The documentary will explore the life and writings of Lin Zhiming, the award winning author of a book published in Chinese which explores the lives and experiences of lepers in China.
The film opens with a view of cured lepers daily life in the village to which they are sequestered, cross blurred into the book cover, then another cross blur to the author reading his book.
From a 2005 interview we will be introduced to Zhiming. The interview recounts Zhiming's experience when he received the award in literature from the International Lepers Association in 2002. This will be followed by a discussion of the contents of his book.
At 76 years old, he has lived with the stigma of leprosy since he was 8. He recounts that during the period of the battle between Japan and China, and then the Civil War, lepers were slaughtered and buried alive. After the wars, in spite of effective medication and a cure for leprosy, anyone who had contracted leprosy, though they no longer had the disease, was considered a lifetime leper and assigned to live in an isolated countryside location. Later the government lifted any requirement for the former lepers to be isolated, they never re-entered society. They were rejected by their families and the communities where they had grown up. They have nowhere to go, and no employable skills, so they stay and receive meager assistance from a government sponsored leper association. They were given simple low wage jobs, assigned to them by the government. Zhiming stated that they don't have the resources in Chinese society to help the survivors of leprosy.
In his book, Zhiming records the lives of the lepers and their struggles and suffering. The book took 15 years to write.
Zhiming contracted leprosy at age 8, and was lucky to be sent to the leper colony for a cure rather than left to die. After his cure, with no education and no family support, he taught himself to read and write. In order to make a meager living he took to the streets and offered his services as a writer of beautiful calligraphy. It is customary to set banners with auspicious quotes on either side of the door for Lunar New Year. Zhiming would write the beautiful words on banners for others with his gnarled hands. Then, after bedecking the homes of his clients with the art of his calligraphy for their sumptuous New Year celebrations, he would return alone to his isolation, unwelcome anywhere because he was disfigured by leprosy.
Lin Zhiming never married, never had a family. He revealed that the name of his book, which roughly translates as "No suffering like this for Lepers in China" has a double meaning. Officially it means that in today's China there is no suffering for lepers, but in reality he intends it to mean that there is no suffering equal to the intense suffering of a leper in China.
The interview shifts to current day and on camera he writes Chinese characters and the viewer can appreciate his artistry.
The documentary asks the question of why no one helps him. The book he has written reflects his whole life. He has nothing but that book, no wife, no children, no family. For him he is lucky he has something like this, but what about the others?
The interview fades and we see a website dated 2014. It shows that Zhiming has written a second book. He is trying to raise 10,000 yuan to publish it. That is barely $2000. Though Zhiming received far more than that as an award for his first book, he had donated that to the Chinese organization which helps lepers, and now he has no funds to either publish his book, or live a comfortable lifestyle. The viewer is left with the question of why the leper organization will not publish the book. Is he being silenced?
Preservation of Cantonese
Western religious culture contains a story about all people being united within one language, and because of this they gathered together to build a tower to the height of the heavens. God viewed this an act of pride and decided to separate them into many languages so they could not challenge His sovereignty. This story is called the "Tower of Babel" and shows that all people are essentially from the same group, but were separated as a means to prevent hubris. This leads to the subconscious belief that, though in the present people are divided by language and culture, beneath these differences, all people fundamentally originated from the same ancestors. That leads Western countries to tolerate, respect and uphold racial and cultural diversity.
However, in an authoritarian country, the unity of ideas and voices is extremely important for maintaining the stability of the regime. Diversity, especially the excessive emphasis on individual voices and ideas, is an obstacle to safeguarding authoritarianism. Therefore, the Han, which are the majority, insist on controlling the minorities by imposing their language and culture on the minority ethnicities. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the generation-long effort to crush the Cantonese language.
According to historical records, Cantonese has a history of more than 2,200 years. Cantonese speakers mainly live in southern China, specifically cities such as Guangzhou, Hong Kong and Macau. Cantonese has 9 tones, which are closer to the phonology of ancient Chinese; and it has an independent and complete character system, completely different from the character structure of Mandarin. The government has dismissed Cantonese as a dialect, though linguists insist that Cantonese is a language and should not be defined as a dialect because of its complete and independent pronunciation and text composition system.
Cantonese language and the attached culture has become popular since the 1979 Chinese Economic Reform; it has led the pulse and trend of the entire popular cultural industry (including music, movies, television, and animation, etc.). Because of the popularity in media, Cantonese was exported to northern China and inland regions along with the entertainment products produced in Hong Kong.
Guangdong, which led the economic prosperity of that time, was at the forefront of reform and opening up due to its proximity to Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, an area in which Cantonese was spoken. Therefore, Cantonese culture spread to inland China along with the economic flow.
Unfortunately, the "opening up" has ended and In recent years, the Chinese government has made great efforts to promote Mandarin education in Guangdong and Hong Kong. Children are taught to believe Cantonese is low class and a slang dialect and have used Mandarin since they went to kindergarten. Some Guangzhou residents reported that their children have gradually become ignorant of using Cantonese, and they cannot use Cantonese to communicate with their elders at home. Articles and news stories written in Cantonese have disappeared, and linguists worry that this move to dwarf and marginalize Cantonese will cause it to gradually disappear. In this regard, Guangzhou citizens initiated large-scale peaceful protests among the people. Hong Kong also has a series of "Support Cantonese" peaceful protests. However, in authoritarian countries where the government controls public opinion, these voices are not allowed. Those involved in the protests have been made to disappear and all news information about the protests has been erased. No one dares to protest further.
Once language and culture are moved to the political realm, motivation for development is lost. Language records and represents the occurrence and development of the history, culture, and life of an ethnic group. It is itself alive; it has become an instinct or living habit for language users and ceasing to use their language is to deny their own culture and change their identity of themselves.
According to an interviewee, as a Guangzhou native, who received Mandarin education, speaking Cantonese is the most natural and authentic reaction in his life, and it is the most natural instinct. When communicating with people in northern China whose language is mainly Mandarin (they know nothing about Cantonese), he naturally uses Mandarin, but he also hopes to use native Cantonese when communicating with his children.
Using Cantonese at home and Mandarin with those in northern China, he shows a kind of cultural tolerance and respect. Cultural exchanges should be built on mutual appreciation, learning, respect and tolerance. Unfortunately this respect does not flow in both directions, as Mandarin speakers insist on trying to suppress Cantonese "subculture" with power or political skills.
This film will pave the way for the preservation and inheritance of Cantonese, because Cantonese is facing the crisis of being "disappeared" gradually. As a native of Guangzhou, I hope that my language and culture can be preserved and passed on. A complete dictionary is an important tool and way for languages to be preserved.
Nowadays, many Cantonese dictionaries on the Internet have either writing errors, errors corresponding to fonts, or the layout system and many omissions. There is no systematic access to Cantonese. Baidu.com is the main research website in China, and when Cantonese is researched on this search engine the answers to definition and pronunciation are often wrong.
To this end, I hope to work with linguists passionate about saving this language, to edit a Cantonese dictionary that can record and explain Cantonese in more detail, comprehensively and systematically. I hope to use my professional skills in animation, visual and Interpretation of Cantonese texts using images; as a media artist, I believe that I have the ability to visualize the abstract meaning of texts with images to give a concrete and easy-to-understand visual explanation. I hope to edit a dictionary of Cantonese characters combined with visual, sound, and text interpretation, as a substantive reference for the inheritance of history and culture.
Tan Hui's Vision
filmofhuitan@gmail.com
Copyright © 2024 Tan Hui's Vision - All Rights Reserved.
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