Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress
As seen:
By Dai Sijie
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1971: Mao’s cultural Revolution is at its peak. Two sons of doctors, sent to ‘re-education’ camps, forced to carry buckets of excrement up and down mountain paths, have only their sense of humour to keep them going. Although the attractive daughter of the local tailor also helps to distract them from the task at hand.
The boys’ true re-education starts, however, when they discover a hidden suitcase packed with the great Western novels of the nineteenth century. Their lives are transformed. And not only their lives: after listening to the stories of Balzac, the little seamstress will never be the same again.
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I read a lot of books about China and found out about this when it was referenced at a book launch I attended with Aiweiwei and Guoxiao Lu. It is a vivid and moving portrayal of a much documented time in Chinese history and the experiences of a generation. I loved the book but watched the film after reading the book and was pretty disappointed with it.
