Ai Xiaoming
Ai Xiaoming (Chinese: 艾晓明; born 1953) is a Chinese documentary filmmaker and political activist.[1] She is also a scholar of women's and public issues, and former professor at Sun Yat-sen University.[2] Ai was born in Wuhan in 1953,[3] and has spent most of her adult life in Beijing and Guangzhou.[4]
Ai Xiaoming and Guo Jianmei won the 2010 Simone de Beauvoir Prize for Women's Freedom.[5]
Scholarship and activism
[edit]In 1985, Ai became a professor at Beijing Normal University. From 1994 to 2014, she taught at Sun Yat-sen University, focusing on literature and women's studies. In the fall of 1999 and spring of 2000, she spent a sabbatical year teaching at The University of the South in Sewanee, TN. In her early career, Ai was an accomplished writer and translator, writing several books on literature and translating the works of Milan Kundera, as well as editing others.[6]
In 2000, she visited America as a researcher on Women and Gender studies.[3] In 2009, she was prevented from attending a Chinese Documentary Film Festival in Hong Kong, due to concerns about her personal safety resulting from her political film-making activities.[7]
Ai has criticised the Chinese government's national policy of compulsory IUDs for women who have already given birth to a child. She has said that many women, herself included, had never been advised of potential complications and the requirement for regular checkups.[8]
In 2013, Ai protested topless on Twitter[9][10][11] and outside a Hainan school in response to the rape of six students by the school's principal and a local official. She was jailed the same day for defending herself with a kitchen knife against attackers who came to her home. She stated that her nude protest was inspired by Ai Weiwei.[10][11]
Ai's films are banned in China.[12]
Filmography
[edit]Since 2004, she has made more than two dozen films, including documentaries about citizen activism, social problems, and corruption. Some of her films aim to uncover whitewashed historical events.[1]
 |
| Year | Title | Length | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | The White Ribbon (白丝带 Bai Sidai) | 57 minutes | |
| 2005 | Garden of Paradise (天堂花园Tiantang Huayuan) | 140 minutes | A documentary about the changes taking place in China between 2003 and 2005 in terms of respect and protection of human rights. Ai co-directed with Hu Jie. |
| 2005 | The Village Taishi (太石村 Taishi Cun) | 100 minutes | Recounts the struggle of the villagers of Taishi against local authorities in 2005. |
| 2006 | The Epic of the Great Plains (中原纪事 Zhongyuan Jishi) | 140 minutes | A documentary film about the fate of villagers infected with HIV who, because of their poverty, had sold their blood. The courage they have shown in this situation is contrasted with official corruption. |
| 2006 | Sexuality, Gender, and Rights in Asia (Xing Xing Yu Quan Li Bie)[citation needed] | 46 minutes | |
| 2007 | The House of Care and Love (关爱之家 Guan'ai Zhi Jia) | 108 minutes | A documentary on people infected with HIV after receiving a blood transfusion. It focuses on the case of Liu Xiaohong, a villager from Xingtai in Hebei, who was contaminated during childhood. Ai co-directed with Hu Jie. |
| 2008 | The Train that Leads to My House (Kaiwang Jiaxiang of Lieche) | 59 minutes | A documentary describing the plight of migrants, following the disruption of rail traffic on the Beijing-Guangzhou line, after winter weather. |
| 2009 | Our Children (我们的娃娃 Women de Wawa) | 73 minutes | One of three documentaries about the 2008 earthquake in Sichuan and its impact on the population, especially in the scandal of corruption in school construction.[13] |
| 2009 | A Citizen Survey (公民调查 Gongmin Diaocha) | 64 minutes | One of three documentaries about the 2008 earthquake in Sichuan and its impact on the population, especially in the scandal of corruption in school construction. |
| 2010 | Why are Flowers so Red (花为什么这么红 Hua Weishenme Zheme Hong) | One of three documentaries about the 2008 earthquake in Sichuan and its impact on the population, especially in the scandal of corruption in school construction. | |
| 2011 | Postcard (明信片Míngxìnpiàn) | A film about Chinese civil rights activist Wang Lihong.[14] | |
| 2012 | Wukan Three Days (乌坎三日 Wūkǎn Sān Rì) | ||
| 2014 | New Citizen's Trial (新公民案审判 Xīn Gōngmín àn Shěnpàn) |
References
[edit]- ^ a b "The People in Retreat: An Interview with Ai Xiaoming | by Ian Johnson | NYR Daily | The New York Review of Books". Nybooks.com. 2016-09-08. Retrieved 2017-01-01.
- ^ "Ai Xiaoming | Human Rights in China 中国人权 | HRIC". Hrichina.org. Retrieved 2017-01-01.
- ^ a b Zhongli Yu (5 June 2015). Translating Feminism in China: Gender, Sexuality and Censorship. Taylor & Francis. pp. 110–. ISBN 978-1-317-62001-3.
- ^ "Inside and Outside the System: Chinese Writer Hu Fayun | by Ian Johnson | NYR Daily | The New York Review of Books". Nybooks.com. 2016-11-28. Retrieved 2017-01-24.
- ^ Beauvoir, Prix Simone De (2009-12-26). "Prix Simone de Beauvoir pour la liberté des femmes: Communiqué de presse". Prix Simone de Beauvoir pour la liberté des femmes. Retrieved 2017-08-26.
- ^ Johnson, Ian. "The People in Retreat: An Interview with Ai Xiaoming". The New York Review of Books. Retrieved 2017-08-26.
- ^ Mette Hjort (15 March 2012). Film and Risk. Wayne State University Press. pp. 51–. ISBN 978-0-8143-3611-3.
- ^ "After One-Child Policy, Outrage at China's Offer to Remove IUDs". The New York Times. 2017-01-24. Retrieved 2017-01-24.
- ^ ai_xiaoming (26 February 2021). 这是我生过养过的身体，为了叶海燕，我豁出去了——救救小学生，反抗性暴力！. Twitter. Archived from the original on 26 February 2021. Retrieved 26 February 2021.
- ^ a b Pedroletti, Brice (2013-06-20). "La nudité, arme de protestation massive". Le Monde.fr (in French). ISSN 1950-6244. Retrieved 2017-08-26.
- ^ a b Di Stasio, Arnaud (26 June 2013). "Naked Courage In China". worldcrunch. Retrieved 26 February 2021.
english translation of: Pedroletti, Brice (2013-06-20). "La nudité, arme de protestation massive". Le Monde.fr
- ^ "The People in Retreat: An Interview with Ai Xiaoming | by Ian Johnson | NYR Daily | The New York Review of Books". Nybooks.com. 2016-09-08. Retrieved 2017-01-24.
- ^ ""Our Children" – Documentary on Deaths of Schoolchildren in Sichuan Earthquake (by Ai Xiaoming) | Chinese Human Rights Defenders". Nchrd.org. Retrieved 2017-01-01.
- ^ "Ai Xiaoming: The Citizen Camera. New Left Review 72, November-December 2011". newleftreview.org. Retrieved 2017-08-26.
External links
[edit]- Zeng, Jinyan. "The Politics of Emotion in Grassroots Feminist Protests: A Case Study of Xiaoming Ai's Nude Breasts Photography Protest Online." Georgetown Journal of International Affairs, vol. 15, no. 1, 2014, pp. 41–52. JSTOR. Accessed 26 Feb. 2021.
- Ai Xiaoming (translated by Yaxue Cao) (16 April 2013). "The Wrath of Vaginas: Face to Face with Masanjia Woman's Labor Camp". China Change. Yaxue Cao.
- Hung, Ruth Y.Y. ‘“An Honest Failure”: Simone de Beauvoir in China.’ In Failures East and West: Cultural Encounters between East Asia and Europe, eds. Ralf Hertel and Kirsten Sandrock. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2023. 49–65.
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