Memoirs from the Beijing Film Academy: The Genesis of China’s Fifth Generation PDF
Preview Memoirs from the Beijing Film Academy: The Genesis of China’s Fifth Generation
TRANSLATOR’S INTRODUCTION n WhenmyformercolleagueatthemagazineChinaScreen,ZhangDan,in- vitedmetolunchwithourmutualfriendProfessorNiZhenoftheBeijing FilmAcademy,Iacceptedwithalacrity.ProfessorNiiserudite,cultured, andsomethingofagourmet,soIexpectedbothinterestingconversation andgoodfood.LittledidIknowIwouldalsobeaskedtoconsidertrans- latingthisbook.IwasawareofthehonorProfessorNiwasbestowingon me,butworriedif Ihadthetime.WhenIreadthemanuscript,however, suchconcernsevaporated:Iknewatoncethatthiswasamostunusualand excitingwork.Therefore,myfirstthanksaretoZhangDanforarranging lunchandtoProfessorNiforgivingmetheopportunitytotranslatethis fascinatingbook. Theappealof MemoirsfromtheBeijingFilmAcademyformeliesinits unusual and accessible style and in its scholarly significance: it is both a goodreadandacontributiontoknowledgeanddebate.Noonecoulddis- putethattheemergenceofthe‘‘FifthGeneration’’ofChinesefilmmakers inthemid-1980swasthebreakthroughthatbroughtChinesecinematothe attentionoftheworld.AstheEnglishcriticTonyRaynswrites,‘‘It’stempt- ingtoputanexactdatetothebirthofthe‘NewChineseCinema’:12April viii TRANSLATOR’SINTRODUCTION 1985.Thatwastheeveningwhen YellowEarthplayedtoapackedhousein theHongKongFilmFestivalinthepresenceof itstwomaincreators,di- rectorChenKaigeandcinematographerZhangYimou.Thescreeningwas received with something like collective rapture, and the post-film discus- 1 sionstretchedlongpastitstimelimit.’’ Giventhiscrucialrole,theabsenceofamonographineitherChineseor EnglishdevotedspecificallytotheFifthGenerationisstriking.Iamhappy tosaythatMemoirsfromtheBeijingFilmAcademyfillsthatgap.Inthepro- cessitgatherstogetheralargeamountofvitalinformationabouttheearly days of the Fifth Generation and also rectifies many misunderstandings about them. As Professor Ni points out in the preface hewrote specially forthisedition,theprominenceattainedbyChenKaigeandZhangYimou through successes such as Farewell, My Concubine and Raise the Red Lan- tern has obscured the fact that the Fifth Generation includes manyother equallydistinctivefilmmakers,eachwithhisorherownstyleandinterests. ThereasonsfortheabsenceofamonographontheFifthGenerationin ChinaitselfarereadilyinferredfromProfessorNi’spostscript,whichwas alsowrittenspeciallyforthisedition.There,hefranklylaysoutthecritical fateoftheFifthGenerationinpost-TiananmenChina,wheretherhetoric of postcolonial theory has been appropriated to accuse these filmmakers ofpanderingtotheWesterncolonialdesirefortheexotic.Inthisway,he makesitclearthatthisbookisintendedasacriticalinterventioninthatde- bateandareminderoftheidealsandconcernforChinathathavemotivated theFifthGenerationfromtheirearliestdays. MemoirsfromtheBeijingFilmAcademyalsoremindsusthatcriticaldis- course cannot be divorced from the operations of power that either sup- pressorfacilitateitsproductionanddistribution.Forallthelooseningof governmentcontrolinthePeople’sRepublic,wecannotlosesightofthe factthatnoneofthelocalusesofpostcolonialandpostmoderntheoryin Chinatodaywouldbepossibleiftheyoffendedtheregime.However,al- thoughthesecontemporarycriticalcurrentsmaysuittheregime,theyare the products of today’s intellectuals.Therefore, we also need to ask why so manyof today’s generation in China feel a need to denigrate and dis- miss the more radical culture of the 1980s,which culminated in the 1989 DemocracyMovement.Isitreallysimplythattheyarecallous,materialis- tic,andunmovedbyallthoseliveslostonormaybe—astheChinesegov- ernment insists—‘‘only’’ near Tiananmen Square? Orare theyangry with TRANSLATOR’SINTRODUCTION ix Fromleft:NewZealand scholarPaulClark;head ofXi’anFilmStudioand directorofOldWell,Wu Tianming;thetranslator ofthisvolume,Chris Berry;andZhangYimou, inBeijingin1986.Photo courtesyoftheauthor. theirpredecessorsbecauseultimatelytheyfailedtoproducelastingpoliti- calandculturalreformtomatchChina’seconomictransformation?Oris itthattheregime’sdeterminationtokeeppoliticalreformofftheagenda meansthatdismissingthe1980siscrucialtomaintainingsocialcohesionin thePeople’sRepublictoday?Atpresent,wecanonlyspeculateaboutthis, forthefrankdiscussionofthetopicremainsoff-limitswithinthePeople’s Republicitself. Inadditiontoitscontributiontoknowledgeanddebatesaboutrecent Chinese cinema and society, the narrative style of Memoirs from the Bei- jingFilmAcademyisstrikingandunusual.Inthefirstchapter,ProfessorNi remarks that the storyof the Fifth Generation is ‘‘like a legend.’’ And in- deed,hetellsthestoryasthoughitwereanepisodeaboutabandofRobin Hood-styleheroesfromTheWaterMarginorasimilarChinesemartialarts classic.This strategy is an interesting one. First, it communicates the ap- pealoftheFifthGenerationphenomenonforitsmanysupporters,andit makes the book a joy to read. Second, it highlights theway in which all historynarrativizesfactualdata,aswellastherolethatthisprocessplaysin decidingwhatandwhogetsthespotlight.Forexample,asoneoftheDuke UniversityPressreaderspointedout,thereisnodoubtthatthelegendof theFifthGenerationisamaleone.Thefemalemembersofthegroup,al- thoughnotignored,getrelativelylessattention.Itisalsoahighlypatriotic narrative. Theuniquestyleinwhichthisvolumeiswritten—blurringthebound- x TRANSLATOR’SINTRODUCTION aries of conventional academic analysis, biography, and storytelling—is a strongpartofitsappeal.Whenweconsidertheauthor’sbackground,how- ever, this style is not a surprise. Professor Ni is not only one of China’s leading film scholars, he is also one of the teachers of the Fifth Genera- tion and a leading screenwriter responsible for some of their most note- worthyfilms.InhisworkasaprofessorattheBeijingFilmAcademysince 1980,NiZhencametoknowtheFifthGenerationasstudentsandfriends longbeforetheyevermadefilms,givinghimaccesstothepersonalhisto- riesandfrankcommentsgivenhere.AsthechiefeditoroftheAcademy’s journal, he has also written numerous scholarly articles, some of which havepreviouslyappearedinEnglish.Moreover,ProfessorNiistheauthor of a number of the most important contemporary monographs on Chi- nese cinema, including The Exploratory Screen and Reform and the Chinese 2 Cinema. This scholarlyeffort accounts for the rigorous research and de- tailofthevolume.Finally,ProfessorNi’sstorytellingskillsareattestedto byhisnumerousfilmandtelevisionscreenplays,includingtheFifthGen- erationclassicsBlush,directedbyLiShaohong,andRaisetheRedLantern, directed by ZhangYimou,which was nominated foran Academy Award forBestForeignLanguageFilm. ProfessorNihasalsobroughthisscholarlyeyefordetailheretothepro- ductionoftheEnglishedition.TohelpthereaderlessfamiliarwithChina andtheworldofChinesecinema,hehasnotonlyproducedanewpreface andpostscript,butalsoworkedwithmetoprovidethenecessarycitations forquotationsandreferencesthattheeducatedChinesereaderwouldtake for granted.We have also inserted the dates of all films mentioned in the maintextontheirfirstappearance,exceptwherethedateisclearfromthe immediatecontext.Inaddition,IamparticularlygratefultoProfessorNi fortakingtimeoutfromhishecticscheduletoanswermynumerousques- tionsaboutthetextitself.Muchofthisadditionalworkoccurredduringa tripfundedbytheInternationalResearcherExchangeProgramoftheAus- tralianResearchCouncil.Itwasalsoduringthisperiodofworktogether thatwedecidedtoaddtheelementsmentionedabove. IalsowanttothankDukeUniversityPresseditorReynoldsSmithfor hisgoodhumor,patience,andpersistence.ThanksalsotoCuiJianforan- sweringmy‘‘stupidforeigner’’questionsasItranslatedthemanuscript.My old friend and colleague from China Film Corporation, Shan Dongbing, who has always been generous with his time and knowledge, helped me TRANSLATOR’SINTRODUCTION xi again by tracing numerous English export titles of films and reading my translation against the original. I am forever in his debt.Cui Junyan also checkedthetranslationagainsttheoriginal.Ireliedonthatmostdedicated fan of Hollywood classics,Chen Mei, to help me trace back the original English titles from the Chinese, and on Aiko Yoshioka, Dr. Raj Pandey, Seio Nakajima, and Professor Chong Suwon to help me trace Japanese names and film titles. Sally Ingleton helped with film production termi- nology,andDr.BillRouttwithreferencestoSovietcinema.Toallofthem, Iamverygrateful.Last,andmaybemostimportantofall,FredaFreiberg gavegenerouslyofhertimetoreadthefinalmanuscriptandmakenumer- ousastutesuggestionsregardingcorrectandfelicitoususeofEnglish;with gratitude,Iincorporatednearlyallofthem.Anyremainingproblemsand errorsare,ofcourse,myown. ChrisBerry PREFACE TO THE ENGLISH EDITION n When they came to Beijing in March 1994, my Japanese friends Kimata Junji and Seki Masami urged me towrite a book about the earlydays of theFifthGeneration.Theyrequestedanaccountoftheiryouthfulexperi- encesbeforeenteringtheBeijingFilmAcademyandduringthemovement tosendeducatedyouthsupintothemountainsanddowntothecountry- side, their student days at the Academy, and the production of their first films.AsIunderstoodit,theywantedmetowriteakindofprehistoryof FifthGenerationcinema. Theystipulatedaccuratehistoricalmaterialsandlivelywritingwithan emphasis on fact overcommentary, so that readers could trace the emer- genceoftheFifthGenerationforthemselves.BecauseIbeganteachingat the Beijing Film Academy in the early 1980s, I became both mentorand friendtotheFifthGeneration.WhenOneandEightand YellowEarthap- peared, I alsowrote quite a few reviews to drawattention to them.That is why Kimata Junji and Seki Masami felt I would be suited to the task they proposed. And this is how the first edition of this book came to be publishedinJapaneseinNagoya,Japan. Intheearly1980s,ZhangYimou,ChenKaige,TianZhuangzhuang,Li xiv PREFACETOTHEENGLISHEDITION ShaohongandtheothermembersoftheFifthGenerationwerestillonly students,buttheiroutlineswerebecomingvisibleonthehorizon.Events fromtheirstudentdaysinaflotillaofbuildingslandlockedbythefieldsof ZhuxinVillageoutsideBeijingcamereadilyandvividlytomymind.How- ever, they had taken separate creative paths over the last decade, and so I feltIshouldintervieweachofthesedirectors,cinematographers,soundde- signers,andproductiondesignersthatIusedtobesocloseto.Withtheir agreement,betweenMarchandMay1994Itookadvantageofgapsintheir busyshootingschedulestoseekthemoutonebyoneandconductdetailed interviewswiththem. What a wonderful and happy time that was! We went over familiar andmovingstories,delvingdeepintotheirmemoriesforpastevents.We remembered bitter and almost unbelievable incidents from the Cultural Revolution period. And we reviewed the many slings and arrows Fifth Generationcinemahadenduredasitemerged.Whilewetalked,Iexperi- encedthemixtureofdistanceandunderstandingthatcharacterizesthespe- cialrelationshipbetweentwogenerations.Iheardmanystoriesfromtheir youths that were unique yet also had much in common with other tales fromtheupheavalsoftheCulturalRevolution.Together,theyconstituted theprehistoryofafilmartmovementthatthisbooksupplies,aswellasa collective biographyof the Fifth Generation filmmakers. From these em- pirical materials, I not only gained a deeper understanding of the artistic tendenciesofearlyFifthGenerationcinema,butIalsoformedthestructure ofmyargument,whichrevealsitself betweenthelinesofthistext. WheneveranyonementionsChina’sFifthGenerationcinematoday,the focus of attention is sure to be on Chen Kaige and Zhang Yimou. This tendency evolved gradually over the last fifteen years. There is no ques- tion that their work together produced the stark look, powerful emo- tions, national anxiety, and deep reflection that characterize early Fifth Generationcinema.Theircollaborationandlatersplitshapedthisfilmart movementdecisively.However,themostnoteworthyhistoricalfactsdocu- mented here concern the development of another Fifth Generation film- maker,Tian Zhuangzhuang. Hewas very prominent during theircollege daysandaroundthetimeoftheirgraduation,andhislyricalartisticstyle, organizational abilities, and personal charisma indicated that hewas des- tinedtoleadagroupofartists.Yet,ultimately,itwasZhangYimou,with hisassertivelyexpressivefilmstyle,extraordinaryartistryandenergy,abso- PREFACETOTHEENGLISHEDITION xv Theauthor,ProfessorNiZhen,teachingintheAcademy’sProductionDesignDepartment in1981.PhotocourtesyofBeijingFilmAcademy. lute refusal to accept fate, and meticulous organizational skills, who be- cametheactualfigureheadof FifthGenerationcinema.Hissuddenemer- gence unexpectedlychanged the public face of this art movement from a potentialcontinuationofFourthGenerationlyricismandnaturalisticreal- ism to peculiarly Chinese imagery in strong and expressive colors. I feel that uncovering the underlying reasons for this change and the historical originsofthisartisticformationareimportantcontributionstohistory. n At the end of May 1994, I began writing the first chapterof this book in high spirits. Because the materials were complete and I was familiar with thecastofcharacters,Ifinishedthechapterinonestretchoverafewdays. Sadly,justthenmywifeZhaoFengxidiscoveredduringamedicalcheckup that she had lung cancer and that it was already advanced. This terrible blowhadanimmediateeffectonmywriting.Ibecameverydistracted.My wifewasanassociateprofessorintheCinematographyDepartmentofthe Beijing Film Academy. She had a very close student-teacher relationship withZhangYimou,HouYong,LüYue,GuChangwei,andmanyothers. xvi PREFACETOTHEENGLISHEDITION ShewasalsoatypicallytirelessandselflessChinesewoman.Assheignored herillnessandexerciseddeterminedself-control,continuallyencouraging me and spurring me on, I did my very best between June and early Au- gust to focus on completing the remaining three chapters.There are evi- dentdisparitiesbetweenthefirstchapterandthelastthree,whichareless sophisticatedandmorehastilywritten.Furthermore,therearesomeinter- view materials that I was unable to include in full, to my deep regret. I will never forget early spring 1995. My wife’s illness had become critical. Lü Yue, Hou Yong, and Xiao Feng came to her sickbed to express their concern, and ZhangYimou called from Tokyo,where hewas engaged in postproduction, especially to extend his sympathy. I have detailed these events here because I want to express my profound gratitude to my late wifeZhaoFengxi.Ialsowishtoofferabriefexplanationoftheweaknesses andinadequaciesofthisbook. n Quite a number of overseas scholars expressed an interest in translating this book for publication in English. My friend Chris Berry was one of them.HeworkedinBeijingbetween1985and1988,duringwhichtimehe wastheEnglish-languageconsultantforChinaFilmCorporation’sChina Screen,thesoleperiodicalonChinesefilminforeignlanguagesatthattime. Thisexperiencehasbeenanenormousaidtohiminthetranslationofthis book,forhehimselfwitnessedtheburgeoningofFifthGenerationcinema. To ensure accurate and expressive translation, he came especially to Bei- jing for a month in winter 1999, and together we carefully checked the historicaldetailsinthetranslationmanuscriptandtheprecisemeaningof Chineseliteraryallusionsandquotationsinthetext.Ihavebeenveryim- pressed by Chris Berry’s exhaustive work on the English translation and hismeticulousattentiontodetail.Ihavetakenadvantageoftheoccasion of the English edition to make a few additions to various chapters, sec- tions, and passages, but without altering the framework or scope of the original. Apart from this, the numberof photographs has been increased significantly,fromtheoriginaltwenty-twotoafinaltotalofeighty-eight. I would like to express my thanks to all of the Fifth Generation film- makersdiscussedinthebook.Theirgenerousprovisionofwrittenmateri- alsandphotographs,aswellastheirwillingnesstobeinterviewed,hasen- abled the completion of the book and the strengthening of its contents. PREFACETOTHEENGLISHEDITION xvii Atthesametime,IwishtothankChrisBerryforhiseffortsonallfronts concerningthetranslationandpublicationoftheEnglishedition,aswell asDukeUniversityPressandReynoldsSmith,withoutwhosededication itspublicationwouldhavebeenlessswift. Imustalsomentionmyfriend,Mr.ShanDongbing.Hisassistancein proofreading,carefullycheckingtheEnglishtranslationagainsttheorigi- nal Chinese manuscript, and his work in finding source materials for the filmographyhaveinvolvedalotofeffortandhavebeenanenormoushelp inproducingtheEnglisheditionofthisbook.Here,Iexpressmygratitude tohim.
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