Educational Media Reviews Online

It has become a cliché to say that China is a land of great contrasts and The New China: Shanghai, Shanghai tries to demonstrate those contrasts in Shanghai, the economic center of China and a city of 13 million residents. In the film, viewers will encounter plain home cooking vs. gourmet restaurant food, shacks vs. modern high-rises, bicycles/tricycles vs. automobiles, textile factory workers vs. fashion designer, poverty vs. wealth…... They will also witness the problems associated with urban development, such as air pollution, traffic jam, and prostitution.

Given the short duration of the film, it would make a lot of sense if the documentary chose to focus on one or two particular issues in Shanghai. But apparently, the director decided to provide the audience with snapshots here, there, and pretty much everywhere: viewers are taken to the homes of local residents, restaurants, bars, streets, harbor, textile factory, and so on. But to be fair, the film appeared to be using the contrast between people on opposite sides of urban development as a main theme: on the one side is a family who resisted the pressure to relocate when their whole neighborhood was demolished by the developer, and on the other side is a successful architect who was actually behind many development projects and was proud of the city’s changes and his own success. The camera kept coming back to the self-assured architect and the defiant family, but still I am not sure if that is enough to hold the film together as a coherent piece of work, given the vast array of issues it touched upon.

There are a few memorable moments in the film. One is when the brothers of family aforementioned said that they were content with their life, even when they lived a shack with a broken roof and periodic cutoffs of electricity (attributed to the evil developer). The other is when a wealthy woman suggested, with great sincerity, that poor people should work instead of just relying on government support, which is almost laughable (but apparently the film did not laugh at her, but took her remarks at face value).

Overall, this film is applauded for its effort to cover people from all walks of life and capture a wide range of contrasts in Shanghai, but viewers who are looking for an in-depth view of Shanghai may be disappointed. Instead, the film seems to have presented very well the inexplicable bewilderedness of casual observers when they encounter a different culture for the first time. Therefore, this film is recommended with some reservations.

On the technical side, the film employed great camerawork (for example: the view of a tiny rundown house in the middle of a vast empty lot surrounded by high-rises was absolutely breathtaking). Computer-generated animation was also used at one point, even though its effects and intention might not be obvious to some viewers. The sound was generally satisfactory, but deteriorated slightly when both the Chinese characters and the off-screen English translator started to talk at the same time; the translation from Chinese to English could use a little help as well.