continue to show Chinese stories? What is your next shooting plan?
Ke Wensi:
Although I am not Chinese, I like it here.
Later I want to make a movie about Joseph Needham, a professor at Cambridge University.
By coincidence, he introduced and came to China through his Chinese girlfriend, and began to study some Chinese scientific inventions in his field, and slowly became interested in China. The achievements of Chinese inventions became his lifelong research career. For this reason, he wrote and recorded China's contribution to world civilization in science and technology.
Needham made the West realize that many things that the West thinks were invented by themselves are actually invented by the Chinese.
He is an amazing person, very weird, funny and unusual.
Needham died in 1995 in his 90s. I want to use him as a medium to tell the history of the entire 20th century in China through the eyes and experience of this Westerner who loves China.
I hope to be a role model and encourage more Chinese artists and filmmakers to pay more attention to their own culture, their own country, and to see the value of their own country.
China is an extraordinary country with a history of 5,000 years. They should draw inspiration from it, tell the Chinese story well, and use the Chinese way to talk to the world.
(End)
Malcolm Clarke was born in England and now lives in Shanghai.
He has been engaged in the creation of documentaries and feature films for more than 40 years. He has filmed in more than 80 countries around the world. His works have won many international film festival awards, received 4 Oscar nominations, and won 2 Oscar statuettes and 16 Emmy trophies.
He has filmed the documentary "The Good Angel" on China-U.S. civil exchanges.