Cities serve as vessels for history and carriers of memory. How do these slices of time captured on film forge new connections between us and a city's past and present?
On 21st and 25th November, we shall host two screenings and discussions on urban imagery at Zhejiang University's School of Media and International Culture. From historical documentaries spanning the 1930s to 1970s, to contemporary young directors' poetic explorations of Hangzhou's urban history through their lenses, we shall examine the relationship between urban spaces, their inhabitants, and those who document them.
Session One: Personal Images and Historical Records
Time: 18:30, Friday 21st November
Venue: Room 302, Building 3, Sungkyun Court, School of Media and International Culture, Zhejiang University, Zijin Campus
Film Catalogue:
Weng Wanguo Colour Documentary Films
A Small Town on the Yangtze: Changshu (1948)
The Ancient Capital: Nanjing (1948)
Hangzhou: China's Garden City (1948)
Historical Documentary Films
The Bridge to Yinxī (Taicang Shaxi, 1946)
Shanghai (1947)
Shanghai in New China (1973)
Tianfei, Dragons and the Sea (Hong Kong, 1970s)
Hangzhou in Private Films
Hangzhou Filmed by Shu Xincheng (1930s)
Other Private Films of Hangzhou (1930s)
Mr Gong Weiqiang will present his film collection and engage in discussion following the screenings. Most of these films were discovered and collected by Mr Gong through private channels both domestically and internationally, with many constituting rare and invaluable archival materials. Within these black-and-white and colour images lie unfamiliar facets of our familiar cities, vanished architecture and customs, alongside the everyday lives of ordinary people.
Second Screening: Phoenix Mountain: Lyrics – Screening and Discussion
Time: Tuesday, 25 November, 18:30
Venue: School of Media and International Culture, Zhejiang University, Zijingang Campus (exact location to be confirmed)
Phoenix Mountain: Lyrics chronicles director Zhu Xin's exploration of Hangzhou's urban evolution through the medium of Song dynasty poetry, embarking on a trans-temporal quest that intertwines history, the present, and personal memory. Premiering at the 2024 Pingyao International Film Festival, where it received the Youth Jury Honourable Mention, the film will be followed by a post-screening discussion with Director Zhu Xin, who will attend in person to engage with Zhejiang University faculty and students.
Organised by
School of Media and International Culture, Zhejiang University
Co-organised by
Zhejiang University Film Association
Gong Weiqiang graduated from the Department of Literary and Artistic Editing at the Beijing Broadcasting Institute (now Communication University of China). Formerly a literary and artistic director at Shanghai Television Station, he currently works at an institution directly affiliated with the Shanghai Media Group (SMG), researching Republican-era cinema and historical footage while also collecting film reels (copies) and artistic documents. Over the past decade, Mr Gong has identified and successfully acquired early Chinese documentary films such as the Shu Xincheng Private Film Series, the Weng Wanguo Film Works Series, Northwest Travelogue, and Siberia's Indigenous Peoples through private channels both domestically and internationally. He has published over a dozen research papers on these subjects in media outlets including The Paper's Private History section, as well as in publications such as Shanghai Style and Studies on Weng Tonghe.
Shenyang: Shenyang, New Hundred Talents Programme Research Fellow at Zhejiang University's Department of Sociology, holds a PhD in Anthropology from Boston University. His research focuses on religious anthropology (including secularism-related issues), ritual and social theory, and epistemology. His work has been published in journals including Material Religion, Review of Religion and Chinese Society, and Journal of Chinese Humanities.
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Tracking Urban Images · Screening Series II: Post-screening Discussion for Phoenix Mountain: Ci Poetry
Zhu Xin: Hangzhou-based director, graduated from the China Academy of Art. His debut film Wandering was selected for the New Currents Competition at the Busan International Film Festival and the Forum section at the Berlin International Film Festival. Phoenix Mountain: Ci received the Youth Jury Honour and the Cinephile Choice Honour at the 8th Pingyao International Film Festival. In 2025, his directorial work and co-written screenplay When the World Dawns was selected for the Berlin Critics' Week and the Firebird Competition at the Hong Kong International Film Festival.
Luo Ting: Luo Ting is a Hundred Talents Programme Research Fellow and doctoral supervisor at Zhejiang University's School of Media and International Culture, and a researcher at the university's Institute of Aesthetics and Critical Theory. She published the monograph On the Margins of Realism: Tracing Alternative Aesthetics in a Century of Chinese Cinema. Her primary research areas encompass Chinese cinema, Asian cinema, media studies, and visual culture studies.