Liu Qing
柳青
China, 2021, colour, 2.35:1, 109 mins.
Director: Tian Bo 田波.
Rating: 5/10.
A standard Party-member biopic elevated by some striking photography and visual detail.
STORY
Xi’an city, central China, 1951. Well-known author Liu Qing (Cheng Taishen) announces he’s moving to the countryside to experience the new concept of agricultural collectivisation first hand, and will therefore be leaving his job as the cultural supplement editor of China Youth. Local Party officials recommend nearby Chang’an county, where collectivisation has just started, and offer him the post of deputy county secretary. Liu Qing is stationed in Huangfu village, where the Party is trying to convince peasants to form a “mutual aid team” 互助组 for the benefit of the whole community. Young locals like Wang Jiabin (Shi Qingfeng) and Dong Binghan (Han Shuai) are ken on the idea, but many older ones, like the well-off Guo Fuming (Zhang Guangcheng), don’t want to join. Even though the Party says the scheme is voluntary, they think it’s forcible. Liu Qing’s headmaster friend, Yang Wenhai (Wang Bin), brings a young female comrade from Shandong, recent graduate Ma Wei (Dan Lin), to help him. Liu Qing has been divorced for three years, with his ex-wife and two children living in Beijing; soon he and Ma Wei become romantically involved and marry, and start a family. Many locals, especially older ones, have still not joined the co-operative; Liu Qing tries to blend in with them but they tell him to stop patronising them in his nice Party suit. When Wang Jiabin tries out a new, high-yield seed, more people join the co-operative, as memories still linger of the mass starvation in Shaanxi in 1929. After Liu Qing is criticised by the Writers Association for not producing any books after so long, he decides to shave his head, dress like a peasant and immerse himself in local life to understand it better. In 1955 there’s a good crop and everyone is happy; more locals join the co-operative, but still not Guo Fuming. Tensions set in as Ma Wei, after a visit by her friends, becomes restless to return to Xi’an and get a job as a reporter, and Dong Binghan, now deputy director of the co-operative, lets power go to his head. Liu Qing is visited by Liao (Zheng Xinsheng) to find out what’s happened to his proposed novel but Liu Qing won’t be hurried. However, first Ma Wei leaves for Xi’an and then, at a meeting of the Xi’an Writers Association, Liu Qing is told his “revolutionary spirit is waning”.
REVIEW
A standard Party-member biopic that’s elevated by some fine photography evoking the landscape and rural flavour of northern Shaanxi province, Liu Qing 柳青 is the first feature by local-born Tian Bo 田波, a writer-director in his early 40s whose background is in documentaries (The Lost Buddha 佛陀墕,2007; General’s Command 将令, 2012, on the making of Shaanxi-set White Deer Plain 白鹿原, 2012; The Lost River 走马水, 2012). His frequent 
colleague, Wang Miaoxia 王苗霞 also co-wrote and co-produced here, though their source was a 2016 biography (柳青传, see left) of Liu Qing by his daughter Liu Kefeng 刘可风 (who’s briefly featured in the movie) and the chief creative producer 总监制 was veteran art director Huo Tingxiao 霍廷霄 (Hero 英雄, 2002; House of Flying Daggers 十面埋伏, 2004; Aftershock 唐山大地震, 2010; White Deer Plain). Box office was a nothing RMB3 million or so.
Little known outside China, Shaanxi-born Liu Qing 柳青 (pen name of Liu Yunhua 刘蕴华, 1916-78) was an influential novelist during the 1950s whose fame now largely rests on his magnum opus History of an Endeavour 创业史, first serialised in 1959 and the fruit of a long stay in a village during the start of agricultural collectivisation. The script by Tian, Wang and Ma Xiuhua 马秀华, supervised by veteran writer Lu Wei 芦苇 (Farewell My Concubine 霸王别姬, 1993; To Live 活着, 1994; Tuya’s Marriage 图雅的婚事, 2006), focuses on his decision to move to the countryside to better understand the new process, followed by his immersion in the peasantry (“Life is the writer’s academy”) and his resultant lack of productivity. His later fall from grace during the Cultural Revolution and subsequent reinstatement are only briefly (and vaguely) dealt with in the final 20 minutes.
Though veteran character actor Cheng Taishen 成泰燊 is made to bear a strong resemblance to the real Liu (seen in documentary footage at the end), he mostly emerges – as per usual in such hagiographies – as just a cut-out. There’s a tad more emotion in the second half, largely in scenes with his young second wife (more naturally played by TV actress Dan Lin 丹琳, aka Ning Danlin 宁丹琳) but the textbook script doesn’t allow for much personality to emerge among anyone, including the equally smiley peasantry and officials. What makes the film watchable, and earns it an extra point, is the superb widescreen photography by d.p. Sun Ming 孙明 (mega-hit Hi, Mom 你好，李焕英, 2021) which is both beautifully composed and lit, with an overall autumnal feel. The occasional warm score by Cheng Chi 程池 is gently supportive, not over-cooked, and the whole production moves smoothly under the editing advice of the experienced Zhou Xinxia 周新霞.
CREDITS
Presented by Xi’an Duoji Screen Culture Media (CN), Shaanxi International Trust (CN), Xi’an Titan Industrial Investment Holding (CN), CCPS Dayou Media Production Centre (CN), Shanji Culture Media (Beijng) (CN), Shaanxi Tianlong International Auction (CN). Produced by Xi’an Duoji Screen Culture Media (CN).
Script: Tian Bo, Wang Miaoxia, Ma Xiuhua. Script supervision: Lu Wei. Book: Liu Kefeng. Photography: Sun Ming. Editing: Huang Shang. Editing advice: Zhou Xinxia. Music: Cheng Chi. Art direction: Li Chang. Styling: Sheng Yawen. Sound: Wang Changrui. Visual effects: Li Jinhui.
Cast: Cheng Taishen (Liu Qing), Dan Lin [Ning Danlin] (Ma Wei), Shi Qingfeng (Wang Jiabin), Han Shuai (Dong Binghan), Lu Xuexi (Wang San, Wang Jiabin’s father), Tang Weipeng (Meng Weigang), Fei Weini (Liu Kefeng), Zhang Guangcheng (Guo Fuming), Zheng Xinsheng (Liao, publishing director), Wei Ziyang (Wang Weiling, China Youth Press employee), Mao Huijie (Wang Jiabin’s mother), Wang Jianguo (Chen Laosi), Yang Weiguo (Gao Shuanxi), Wang Bin (Yang Wenhai, headmaster).
Release: China, 21 May 2021.