Chinese Verses

In contemporary China, the once-celebrated art of poetry is no more than a relic of a bygone age. If you want to live the coveted “Chinese dream,” you simply have to work for it – and very hard. The exceptions to this rule are the migrant workers in this film, and the poems they write express feelings about the daily hardships they face. Through poetry they rediscover their own sense of dignity and offer subtle insight into their innermost thoughts. We see them in the factory, in their dormitory and with their families, with whom they talk about their struggles and their love of writing. A young woman working the nightshift in a clothing factory writes about her daydreams of sun and freedom as she irons summer dresses. A mineworker reflects on his lightless existence in the depths of the earth. An employee at one of Apple’s assembly factories secretly wrote hundreds of poems, but then he killed himself. Now, all that remains of him are his somber thoughts. We read extracts in the form of text that rolls across the screen and hear it performed at a poetry evening, giving a rare and personal voice to the people behind this anonymous and mind-numbing work. This unique approach offers a telling perspective on a rising nation and the future of humanity in a globalized society.