THE EIGHT HUNDRED Guan Hu, 2020 Sihang Warehouse, Shanghai At the end of the Battle of Shanghai(淞沪会战) in 1937, fierce fighting between China and Japan had lasted for three months and Shanghai was on the verge of being captured. Xie Jinyuan, Assistant Regimental Commander of 524 Regiment of 262nd Brigade of the 88th Division, led more than 420 men and stuck to the last line of defense alone in The Sihang Warehouse in Shanghai. The battle field separated by a river from the concession, it created a rare case that “a war to be watched”. In order to build a strong momentum,

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Ten Years – Season of the End, Wong Fei Pang (2015) Tai Kok Tsui, Hong Kong The film Season of the End is set inside a tong lau in Tai Kok Tsui. The story happened in a studio where specimen is created and stored.  The story started with couple making specimen of everything that is inside different broken houses as a sense of preservation. They believe the creation of specimen does not only preserve physical object, but it preserves the history, thoughts and culture. The story end with the female lead making the specimen of the male lead as they

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HER, DIR. SPIKE JONZE (2013)            Lujiazui & Wujiaochang, Shanghai Warner Bros. released Her in 2013, a science-fiction romantic comedy film written, directed, and produced by Spike Jonze.1 Set in the near future, the protagonist, Theodore Twombly, is a letter writer who has just experienced the failure of his marriage. To dispel his loneliness, he buys a new operating system for his computer: the seductive, gentle, and humorous Samantha. Throughout the film, she has no face, only a voice. They fall in love, although Theodore keeps trying to have a relationship with a real woman. But this

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[FIELDWORK] BETTER DAYS, DIR. DEREK TSANG (2019) Tube-shaped apartment, Hai Tang district, Chong Qing The film Better Days directed by Derek Tsang was released in October 2019. It tells the story of Chen Nian, who is a senior three student being bullied by her classmates. After she meets a street character named Xiao Bei, he decides to protect Chen Nian from school violence. The whole story took place in Chong Qing, which is a city full of stairs. The characters in the film have to go up and down the stairs when traveling through this city. The complicated space relationship

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THE WAY WE ARE, DIR. ANN HUI (2008)            Tin Yiu Estate, Yuen Long District, Hong Kong The Way We Are (天水圍的日與夜) takes places in Tin Yiu Estate, Tin Shui Wai. Homes of 300,000 people. Shot on HD in a documentary style, the film delineates the everyday lives of 貴姐, her son 家安 and their neighbour 阿婆 through the eyes of a voyeur. With music in the background, 阿婆 finds her $320 dried mushrooms*. Scene from The Way We Are 2008, directed by Ann Hui. Tin Yiu Estate presented in the film is nearly the same as experienced

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THE LAST EMPEROR Bernardo Bertolucci(1987) Palace Museum of the Manchurian Regime, Chang Chun [Left: Tong De Hall in the Imperial Palace of Manchu State. Scenes from THE LAST EMPEROR(1987), directed by Bernardo Bertolucci; Right: Tong De Hall in Palace Museum of the Manchurian Regime now]  The last emperor released in 1987 was made by Italian director Bernardo Bertolucci, which was honored by nine awards of the 60th Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Writing, Best Cinematography, and so on.1 The film retells the miserable life of the last emperor, Aisin-Gioro Pu Yi, of the Qing Dynasty. From when he was only three years old, crowned at the Forbidden

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