West of the Tracks: History and Class-Consciousness
West of the Tracks: History and Class-Consciousness
Tiexi—“West of the Tracks”—is a district of Shenyang, the city once known as Mukden. For 50 years it was China's oldest and largest industrial base, a fortress of the socialist planned economy. This chapter examines the significance Wang Bing's decision to look at the death of a heavy industry district that once symbolized the triumph of socialism. It argues that the film demands attention to the price being paid for marketization, in terms of both personal upheaval and the abandonment of socialist ideals. The film stands as a monument to the otherwise undocumented destruction that accompanies the more frequently celebrated construction that is going on in other parts of China.
Keywords: Tiexi, socialism, China, socialist ideals, Wang Bing, industrial base
Hong Kong Scholarship Online requires a subscription or purchase to access the full text of books within the service. Public users can however freely search the site and view the abstracts and keywords for each book and chapter.
Please, subscribe or login to access full text content.
If you think you should have access to this title, please contact your librarian.
To troubleshoot, please check our FAQs , and if you can't find the answer there, please contact us .