• Director(s):

    PEYRET (DAMIEN)

  • Producer(s):

    ARTE FRANCE

  • Territories:

    Worldwide.

  • Production year:

    2006

  • Language(s):

    German, English, French

  • Rights:

    NON-THEATRICAL, TV, DVD, INTERNET

A journey into the labyrinth of contemporary China and its complex relationship with its minorities, the Naxi tradition, one of China's most mysterious cultures.

This two-part documentary takes us on a journey into the labyrinth of contemporary China and its complex relationship with its minorities. Via an exploration of the Naxi tradition, one of China's most mysterious cultures, it illustrates the differences between urban China and the China of the highlands. Through young Naxis' efforts to keep their culture alive, we learn about the unique Naxi pictographic writing system, the last Naxi sages, and how Naxi culture was practically wiped out during the Cultural Revolution.
The first of these two films revolves around a young Naxi who revives a ceremony which has not been performed for 80 years in his remote village 2,600 metres up in the mountains. The second focuses on the Naxi capital, Lijiang, which was visited by three and half million-plus Chinese tourists last year, explains how Naxi culture has become the region's premier tourist attraction, and asks whether the development of tourism will save or destroy this thousand-year-old culture.