From the Fifth to the Sixth Generation: An Interview with Zhang Yimou

Abstract

T he color red is the signature for most of Zhang Yimou's films: red sorghum (Red Sorghum), red silk (Judou), red lantern (Raise the Red Lantern), red dress (The Story of Qiuju), and so on. All sensuous, all symbolic. Classical Chinese theater is full of color symbols: a red face suggests loyalty; a black face, bravery; and a white face, evil. New China inherited some old color symbolism and created some new color symbols, among which red is by far the most important. It is the color of revolution: red flags, little red books, Red Guards, and of course the red sun, which is the symbol of Chairman Mao. But what does Zhang Yimou's red suggest? Some commentators liken the red setting sun at the end of Red Sorghum to a Japanese national flag; some think the red lanterns in Raise the Red Lantern reveal the sexual dominance of the patriarchal despot-but the setting sun would also have been used to elegize the perished heroine and the red lanterns may also connote the fulfillment of the concubines' desire. Zhang Yimou's red color, like his other symbols, defies narrow interpretation, because it is at once an inheritance from and a rebellion against tradition. Red is no longer simply a color of celebration as in old China or a color of revolution as in moder China; nor is it a color of malice. Perhaps it should be treated as a mood. As Zhang Yimou once said, We Chinese have been too moderate, too reserved... the boundless red of sorghum fields arouses sensory excitement... it encourages unrestrained lust for life. Lust for life was restrained in China, a fact that Zhang Yimou knows all too well. He had a miserable childhood: his father was a Nationalist officer, hence a bad element; his mother was a medical doctor, not a good element either. When the Cultural Revolution broke out, he was sent to the country to be reeducated by peasants. Then he became a porter. Red to him is the primary color of life-symbolically, realistically, and artistically. While still unable to earn enough food, Zhang Yimou sold his blood to buy his first camera. It was the pictures he took with that camera that won him the opportunity to study cinematography at Beijing Film Academy in 1978. After graduation, Zhang Yimou became known as the best cameraman in China: Yellow Earth (1984), a film he made with another Fifth Generation director, Chen Kaige, won eleven international awards. In 1986 he played a peasant in Wu Tianming's Old Well, which brought him the title of best actor at the 1987 Tokyo International Film Festival and the opportunity to make his own film. His directing debut, Red Sorghum, was awarded the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival in 1988. Two years later, his Judou received the Luis Buniuel Award at the Cannes Film Festival. At the 1992 Venice Film Festival, with The Story of Qiuju, Zhang Yimou received the Golden Lion. Since Yellow Earth, Zhang Yimou's films have won more than 40 awards. His most recent work, Not One Less (Yige ye buneng shao), which is about a young teacher's efforts to keep students from cutting class in a poor village school, took the top prize at the 1999 Venice Film Festival. This was the same film that was so misunderstood by the committee of the Cannes Film Festival that Zhang Yimou withdrew it from the festival. If we realize that post-Tiananmen Square censorship is still hanging over Chinese filmmakers' heads, we will come to appreciate not only Zhang's artistic talent but also his talent as a political strategist.