This film shows two protest events in China happened in 2011 and 2016 respectively. The farmers marched in order to get their land back. Their land were sold by the village committee without villager's permission and the members of the village committee get most of the profit from selling villager's land. Villagers were angry about the corruption of the members of village committee who were appointed by upper leader. They elected their own village committee to get their land back. Directly election are quite rare in China and such thing is happened in a subtle time of China which is a year before the next power transition of China. In such case, this event attracted a lot attention from the whole world for they consider this event imply the political reform may happen after the next power transition.
At first, this event seems to head a positive direction. Government compromised with the villager, they promise not to accuse the villager for their protest and support the villager to select their new village committee. Then, almost all the people who led the protest are elected to be the leader of the whole village to help the villager get their land back expect one who applied for political protection from the USA and moved to New York with his wife.
However, years later, the situation going downward. In 2016 the village committee still didn't get the land back which makes the villager unsatisfied with them. Besides, the government also find trouble with them. At that time, the power of China is all in president Xi's hand. Though he was carried the hope from the Chinese society and the whole world that he would be a reformer of China leading China to become a country with more democracy, he chose the opposite direction. When the villager of Wukan march for protest again in 2016, we cannot see any compromise from the government. The leaders of the protest were arrested and almost all the members of the committee which was elected by the villager were sentenced into jail in the name of corruption.
In this film, we can see the Chinese dream of democracy broke in the past 10 years. This small village reflect the whole China. When the protest of Wukan succeeded in 2011, all the villagers are optimistic about the future. Next year, Bo Xilai, who was considered to be a candidate of Chinese president was sent into jail. All the Chinese citizens were optimistic about the future of the whole country, since Bo was considered to be a tough and arbitrary leader, who may sent China back to the years of culture revolution. Chinese citizens hope China would become a more democratic country led by the opponent of Bo.
However, as we can see in 2016, protest finally end up in a tragedy. So is China's democracy.
I'm writing this review in 2022, when Xi start his third term of the general secretary of CCP, which is also the top leader of the whole country. Such thing never happened since the reform and opening up of China, 1978. Most citizens believed Xi would lead China into a more authoritarian country with less freedom.
At first, this event seems to head a positive direction. Government compromised with the villager, they promise not to accuse the villager for their protest and support the villager to select their new village committee. Then, almost all the people who led the protest are elected to be the leader of the whole village to help the villager get their land back expect one who applied for political protection from the USA and moved to New York with his wife.
However, years later, the situation going downward. In 2016 the village committee still didn't get the land back which makes the villager unsatisfied with them. Besides, the government also find trouble with them. At that time, the power of China is all in president Xi's hand. Though he was carried the hope from the Chinese society and the whole world that he would be a reformer of China leading China to become a country with more democracy, he chose the opposite direction. When the villager of Wukan march for protest again in 2016, we cannot see any compromise from the government. The leaders of the protest were arrested and almost all the members of the committee which was elected by the villager were sentenced into jail in the name of corruption.
In this film, we can see the Chinese dream of democracy broke in the past 10 years. This small village reflect the whole China. When the protest of Wukan succeeded in 2011, all the villagers are optimistic about the future. Next year, Bo Xilai, who was considered to be a candidate of Chinese president was sent into jail. All the Chinese citizens were optimistic about the future of the whole country, since Bo was considered to be a tough and arbitrary leader, who may sent China back to the years of culture revolution. Chinese citizens hope China would become a more democratic country led by the opponent of Bo.
However, as we can see in 2016, protest finally end up in a tragedy. So is China's democracy.
I'm writing this review in 2022, when Xi start his third term of the general secretary of CCP, which is also the top leader of the whole country. Such thing never happened since the reform and opening up of China, 1978. Most citizens believed Xi would lead China into a more authoritarian country with less freedom.
