Watch a free documentary on how urbanization is affecting rural communities

[-葛亚辉-]

Hey all. I just finished a short documentary (shot in three days with a $0 budget) on the aforementioned topic, I thought it would be fun to share it with y'all. So check it out here: http://chinageeks.org/2010/11/a-chinageeks-original-documentary-kedong-county/ 

(You will need a VPN to see that if you're in China...apologies, but some of our sources didn't want it to be put up on domestic video sites...)

Thoughts? I think it came out pretty well for something we just made pretty quickly, for fun.

And if you're curious, here's the next thing we're working on. ;)

[damonkeyking1]

Looking forward to your next one!

[马盖云]

Nice work! I kicked in the to the kickstart for your other film, too :-)

I was wondering if you have the text of the subtitles in a handy form? Being a learner, I'd like to read/translate them, but I can't read that fast, and there's no way to cut and paste from the video to a text file to get the text. thanks!

[-葛亚辉-]

Which subtitles? I do have the Chinese subtitles of the English narration in a text file and would be happy to provide them. The English subs of Chinese interviews I don't have a text file of, though, I did them right in the editor (which is a stupid way to do it; I will do them separately for the next project).

Also, thanks so much for your donation! Help us spread it around so that we can hit our goal in time!

[Don_Horhe]

Good job, it was a very pleasant documentary.

[马盖云]

Yeah, I meant the chinese characters for the English voice-over :rolleyes: Thanks!

[-葛亚辉-]

This version was before we made a couple minor tweaks, but it's basically the same.

Beijing, China.

北京，中国

Nowhere is China's rapid economic development more evident than here.

与中国其他地方相比，快速的经济发展在这里体现得尤其明显

Every day, thousands and thousands of workers set to work on construction projects all over the city.

每天，成千上万的工人在这个城市从事建筑工作

New cars pour into the city's already-clogged roads.

现在汽车涌进了这个城市原本就十分堵塞的道路。

And in larger and larger numbers, migrants from the countryside are coming to Beijing, and other cities, to find work.

大量从农村来的城市移民进入北京以及其他城市寻找工作。

Just thirty years ago, nearly eighty percent of China's population lived in the countryside.

仅在30年前，中国有将进80%的人口居住在农村

What do those rural areas look like today? If China's cities are growing, are its farms and villages shrinking?

那些农村现在是怎样的？如果中国城市继续扩张，中国的农场和村庄是否会萎缩？

This is Kedong, in China's northeastern Heilongjiang Province.

这里是克东，在中国东北的黑龙江省。

Here, too, things are changing fast ... Kedong is a small town, but even here ... multi-story modern apartment buildings are quickly replacing the traditional pingfang housing that has been a staple of this region for centuries.

这里也一样，事物变化得非常快...克东是一个小县城，但就算是在这里... 多层楼的现代公寓建筑正快速取代传统的平房，后者在过去的几个世纪里一直是这个地区的主要建筑群。

Many of the people here are farmers, or used to be ... Although it's early October, this far north the harvest season is already over, and many farmers have moved to more urban areas, looking to find jobs to keep their families afloat through the winter.

这里的很多人是农民，或曾经是农民...尽管现在已经是十月初，这个北方的秋收季节已经结束，很多农民已经搬到更加城镇化的地区找工作，以便让他们的家人能够（有足够的物资）度过这个冬天。

This ... is Jinxing village ... It's the poorest village in Kedong county, and by early October, the few farmers that still live here have mostly finished their harvests and moved to cities to find work. Most of the people left in Jinxing are old.

这里...是金星村...是克东县最穷的村子。到十月初，还住在这里的少数农民基本已经完成农作物收割，搬到城市去找工作。大多留在金星村的都是一些老人。

MR. SUN is not the only person in Jinxing who's sick.. There is also a middle-aged woman who is mentally ill who roams this village. Our producer suggests we hide the camera while we're around her... She has been known to attack people, and the producer fears our camera might be seen as provocation... The Chinese government has often been criticized for its policy on the mentally ill, which ranges from cruel imprisonment to complete disregard ... This woman falls into the latter category. Her family looks out for her as best they can, but with the harvest over, most of them are gone now.

孙先生不是留在金星村的唯一一个病人。还有一个有精神病的中年妇女在这个村子里游荡。我们的制片人建议我们在她身边时把摄影机藏起来...大家知道她以前攻击过人，制片人担心她看到我们的摄影机后会觉得我们是在挑衅...中国政府经常由于其在精神病上的政策受到指责，那些政策从残酷的监禁到完全忽视...这个女人的情况属于后者。她的家人尽他们最大的努力照料她，但随着秋收的结束，他们大多已经离开。

Jinxing village is a series of small hamlets strung together by a single road, wide enough for one car at a time... There used to be a school here, but it's closed now. Parents pay an extra fee to board their children at the school twenty minutes drive up the road, in Kedong township... But there are a few young people left here.

金星村是一个由一条主道将许多小村庄连在一起的村落，那条主道只能容一辆车通过...这里曾经有一所学校，但现在已经关闭。家长们花额外的钱让他们的孩子去离这里有20分钟车程的克东镇区的一所学校上学。

This is Jinnan, another village in Kedong county. Things are slightly better here than in Jinxing. For a while, this village even had a two story building.

这里是进南，是在克东县的另一个村子。这里比金星村稍微好一些。这里曾经还有过一栋两层楼的建筑。

Once, Jinnan had its own medical center ... Now, there are fewer people in the village, and there are enough cars that it's easy to get to the hospital in Kedong township. This building has been abandoned ... where doctors once saw their patients, now farmers store grain on top of broken glass and dusty gray concrete.

进南曾经有过自己的医疗中心...现在这个村子的居民少了，而且他们已经有足够多的车载他们去克东镇区的医院。这个建筑（医疗中心）已经荒废了...这个曾经有医生为病人诊疗的地方，现在被农民用于存储谷物，谷物下是破碎的玻璃和落满尘土的灰色混凝土。

Technology has changed Jinnan ... Tractors and cars are replacing horse and donkey-drawn carts ... Kangs, the wooden beds that used to be warmed at night with a cooking fire, are now electric ... But other aspects of life have changed very little in the last thirty years.

科技改变了进南...拖拉机和汽车取代了马和驴车...晚上用木材生火取暖的木制炕现在开始用电...但在过去30年里，这里生活上的其他方面没有改变多少。

Many of the people who used to live in the neighboring villages have moved to the relative comfort of Kedong. OLD WU is one of many farmers whose family used to live in the village, but has moved to Kedong in the past decade. For years, he has left his family here while he goes to farm in the countryside. Living in Kedong has allowed his children access to a better education and a better quality of life than they had when they lived in their old home, in Jinxing Village.

很多曾经住在临近村子的人已经搬到克东相对舒适的地方。老吴是那些曾经生活在村子里的许多农民之一，但在过去十年里已经搬到克东。许多年来，他让他的家人住在这里，自己就回到农村种田。住在克东让他的孩子可以得到比住在金星村能够得到的更好的教育，以及更好的生活品质。

These girls grew up in villages in the countryside. But both of their families eventually moved to Kedong, and they have both since moved to cities to study and find work. Right now, they're home on vacation, visiting their parents.

这些女孩在农村长大。但他们两家最终搬到克东，而且从那以后，她们都搬到城市学习、工作。现在，她们回家度假，看望家人。

As long as there is land, there will always be people to farm it... But as technology develops, some people are being pushed out of the countryside and into towns and cities... Kedong's villages were once communities with children, teachers, and doctors... Today, the children are gone. The teachers and doctors are gone When there's work to be done, middle-aged men sweat in the fields... But when the harvest is over, the villages empty... Only the sick and the elderly are left behind.

只要还有土地，永远都会有人去种植这些土地...但随着科技的发展，一些人被赶出农村，进入县城和城市...克东的村子曾经是有许多孩子、老师和医生的社区...今天，这些孩子已经离开。老师和医生也已离开。中年男人们在田间辛勤劳作...但当秋收结束，这些村子就成了空村...只有病人和老人被遗弃在那里。