Screening China in Carnival: A Powerful China Framed in Participatory Documentary

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article contributes to research into representations of China in current China–UK co-produced transnational documentary films. It examines Chinese New Year: The Biggest Celebration on Earth (2016) from the perspective of cinematographic styles and filmmaking techniques to demonstrate how this film frames a powerful image of China through a cultural lens, based on festive traditions and folk customs. The paper draws on Bill Nichols’ theory of participatory documentary and develops the discussion via the philosophical thinking of Mikhail Bakhtin on carnival. It argues that this film provides an example of how to write the story of modern China into an attractive narrative marked by the adaptation from localisation to globalisation through the engagement of non-fiction. With the employment of a multi-line narrative structure, this film maps diverse versions of gatherings that happened across towns and cities in China, highlighting how the festival reunites families and can be understood as an expression of familial love. Through the participation of hosts, the film invites audiences to attend festive celebrations from a local viewpoint, in particular family dinners, constructing the discourse of Da Tuan Yuan (great reunion). In the portrayal of people performing folk customs, the film indicates their cultural recognition of the significance of the Spring Festival. As such, this film constructs a representation of “Powerful China” supported by the Chinese government’s promotion of Chinese cultural identity, which aims to play its part in the solidification of national identity.