OUTSIDE THE CITY: RURAL SPACES IN CHINA'S ALTERNATIVE CINEMA

This thesis argues that China’s alternative cinema collectively presents the rural as waste. The films studied here break the often dichotomised and polarised way of looking at the terms “rural” and “urban” in discourse by illustrating visually how waste connects both these spaces. The conception of waste is based on the understanding that garbage is relative in its value. In other words, an object becomes garbage when it is no longer valued by its owner. The rural space and its inhabitants have become devalued by China in like manner as she pursues global dominance through capitalism and by becoming the world’s factory. Such aspirations have resulted in the phenomenon of urbanormativity, otherwise known as the privileging of the urban as cities are built to facilitate international trade. In contrast, China’s rural people and spaces become neglected and are thoroughly exploited as a result, a situation documented by her alternative filmmakers.

Author dc:creator

• EDSON NG LI-CHUN

• Waste, Rural, Space, Urbanormativity, Alternative cinema, China