Last Train Home (2010) The human cost of China's economic boom
Set amidst the world’s largest annual human migration, this documentary shows a family shattered by economic change
130 million migrant workers use China’s public transport system during Chinese New Year, most of them travelling home from big cities to spend the Spring Festival with their loved ones. Known as Chunyun, this is the world’s largest annual human migration. In his extraordinary debut feature documentary Last Train Home, Lixie Fan focusses on just one of the millions of families attempting to travel home during Chunyun. Their story reveals the heartbreaking ways in which China’s economic boom has displaced families like theirs all across the country.
The Zhangs are typical of many poor families in turn-of-the-century China. In the early ‘90s, as the country’s globalisation created new opportunities for low paid work, mother and father Yang and Changhua left their small village to seek employment. The driving force behind this decision was the arrival of their first-born daughter, Qin. To fund their child’s future education and ensure she has opportunities they did not, Yang and Changhua moved almost 1,000 miles across the country to work at a factory in Guangzhou.
Qin, at 16 years of age, has met her parents as many times as she has celebrated birthdays. The distance between them, coupled with Yang and Changhua’s busy working schedules, means they are only able to go home for Chinese New Year. As such, their arduous migration during Chunyun culminates in a family reunion that is far from jubilant; it’s tense and tragic with Qin confessing to having no relationship with her parents. The disconnection between them only grows when Yang and Changhua return to Guangzhou; they soon learn Qin has rebelled against their wishes by dropping out of school to pursue city work herself.
There are no interviews or taking heads in Lixie Fan’s documentary; his camera places us directly alongside the Zhangs throughout the film, as if we are another member of the family. This heightens the emotional impact of Last Train Home as we see this family shatter in front of our eyes. It powerfully captures the impact China’s changing economic landscape has had on the Zhangs—and for so many other working class families forced to make a choice between raising their children in poverty or leaving to try improving their quality of life.
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Directed by Lixie Fan. Produced by Mila Aung-Thwin and Daniel Cross. Starring Yang Zhang, Changhua Zhang, Suqin Chen and Qin Zhang. EyeSteelFilm productions. Distributed by Zeitgeist Films. 85 minutes. Canada/China.