Contrast between the Urban and the Rural Regarding Mental and Social Space

This chapter examines cinematic Lanzhou, the capital city of Gansu province, which makes an “absent presence” in films, as it often appears as the reference to modernity and a future destination for film characters from the adjacent areas. The geographical conditions of the area nurture a nomadic way of production, making sheep, horse, camel or cattle herding become one of the overt images of the area, and film characters invariably accompanied or symbolised by these animals. Chen Jianbin’s directorial debut A Fool [Yige shaozi] (2015) is one example. This chapter analyses how the protagonist, travelling between a village and a nearby town, suffers from urban manipulative domination due to his low social status, inadequate knowledge about urban conduct and weak social connections. It demonstrates that the sprawling urban spaces and the power of capital restricts the rural living space, a theme that is further extended in River Road [Jia zai shuicao fengmao de difang] (Li Ruijun, 2015), a film featuring a disappearing ethnic minority in Hexi Corridor. This chapter shows that the transforming power of urbanisation appears even more dramatic in an ecologically fragile environment, with the inhabitants deprived of health, traditional ways of production and home.