The Chinese Mayor (2015)

Original title

大同

Directed by

Zhou Hao

Genre

documentary film

Country

People's Republic of China

Runtime

1h 29m

Rating

8.0 of 10 from 26 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

This documentary follows the mayor of Datong, China as he tries to remake his polluted city into a cultural hub. He displaces hundreds of thousands of residents to rebuild ancient city walls, and the film shows the tensions between his vision and the lives he uproots.

observationaldirectintimateunflinchingsoberingcontemplativepersonalgrounded

What happens

The Chinese Mayor (Chinese: 中国市长), original title Datong (大同), is a 2015 documentary that follows Datong mayor Geng Yanbo's efforts to transform one of China's most polluted cities into a cultural destination, in large part by displacing 500,000 residents (about 200,000 homes demolished) to reconstruct the 14th century Ming Dynasty walls of the Old City. The documentary addresses issues including urbanization processes, hukou, and local government debt. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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