The Orphan of Anyang

Colour, 35mm
China, 2001, 84 min
Section: Forum of Independents

Synopsis

The city of Anyang, Henan province. A prostitute from China’s Northeast (Manchuria) desperate and unable to make ends meet, abandons her baby. An unemployed factory worker decides to take the child in order to make 200 yuan monthly in child support promised by the mother. A local gangster tries to take the baby when he learns that he is dying, hoping to make him his heir. Three different lives, three different fates, with their different backgrounds and experiences, people trying to survive on the bottom rung of Chinese society. A cruel and harsh portrait of contemporary China.

About the director

Wang Chao (1964, Nanjing) worked for several years as a factory worker. He started writing after taking an evening course in journalism. He travelled across China and wrote film reviews during his studies at the Film Academy in Beijing. He completed his studies in 1994 and worked in advertising, later as an assistant of Chen Kaige. He has published three short stories and one novel. The Orphan of Anyang is his first feature film.