Deep Mountain Boatman (1993)

The second in Wang Haibing’s ‘Three Families’ trilogy (which also includes 1991’s Northern Tibetan Family and 2000’s Days in the Mountains) -- all of which won the Sichuan International TV Festival “Golden Panda” award in their years of premiere. This is the story of an ordinary farmer in the mountainous Xuanhan County, Sichuan Province, a place called Fankuai. The river flowing through Fankuai is called Qianhe, and upstream of the Qianhe River is the town of Bailixia. There is no road or electricity in the Bailixia area; and the only means of transportation is boats. The mountain people use the boat to carry their goods and freight their living supplies. Nowadays, though, a new road leads up to the mountain area — the boatmen’s livelihood may end with the opening of this road, and so the boatman and his family are faced with new choices.