I have so enjoyed access to classic Asian movies. At TAS the head of AV, Glenn Wolfe, stocked a library of DVDs of most of the classics from Taiwan, Mainland, and throughout Asian and I watched and ripped everyone I could. They are in a stack of DVDs somewhere in the house in Door County. So now, thanks to YouTube which has almost everything one could want, I am resuming my videographic journey.
I started with works by the director Zhang Yi-Mou who gave us House of Flying Daggers, Hero and earlier works like Red Sorghum, Rise the Red Lantern, To Live, and The Flowers of War. These are works that are very hard to endure because they describe the deprivation and misery that the Chinese people endured before, after, and during Mao’s reign.
They are at once admirable and pathetic... admirable because they persevered and kept some values in the face of horrific situations.....pathetic because the only other choice was to kill themselves. Not the greatest recommendation for watching these films but in a way, the cast light on why current Chinese and Taiwanese families function as they do.
They often exist like a beehive all living together, communally sharing almost everything and certainly raising the kids as members of the small tribe.
They have a family altar, have dinners together, and subjugate themselves to the elder parents.
Because of historical hunger, there is never any food left at the end of a meal which may have 5 to 10 dishes of different foods. If it is not consumed at the table, it is immediately packed for lunch boxes for the next day...but this is rare. There really is no waste.
Historical starvation also explains when there is nothing wasted from the animals or plants served for food. SO far, I think I have never eaten Chicken testicles, or pork anus but I have eaten intestines, livers, duck and pig blood in soup and candy, duck tongues and probably stuff I do not really want to know. I am not big on fish trimming soups either.
Link for Beef Offal Soup with a 100-year history:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQCPpzYpZCU
The point I want to make is that the Chinese culture has survived hardships we westerners really cannot imagine and still prevail against all odds. And I urge you reader to share my task of separating a group of people from their government. The people are tender and basic under all the other stuff. And I love reaffirming that and moving forward with relationships based upon that understanding.
The movies are a great teaching tool and emotional release. Here are a few links
Raise the Red Lantern RAISE THE RED LANTERN | Full DRAMA Movie | Zhang Yimou | Gong Li | Streaming Movies
Posts
