Xiu-Xiu the Sent Down Girl

http://www.reelviews.net/movies/x/xiu.html
http://www.uncg.edu/~jwjones/world/film/Xiu-Xiu3.pdf
http://www.popmatters.com/film/reviews/x/xiu-xiu.html
Our task: Imagine that you are the daughter of one of Xiu Xiu’s female compatriots at the village where they started out. You were born in 1975 in Beijing, and you have grown up there hearing the story of Xiu Xiu from your mother and her friends and acquaintances. When the Tiananmen Square protests begin in 1989, you are thirteen. Do you take part in the protests? Why or why not? What are your thoughts about the protests against the backdrop of what you know of China’s past, especially the Cultural Revolution and Xiu Xiu’s experience?

I have read several reviews (see above) and I am now questioning whether I saw the same film. I thought Xiu-Xiu was married to her husband, 'Wanglai' who owned the shop and cheated his customers but was in love with the sapling farmer 'Fulin' since she wanted to run away with him? I thought it was strange that he (W) paid $5,000 for her, but...Is it possible there are two films with the same title? Maybe I shouldn't take notes while watching these films :)

At any rate, I will address Dr. Jones' query.

Yes I would go to Tiananmen Square to protest. Based on the accounts I'd heard, I would know that the government doesn't always have its citizens best interests at heart, that the Cultural Revolution failed and that our voices needed to be heard. I would protest for those in the forgotten generation who left the cities and went into the countryside to serve their nation. Many women were taken advantage of and this fact had and has been largely ignored by the Communist Party. The protest was a threat to the CCP because this time, not only students were involved, but also the workers. Trying to address party corruption, wealth inequalities, inflation, and unemployment, I know that I would be frustrated and ready to be heard.

At the same time, I know this would result not only in public confrontation, but also inner turmoil. The culture, to date that is, is about the collective, and not the individual. In China, every reference from art, history, religion and family matters is to the environment of the whole, not the individual. I would have to overcome the teachings of my family and ancestors in order to engage in a possibly humiliating and shameful (for me and my family) protest in the very public Tiananmen Square. I know that I speaking as an American trying to imagine a day in the life of a young Chinese girl can imagine doing this very heroic act, I am not too sure it is very realistic.

Yet it was realistic for many, since so many students and workers died or were arrested that day the tanks rolled in and the government stopped the protest.