Hi Folks,
Migration is an important topic for many countries and regions. The movement of Chinese from country to city is an all-important change in recent decades. China's gone from 20% urban to 51% urban in three decades.
One outstanding film to utilize in discussing this (though it's probably too long for classroom use) is Last Train Home by Fan Lixin, a Canadian Chinese. It shows how the migration of parents to the city, to work for the family, winds up straining ties to their daughter. You can buy a dvd copy and it's also possible to watch it online.
I discussed some aspects of this in a Talking Points column a couple years ago:
http://www.china.usc.edu/ShowArticle.aspx?articleID=2296
You may also find this short documentary, Invisible Wall, useful for the classroom. It was made by one of our students working with a student from Communication University of China student. The family is together on the outskirts of Beijing and is succeeding financially. The problem, though, is that the daughter has reached high shool age and Beijing's government won't permit migrant kids to go to high school or take the college entrance exam there. The family has to make a tough decision. Should they return home?
http://china.usc.edu/ShowArticle.aspx?articleID=1928
Some of the other films produced by student teams in this project can be seen at:
http://china.usc.edu/showarticle.aspx?articleID=1925
and at our YouTube channel:
http://www.youtube.com/uschinainstitute
We'd love to hear what you think of these films. Comment here or in the Film Festival thread:
http://uschinaforum.usc.edu/forum68-film-festival.aspx
.