Asian Fortune Your source for all things Asian American
By Yi Chen
Named one of the 100 “Leading Global Thinkers of 2013” by Foreign Policy for “using art to show how inequality breeds violence”, awarded Best Screenplay for his new film at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival – it’s been a high-profile year for Chinese filmmaker Jia Zhangke.
Like most of his feature films, A Touch of Sin is a reflection on contemporary China. The film tells four interwoven stories of four ordinary individuals from four different provinces, based on news events that Mr. Jia first discovered on China’s Twitter-like microblog Weibo.
An angry miner, enraged by widespread corruption of his village, decides to take justice into his own hands. A rootless migrant worker discovers the infinite possibilities a firearm can offer. A young receptionist, who dates a married man and works at a sauna, is pushed beyond her limits by an abusive client. A young factory worker goes from one discouraging job to the next, only to face increasingly degrading circumstances.
“I’ve always been impressed by Jia’s unique way of combining formal innovation with social criticism. By basing his narrative on true stories he creates a powerful critique of the culture of contemporary China,” said Tom Vick, film programmer at the Freer and Sackler galleries, and author of Asian Cinema: A Field Guide.
Just one year after graduating from Beijing Film Academy, Jia’s first feature film “Xiao Wu” won the Wolfgang Staudte Award and NETPAC Award at the 1998 Berlin International Film Festival. The film went on to win many awards at international film festivals including Pusan International Film Festival, Vancouver International Film Festival and San Francisco International Film Festival.
However, it was not until his fourth feature film “The World” (2004) that Jia first gained official release inside China. His next film “Still Life” (2006) won the Golden Lion at the 63rd Venice International Film Festival.
In his first interview with Asian Fortune Magazine, Mr. Jia talked about China’s social media, increasing violence in the society, the influence of martial arts films, China’s censorship, and his next project.
The following is a transcript of that interview, translated to English, with a few parenthetical notes for clarification.
Q:The film is based on four incidents that actually happened in China in recent years. Why did you choose these four events?
A: About 2, 3 years ago, Weibo started to become very popular in China. It’s a social media site like Twitter. More and more breaking news are reported on Weibo. Some of them stuck with me. The film’s first story happened in 2001 and details of the real event were gradually revealed on Weibo. I became very interested in the story and wanted to understand it through the form of film. My first film “Xiao Wu” (1998) and most of my films before “A Touch of Sin” are about ordinary people and daily life. However, I was shocked because the violence seemed surreal and out of ordinary but these incidents happened in real life. I became interested in exploring the reasons and causes of the increasing violence in the society.
I chose these four stories because they inspired me to understand four different aspects of violence. In the firs story, violence is caused by social reasons. China has changed rapidly, but at the same time the disparities between the rich and the poor have vastly widened. Problems like corruption exist in China’s society and cause uneven spread of wealth across the country. The character, Da Hai, is angry about the corruption of his village leaders, and he turns to violence after his fight against corruption (through China’s legal system) fails. It is the wrong way to seek justice but social problems like corruption is the main cause of the violence in the first story.
(Jiang Wu as Da Hai in A TOUCH OF SIN, a film by Jia Zhangke. Photo credit: Kino Lorber)
In the second story, violence is caused by personal spiritual dilemma. The character, Zhao San, is a professional gunman but we cannot neglect the larger society he lives in. In small villages like his hometown, most young people have left school and moved away to big cities in search of jobs or a better life. He is lost, lonely and indifferent. Violence is caused by the lack of spirituality and direction in his life.
(Wang Baoqiang as Zhao San in A TOUCH OF SIN, a film by Jia Zhangke. Photo credit: Kino Lorber)
The third story is about dignity. The character, Xiao Yu, feels she has no choice when her dignity is stripped off. She feels she has to restore her lost dignity after she is humiliated. Violence is the quickest and most direct way for her to gain her dignity back.
In the fourth story, the suicide is caused by despair. Chinese society these days is in a phase of internal migration. A lot of young people between the ages of 18 and 20 from inland areas now work in international factories in Dongguan, but they have trouble assimilating into the new environment. The character, Xiao Hui, spends most of his day working in a factory assembly line. Each month his mother would call him reminding him to send his income back home. The young man doesn’t even get to keep what he has earned for himself. He eventually gives up his life in despair.
The four stories represent four portraits of violence – a theme that I wanted to explore in the film. I chose four shockingly violent news stories to present an image of contemporary China as
I understand it, and used the methods of fiction to dramatize them.
Q: About the titles, is the English title “A Touch of Sin” a reference to King Hu’s 1971 film “A Touch of Zen”? What does the film’s Chinese title “Tian Zhu Ding” imply?
A: Yes. In October 2012 when I was planning for my next film, which is a wuxia film, I unexpectedly found my inspiration from the traditional wuxia (martial arts) genre to construct these four present-day narratives into a film. Wuxia genre has its long history in Chinese culture. I am a big fan of martial arts films in the 60s and 70s. The four individuals and the incidents they were involved in remind me of King Hu’s martial arts films, such as “A Touch of Zen” and “Dragon Inn”.
In martial arts films, often times when an individual is faced with a life-threatening crisis, a person uses kung fu to win a battle or to fight for justice and dignity. Throughout the ages, the predicaments that individuals face have changed very little – just as their responses to those predicaments have also changed very little.
As a filmmaker, I have always been interested in ordinary people, their individual destinies, and individual struggles. In my previous films, the main characters all have to deal with some personal crisis but this is my first film in which the characters are faced with a life-threatening crisis.
The Chinese title implies two possible meanings. One is the belief that fate rules our lives. The other interpretation is that the violent actions carried out by these four characters in seek of justice are the orders of nature.
Q: At the end of the film, the only surviving character Xiao Yu is in Shan Xi looking for jobs. After a brief job interview, she joins the crowd watching a traditional Shanxi opera performance of “Yu Tang Chun.” The last line of the film is from the performance – “Do you understand your sin?” Why did the film end with that scene?
A: The four incidents may seem unrelated on the surface, but my hope is that the film shows how disparate people have hidden connections. The opera performance in the last scene reminds Xiao Yu of her own story. Everyone watching the opera can relate to it through their own experience. I see this as a film about the sometimes hidden connections between people. Our lives are all interconnected one way or another.
(Zhao Tao as Xiao Yu in A TOUCH OF SIN, a film by Jia Zhangke. Photo credit: Kino Lorber)
Q: Are there any specific reasons for exploring the theme of violence in Chinese society as the subject of the film?
I live in a culture and a society where this kind of discussion about violence is rare. If we don’t understand the problem of violence and its damaging consequences, then how can we resolve it? Hearing about such violent incidents makes me feel that it’s necessary to face the problem of violence in a film so that we can reduce the amount of violence in our lives.
Q: Has the film been released in China?
A: Not yet. We are still waiting for the censorship bureau’s decision. The film passed content censorship by State Administration of Radio, Film and Television in April 2013 and therefore was able to compete at Festival De Cannes in May 2013. However, the censorship bureau is concerned about potential impact and reaction the film might receive if it is released officially in China. Because China doesn’t have a film rating system, the film has some graphic and violent scenes that the bureau is concerned about. The film is still going through the review process and the government has not made a decision yet. We are still waiting.
Q: Your next film project?
A: My next film project is a martial arts film set over a hundred years ago in the Qin dynasty. The main characters are a government official, a warrior and an assassin in a small town during a time when China is going through a big transformation. This film is currently in pre-production. I hope to begin filming later this year or early next year.
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A Touch of Sin
Released by Kino Lorber, on DVD & Blu-ray
In Mandarin, with English subtitles
Running time: 125 minutes
