I have just returned from China. I spent a few days in Guangzhou, in Guangdong Province. My Cantonese friends warmly welcomed me with an offer to take up traditional Chinese painting and gave me everything I needed for it: watercolours and a Chinese calligraphy set.
The people in China are very caring and attentive, and they understand the importance of cultural exchange. A whole lifetime would not be enough to study this country. It is a vast country. Each province has its own cultural features and language, and in general China is very diverse, steeped in ancient history and modern technology alike. Today’s China staggers the imagination. What a long way they have come to have what they have now. And yet, not so long ago, everything was different.
This is what Jia Zhangke’s film Caught by the Tides is about. A wonderful example of auteur cinema, showing a cultural cross-section of the country spanning a single generation. I recommend it.