The Fading Village

Notes from Director Liu Feifang

“Reviewing the social development of China, the government has been acting with firm resolve to boost economy and urbanisation over the past decade, which contributes to an imbalance in the development of society and economy, and which furthermore enlarges the gap between the rich and the poor, the urban and the rural, as well as different regions. This film presents the current social issues, that is, the decline of Chinese rural regions and the consequent conflicts between the development of the times and the backwardness of rural life.

In the process of urbanisation, all kinds of resources tend to be concentrated in the city. People leave the countryside out of their desire for a better life and opportunities, as well as better education and marriage prospects for their children. Population flows from village to city, which seems an improvement in the short term, but can cause new social problems in the long run. 

Moreover, the outflow of population directly leads to the decay of the countryside. In this process, the enriched material indirectly complicates human nature, which makes people utilitarian. At the stage where people are sufficient in food and clothing while poor in spiritual satisfaction, loneliness becomes the main psychological problem haunting the characters in the film. As the old man in the film said, “Regardless of the improved living conditions, we now lead an extremely lonely life, and without the company of neighbours, no one will even know if someone is dead”. For another example, the reason why Hou Junli leaves is that he cannot bear the dull rural life anymore. While people are social animals, nevertheless, he has no object to communicate with, except for the mobile phone. The monotonous rural life leaves him no option but to gamble, and the loneliness in his heart thereby drives him away from the village.”