(Miao Wang / 2010 / USA / 78 minutes / Mandarin with English Subtitles)

Set against the backdrop of China’s capital, this visually stunning documentary follows the lives of three local cab drivers as the city prepares for the 2008 Summer Olympics. In the midst of massive construction projects that transform the city’s landscape, the drivers each represent a different generation in a metropolis rushing towards modernization. Bai Jiwen, a former member of the Red Guard with a 4th grade education looks forward to retirement; Zhou Yi enjoys getting away from the streets of Beijing to fish with his father and friends; and Wei Caixia is a mother who has high hopes for her young daughter in the new economy. All are fully aware that the social and economic upheaval taking place around them has both very personal along with broad global implications.

The cinematography, original music score and editing all combine perfectly to showcase the frenetic energy, movement, and buoyancy of contemporary Beijing. The film, which debuted at the SXSW 2010 Film Festival, is currently receiving wide distribution at independent film events in North America and Europe. Reviewed by Linda Frederiksen, Washington State University, Vancouver, WA

Miao Wang is a filmmaker based in New York, currently splitting  her time between New York and her hometown of Beijing. Born in Beijing just after the Cultural Revolution, She grew up  with the last remnants of a pre-modernized Communist China. She immigrated to the US  in 1990.

Free admission. 
Part of the Confucius Institute's Film and Lecture Series