Zhang Chi

In a mining town in western China, separately, we follow three members of a family. Each individual family members’ story flows from one to another chronologically, although they do not simply trace the continual development of a single family. There is the daughter who has to choose between her dreams and a suitable husband, the son who is about to start work down the mine, and the father who has just retired. Their lives are inextricably bound together as they symbolically represent the men and women from all mining towns who must accept their thwarted dreams and aspirations, and learn to accept their lot in life.

The film adaptation of the novel by Macanese writer Lio Chi Heng marks the 10th anniversary of the transfer of the Portuguese colony of Macau to Chinese administration. The year is 1999 and Macau television ceaselessly informs the population of preparations for the upcoming handover. In the atmosphere of the changing society, when some submit to Chinese lessons and others consider emigration, the movie’s protagonist begins to investigate his own identity.

In a mining town in western China, separately, we follow three members of a family. Each individual family members’ story flows from one to another chronologically, although they do not simply trace the continual development of a single family. There is the daughter who has to choose between her dreams and a suitable husband, the son who is about to start work down the mine, and the father who has just retired. Their lives are inextricably bound together as they symbolically represent the men and women from all mining towns who must accept their thwarted dreams and aspirations, and learn to accept their lot in life.

The film adaptation of the novel by Macanese writer Lio Chi Heng marks the 10th anniversary of the transfer of the Portuguese colony of Macau to Chinese administration. The year is 1999 and Macau television ceaselessly informs the population of preparations for the upcoming handover. In the atmosphere of the changing society, when some submit to Chinese lessons and others consider emigration, the movie’s protagonist begins to investigate his own identity.