Chinese Ethnographic Film Flashback from 1957 to 1966

From 1957 to 1979, 21 ‘scientific documentaries on minorities' socio-history' were made through the collaboration of the Ethnic Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Bayi Film Studio and the Beijing Scientific and Educational Film Studio. Together, these films make up 123 rolls of film, each with a running time of 10 minutes. They record 16 minorities. Among the 21 documentaries, 14 research social forms and stages according to the classic Marxist classification: 11 illustrate the original primitive stage of society, 1 the slavery stage, and 3 the feudal stage. Of the remaining pieces, 2 are concerned with family and marriage affairs, and the 4 with culture and arts.

Three of these pieces will be screened, in honor of director Yang Guanghai's contribution to Chinese filmmaking.

The Kawa (Wa)

Black & White/ 40mins/ 35 mm/ 1957
Location: Simao, Yunnan
Duration: 4 reels/about 40 minutes
Cultural consultant: Tan Bibo
Script outlines: Tan Bibo Xu Zhiyuan
Photography: Zheng Zhiguo, Yang Guanghai

Shot in the Ximeng mountains of Yunnan , recording the transformation of Wa society from a late-primitive society to a slavery society. It records not only tribal alliances, slash and burn agriculture and social customs, but also the rituals of bull sacrifice, dragging out of wooden drums, cutting bulls' tails, and headhunting.

The Oroquen

Black & White/ 72mins/ 35 mm/ 1963
Location: Neimenggu, Heilongjiang
Consultant: Qiu Pu
Screenplay: Yang Guanghai, Zhao Fuxing, Lv Guangtian, Man DuErTu
Direstor & Photography: Yang Guanghai,
Recorder: Shi Jiazhen
Definition: Wang LianYuan
Sound: Li Liang
Editing: Zhang Zhengran
Effect: Sun Kai
Produktie: Wu Yuanming

This documentary records the Oroquen's primitive hunting way of life. Focus on the social system, known as “Wulileng? reveals the process of social change from a hunter-gatherer society to that of an agricultural community. Documenting the communal work and equal distribution of a classless society and its transformation to a class society, this film also records Oroquen marriage and funeral practices, dress, ornamentation and handicrafts, and shamanistic religion.

The Azhu Marriage System of the Naxi (Mosuo) From Yongning

Black & White/ 72mins/ 60 mm/ 1965

Location: Lijiang, Yunnan
Consultant: Qiu Pu
Screenplay: Zhan Chengxu,Yang Guanghai
Direstor: Yang Guanghai
Photography: Yuan zhu
Recorder: Zhao Dewang
Motive: Zheng Chengyang
Definition: Zhou Qingyu

In Yongning commune, in Ninglang Yi Autonomous County, Yunnan, the pre-liberation Naxi people were considered as under a system of feudal lordship, while nonetheless maintaining many elements of original matriarchal society. Characteristic traits documented in this piece include the absence of marriage (a man instead visits his loved one in her home), the practice of matrilocality, and the matrilineal organization of society.

About Yang Guanghai

 Yang Guanghai was born in 1932 in Dali , Yunnan . Of Bai extraction, educated in a traditional private school, he went on to study photography as an apprentice in the Zixiong photo studio in Kunming . In 1950 he entered the South-Western military academy, and after graduating obtained a position as an army photographer. Soon after, in 1952, he was transferred to the Bayi film studio as a cameraman making documentaries about military life. He was picked by the Central Bureau of Ethnic Affairs in 1957 to make scientific documentaries on China 's minorities. He continued making documentaries after moving to the Beijing Scientific and Educational Film Studio in 1960, and also after upon entering the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences Ethnic Research Institute in 1977.

Since 1957, he has made over 30 documentaries, including pieces such as the Kawa, the Kucong, the Dulong, Oroquen, and the Miao of the Qingshui river and their marriage system . The scientific documentaries he made during the 1950's and 60's have been acquired by institutes from Japan to Germany, and the IWF institute in Goettingen, Germany, has made international versions of his films for academic consultation and research. Yang Guanghai has written five papers on documentary filmmaking and Visual Anthropology in China , co-authored a book on visual anthropology, and edited two volumes of scientific documentary scripts dating back through the history of Chinese documentary making. He has also published essays and travelogues relating to his experience of ethnic minorities.

We consider Yang Guanghai to be a pioneer of documentary making and visual anthropology in China , and his 40 years of work have laid a foundation from which younger documentary makers can learn and draw inspiration from.

( photograph Zhang Shimei, Cai Jiaqi)