When They Ring Those Golden Bells

When They Ring Those Golden Bells is a documentary series about my hometown, a remote island close to the border of China called Hujiang. At the beginning of the 20 century, many people left my hometown and illegally sailed along the pacific ocean to find shelter due to the one-child policy and urbanization that happened in China. No one knows how many young Fujianese opportunists emigrated in the past fifty years. It all started with one family member, then another, and eventually the entire village emigrated to other countries and left babies and the elders behind. Many of them died on the road, and most of those who made it to other countries do not speak a word of other languages. They work minimum wages in another land to support their family back home and pay off their debts accrued from being smuggled.

My story is no different from the others from my hometown. My parents left me to my grandparents when I was five years old, and followed every other young person’s footsteps to the United States to seek better lives. I reunited with my parents when I was 14. Ever since I can remember, I have always been relocating -- from our small island to bigger cities for better education in China and from other cities to New York, and from New York to Chicago and then from Chicago to London, UK and then Lausanne, Switzerland. My concept of home and self-identity was blurred during the transition, and the idea of tracing back to my roots becomes questionable.

In my project, I not only aim to explore the juxtaposition of one’s identity during the migration but also to reconnect our past to the tremendous changes in our homeland.