Event

The Land of Many Palaces

ByDesign 2016

Apr 15

(Song Ting, Adam James Smith, China, 2015, 61 min)

Seattle premiere!

Friday, Apr 15 at 07:30PM
After vast coal deposits were found in Ordos, China, the region went from being one of the countrys poorest areas to one of the wealthiest. The Chinese government used the money to build a new metropolis, but with no one to populate Ordos City, it soon became known as Chinas largest ghost town. To remedy this, the government is relocating thousands of farmers from rural Ordos to the empty city.

Co-directors Song Ting and Adam James Smith spent over a year in Ordos documenting the relocation of one family, and a government official responsible for their reeducation in the ways of the urban consumer. Chinese producer Song and English filmmaker Smiths first feature length documentary, provides a fascinating and troubling picture of what is becoming a mass relocation project in China. It is estimated that the government plans to relocate 250 million farmers to urban areas over the next 20 years.