The general consensus is that documentaries need to be educational in some way, and "The Chinese Mayor" certainly is. The sheer brutality of many scenes sets it apart from the vast majority of other documentaries on Chinese urban life. The mayor ordered almost dictatorially from the top, then found himself being almost a victim of corruption, tangled in a web of deception and lies. This brings out quite a few heavy questions about the political systems, for instance, how much power is enough, and would people ever be satisfied? At the same time, it answers questions such as why Chinese local governments suffer from a tremendous amount of debt, a question that people often fail to grasp the essence of. Zhou's talent shines throughout the documentary, his handling of the protagonist being extremely genuine. Such honesty is almost one and only among Chinese documentaries.
8 Reviews
appreciate it
erosclarkes4 April 2022
Warning: Spoilers
It's fortunate to have a mayor like Geng Yanbo in China. He worked so hard regardless of his health. No one asked him to do so, but he just did it. As a mayor, he had his intention and headed for it. The director had put as much details into the film as possible. However, BBC doesn't translate them into English.
The film was banned in China
f-02032-0319429 March 2022
Warning: Spoilers
One of Geng yanbo's favorite sayings is "the official who made iron yamen and ran water". He was well liked by the public, helped solve the relocation problem and began to conceive the cultural layout of Datong. He left behind $3 billion in debt and a still-unwholesome unity. The mayor two years a transfer, a provincial command, Geng Yanbo will go to Taiyuan. He cried when he left, and with only five hours of sleep a day, he had exhausted himself. The sun fell quietly on his sleeping face. In the end, he said he was done with his job and was done with it.
"This provincial party committee does what it does when it makes decisions, and it makes big decisions without considering public opinion." I don't want to talk about it. Datong's half-baked project makes datong's people irresponsible. You said the Communist Party is just doing this."
"This provincial party committee does what it does when it makes decisions, and it makes big decisions without considering public opinion." I don't want to talk about it. Datong's half-baked project makes datong's people irresponsible. You said the Communist Party is just doing this."
Well Done
SLUGMagazineFilms29 January 2015
There's no need to travel more than 6,000 miles to Datong, Shanxi to know that the life of a politician is mostly filled with accusations, confrontations, and pure misery. However, the life of Mayor Geng Yanbo is much more stressful than your average American politician since his plan to relocate 500,000 citizens in the name of cleaning out his town (the most polluted city in China due to coal-mining) is met with much hostility. Director Hao Zhou paints a portrait of an individual who appears to want to serve his community with the best of intentions. But moving 30% of the city's population is bound to spark a resistance, especially when there are already issues with the newly constructed housing projects. Along with tracking multiple stray dogs trotting through heaps of garbage, Zhou provides the opposition an opportunity to share their stories and one can only wince at the heartbreaking loss many of these victims are facing. Yanbo may believe you can't make an omelet without breaking a few eggs, but how many eggs have to be broken before the omelet is doing more damage than good. In regards to this case, T.S. Eliot's quote is quite fitting with, "Most of the evil in this world is done by people with good intentions." -Jimmy Martin
This is what Chia is.
qqxqf18 December 2022
I went to this city on 2019. It has many good tourism attractions. It's pity the reform and investment doesn't receive its full result. This documentary should trigger different reviews in western and eastern world. I was shocked to see how huge investment decisions were made and enforced. And starts to understand a bit more on how the politics machine runes in Itt level. The director and mayor made this movie very unique, one of a kind with many close shots and one on one chats. I hope to see another one like this.
The party got its prime through vigorous reform and rooted from base of society, then it became its own Goliath and everybody must chose like Di Yan Bo, mayor of Da Tong city.
The party got its prime through vigorous reform and rooted from base of society, then it became its own Goliath and everybody must chose like Di Yan Bo, mayor of Da Tong city.
No topic
lzufabio13 October 2022
Warning: Spoilers
1- budget line constraint. The earlier you do the demolition, the cheaper your cost and financial burden.
2- It's hard to a trade-off: the majority and long-term benefit for most people and the short-run benefit for some individuals.
3- It's also difficult to trade off as an officer? What did you want to struggle for? A long-term benefit for the resident you service/govern whereas risky and controversial? OR do your job easily("tangping") and cautiously(pingyong) 4- It is also, also tricky to manage and lead: How do you recognize your team members? Who you work with can achieve the best results for you? How do you motivate them, economic benefit, honour?
5- The UDIC maybe is the best pragmatic solution for city development because you can defer the financial burden to the future and be happy with the resident in the short run. But it also takes a fatal risk: Who is the "corporate representative" of the gov to afford the debts? The mayor or secretary of the pty committee himself? The pty committee? The People's Congress?
6- He is a competent mayor, a frank and forthright reformer. But he didn't attain equivalent results for his career. He was transferred back to work in the province. And leaving Datong, the city halfway to renewal, could be a disastrous situation.
7- The mayor's tragic result implied that most residents in DATONG lost their welfare because of the minority resident's self-confidence, although most residents are sensible. Who won in it?
2- It's hard to a trade-off: the majority and long-term benefit for most people and the short-run benefit for some individuals.
3- It's also difficult to trade off as an officer? What did you want to struggle for? A long-term benefit for the resident you service/govern whereas risky and controversial? OR do your job easily("tangping") and cautiously(pingyong) 4- It is also, also tricky to manage and lead: How do you recognize your team members? Who you work with can achieve the best results for you? How do you motivate them, economic benefit, honour?
5- The UDIC maybe is the best pragmatic solution for city development because you can defer the financial burden to the future and be happy with the resident in the short run. But it also takes a fatal risk: Who is the "corporate representative" of the gov to afford the debts? The mayor or secretary of the pty committee himself? The pty committee? The People's Congress?
6- He is a competent mayor, a frank and forthright reformer. But he didn't attain equivalent results for his career. He was transferred back to work in the province. And leaving Datong, the city halfway to renewal, could be a disastrous situation.
7- The mayor's tragic result implied that most residents in DATONG lost their welfare because of the minority resident's self-confidence, although most residents are sensible. Who won in it?
good documentary
u-7032321 April 2023
This is a film about the implementation of new policies by the mayor of a poor city in China. The story takes place in Datong, Shanxi, China, a city famous for coal mining. As a heavy industrial city, its environmental pollution is serious and the quality of life of the people has been low for a long time , economic development is almost stagnant, under this background, Mayor Geng decided to start his grand blueprint.
He was determined to use Datong as the capital of the ancient Northern Wei Dynasty to develop tourism projects with a famous historical and cultural city. For this reason, he decided to demolish most of the residential houses in the main urban area. In the process, he encountered many hardships and many residents were displaced. And in the government's black box management process, a large number of people have suffered.
Under his long-term insistence on borrowing heavily, Datong was developing in a better direction, but he was soon transferred from this post, perhaps due to promotion or other horizontal transfers, and many construction projects in Datong became unfinished. Project.
This is a film that reflects many social problems in China. It was filmed around 2011. It is a documentary that does not exist in the mainland. Several problems are mainly reflected in this documentary.
The administrative efficiency of the Chinese government is low and the transparency is extremely low. It can be seen that although the mayor tried his best to promote this project, in the process, the secretary of the municipal party committee and the construction company have benefited greatly from it. A large number of ordinary people have not been properly resettled. Become a victim of urban transformation. Although the film hopes to portray the mayor as a diligent mayor for the people, it also exposes that under China's current political system, even the seemingly powerful position of the mayor , it is still difficult to accomplish some things.
I love how this documentary is about the poor, it has the texture of a Jia Zhangke film, even though the film is rough and out of focus, it still has value.
He was determined to use Datong as the capital of the ancient Northern Wei Dynasty to develop tourism projects with a famous historical and cultural city. For this reason, he decided to demolish most of the residential houses in the main urban area. In the process, he encountered many hardships and many residents were displaced. And in the government's black box management process, a large number of people have suffered.
Under his long-term insistence on borrowing heavily, Datong was developing in a better direction, but he was soon transferred from this post, perhaps due to promotion or other horizontal transfers, and many construction projects in Datong became unfinished. Project.
This is a film that reflects many social problems in China. It was filmed around 2011. It is a documentary that does not exist in the mainland. Several problems are mainly reflected in this documentary.
The administrative efficiency of the Chinese government is low and the transparency is extremely low. It can be seen that although the mayor tried his best to promote this project, in the process, the secretary of the municipal party committee and the construction company have benefited greatly from it. A large number of ordinary people have not been properly resettled. Become a victim of urban transformation. Although the film hopes to portray the mayor as a diligent mayor for the people, it also exposes that under China's current political system, even the seemingly powerful position of the mayor , it is still difficult to accomplish some things.
I love how this documentary is about the poor, it has the texture of a Jia Zhangke film, even though the film is rough and out of focus, it still has value.
so sad this cultural reconstruct plan didn't carrying on
t-52788-3038520 November 2022
Warning: Spoilers
Even though this documentary contains 3 obviously well-designed and repeated family-member-scolding-mayor-for-not-caring-himself scenes, it still has a earthly feelings, like GaoKao's protagonist, the director choosing his heroes with some earthy kind of character, and this feature adds the documentary a true colour of society. It's been a while since I've heard this documentary and added to my watchlist, but not until this day have I finally watched it. I like it for bringing DaTong's most historical view and varieties of people to me, but ended with a halfway transformation and a most disappointing embezzlement.
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