Displacing Home, Homing Displacement: Jia Zhangke and His Dialogic Experiments in Chinese Urban Cinema

Abstract

Twenty-first century globalization has given rise to a new wave of mass migrations. The frequent crossing of borders has made the diasporic experience more prevalent. In post-socialist China, however, a unique situation has evolved: the problem of 'internal displacement.' Migrant labourers from the countryside have rushed to industrial cities for jobs in sweatshops or coal mines and rarely return to the homes they left: prolonged internal migration has become their destiny. Still, there is no guarantee of permanence for those who remain on the land, since one's home can, without notice, be slated for demolition due to a new state policy or large-scale development. For most Chinese, displacement is not an option but a sudden inevitability. By capturing the process of demolition and the changing landscape of home, contemporary Chinese filmmakers such as Jia Zhangke, force the audience to face the impact of the reckless development. Jia's films underscore the passivity of the displaced when they endure the tragic transformation of their lives without protest. Their silence and acceptance reflect the most terrible aspect of this brutal urbanization.