Three Generations of Women Under Half the Sky
and Four Other Film Scripts on the Contemporary History of China
by
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After visiting Taipei, Faith, Marriage and Loyalty has been completed; the protagonists are mostly author’s friends, who contributed. London International Screenwriting Competition concludes it as “script offers a powerful, emotionally resonant tapestry marked by both authenticity and literary richness, and would serve as a formidable entry for international prestige projects or streaming platform epics”. LISC also comments it as: “a sweeping multi-decade epic follows intersecting lives through major socio-political upheavals in China and Taiwan, exploring generational trauma, family ties, ambition, and the personal cost of political and economic change”. Scenes in Faith, Marriage and Loyalty: INT. AN OATH CHAMBER; XI'AN FOREIGN LANGUAGE COLLEGE - DAY 1986. On the top floor of the main teaching building, a neat and dustless space with warm sunlight shining over a large rectangular conference table assembled by ten desks, where chairs are placed around them. The names of students list for CCP (China Communist Party) are ZHANG Jianguo (Construction of Nation), LI Jianjun (Construction of Army), WANG Guoqiang (Strengthening Nation), ZHAO Zhiyong (Brave Courage), SUN Hongmei (Red Plum Blossom), LIU Tiemei (Iron Plum Blossom), YANG Jihong (Inheritance of Red) and YANG Jijun(Inheritance of Army). The last one is WAN QIAOZHI which sounds like Chinese pronunciation for George. LEI GUOHUA (Nation of China), Secretary of CCP of the college nods while reading. All of sudden, his nodding stopped. SECRETARY LEI (Displeased) What kind of name is this? WAN George? Is he an ethnic minority? Which of you is his Mentor of CCP Membership? EXT. A FARMER'S COURTYARD, SUBURB OF XI'AN - DAY 2010. A blindfolded donkey is pulling a stone mill. There are grains drying on the ground with piles of corn stalks and dry branches nearby. A chicken coop is seen in the yard. Hens are chirping after laying eggs. A MAN IN HUT (V.O.) (Loud and impatient) TSAIHUA (Colorful Flowers), Tsaihua, have you finished in the toilet? I see you read no books nor newspapers except in toilet where you pretend you are an intellectual. Be quick and help me with my work. There is a pigsty in the yard is connected to an open-air toilet. A big black pig is eating the human feces that falls from the toilet. The buzzing of flies, together with the sound of pigs can be heard. Tsaihua, a 15 years old girl stands up from the toilet. She holds a copy of Xi'an Youth Digest between her chin and her chest while she belts up. She walks out of the toilet while tidying her pants and shirt. After MA degree with dissertation Have Chinese Women Ever Held Up Half The Sky?; Three Generations Of Women Under Half The Sky was drafted. This is a story about Chinese women struggling in a male dominated society although Mao summoned Women Can Hold Up Half The Sky in 1950s when labors were needed for his kingdom after more than 20 years of wars. Language and culture are the elements that the author has been focused on. After touring in China nationwide, he realized ethnic minorities’ language and tradition have been eliminated by Han culture. Assimilation (a feature) presents the disputes over these issues by Sophia, a British student and Ruiming, a Chinese college graduate who encountered bureaucracy when fling passport application for study overseas. A scene from Assimilation: INT. A TAXI – DAY Sophia has been looking outside since she started the Taxi ride. SOPHIA (By looking outside) Honey, could you please ask the driver if he can read any of the Mongolian signs on the streets? RUIMING (To the driver) Hello, Shifu, she wants to know if you can read the Mongolian signs on the street. THE TAXI DRIVER Not a single word. SOPHIA (To Ruiming) Can you? RUIMING Of course not. They look like sugar-coated grapes on a skewer to me. Why are you bothered? SOPHIA I don’t understand this. If no one can read Mongolians, and Mandarin Chinese is well used, why bother having bi-lingual signposts? RUIMING (Kidding Sophia) The Mongolian signs are just like the Make-ups you put on your face to seduce me for sex. SOPHIA Honey, you don’t need to be seduced. Men only have one thing on their simple mind, sex. Anyway, I want to look beautiful to be confident. RUIMING Let me finish. Yes, CONFIDENCE is important. The authorities need confidence to make people believe this is a bilingual and bi-culture society. We all know it is not. SOPHIA Interesting, please go on. The author has experiences studying overseas, where he encountered all sort of Chinese students. Based on his experience, Waterdrops Insoluble was completed. A scene from Waterdrops insoluble: Annabelle, a married Chinese student who arrives in the US for a relationship ANNABELLE I think I had an orgasm last night with Jeffery. YING How did you feel? ANNABELLE Full of pleasure. YING Anymore? ANNABELLE No. I don’t think so. Why? YING Feeling pleasure is nothing like having an orgasm. ANNABELLE So after all, you mean I was not having an orgasm? YING Of course not. Listen, feelings of pleasure is like chewing chicken feet. An orgasm is like gobbling juicy steak, thick cut juicy steak. ANNABELLE (Muttering) I have never tried thick cut juicy steak. But are you sure? The short film screenplay An Acetylene Light is completed based on the author’s real family story. Hongye (author’s brother) gains an opportunity to study in university after Mao’s ruling; his Shifu, the community as well as his family encourage him to take the exams. A scene from An Acetylene Light: INT. POST OFFICE - DAY Shifu Wang is filling the form on the counter. Next to him, a big parcel wrapped with the very newspaper from his home table of Chairman Mao's Highest Instruction can be seen. His strong hand writes with a small pencil: THIS IS WHAT MY WIFE MADE FOR YOU (a winter jacket). I AM NOW RETIRED AND MY YOUNGEST SON REPLACED MY POSITION. DO COME TO SEE ME IN YOUR HOLIDAY WHEN RETURNING TO TAIYUAN.
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About the Book
The five movie scripts in Three Generations of Women Under Half the Sky higlight life in modern China, exploring topics such as gender disparity, marriage, loyalty, cultural conflicts, and more. In the title script, Grandma plans to swap her granddaughter for a boy in the delivery room. Later, the granddaughter returns home from Australia with degrees in gender equality and gives birth for a powerful military family. In “Faith, Marriage and Loyalty,” George, a college student, loses his bid to become a member of China’s Communist Party. Other characters include Mi, a Muslim who believes he saved a poor girl; Long, who believes in the Lord and is betrayed by his wife; and Yu Zimei, a Buddhist who dreams of Hollywood and kidnaps a former lover for money. In “Assimilation,” Sophia, a British student, marries Ruiming to secure a visa extension. On their honeymoon, they observe that the Mongolian language is being replaced by Chinese—and they wonder if English is next. Other features include “Waterdrops Insoluble,” which focuses on Chinese students seeking work in the United States; and “An Acetylene Light” which explores a new phase of life after the deterioration of China’s Cultural Revolution.
About the Author
Gang CHEN graduated from the Institute of Education in London in 2008. He started movie script translation from Chinese to English before creating his own movie scripts based on his life experiences. Most of the plots in this book are based on real events.