December 5, 2016
ASIA / PACIFIC
THE ASIAN REPORTER n Page 5
28-year-old becomes 17 again in Zhang Mo’s directorial debut
DIRECTORIAL DEBUT. Chinese director Zhang Mo smiles during
an interview at her office in Beijing. Zhang, the daughter of Chinese cine-
matic great Zhang Yimou, has released her directorial debut film. Based
on an internet novel, a genre so popular that its fantasy and romance sto-
ries have been turned into several films and web series, Suddenly Seven-
teen is about a 28-year-old woman who eats magic chocolate that turns
her back into a 17-year-old. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
By Louise Watt
The Associated Press
EIJING — Differing Chinese and western ex-
pectations over marriage provided the inspiration
for Zhang Mo’s directorial debut, Suddenly
Seventeen, which she says is about encouraging young
women to “explore a little further” before they settle
down.
The daughter of Chinese cinematic great Zhang Yimou,
Zhang said returning to China after years of study in the
United States felt like “a reverse culture shock.” Then 26
and viewing a life full of possibilities, Zhang was startled
people thought she should already be married and
planning a family.
“Women in the west, by the age of 28 ... they still feel like
they’re young, they still want to pursue their career
maybe, and (find) out who they are, but in China it’s
almost like the opposite,” said Zhang, now 33 and married
to an American who works for the Hollywood agency
representing her.
Suddenly Seventeen is based on a novel published on the
internet. It’s part of a hugely popular genre among young
Chinese that focuses mainly on fantasy and romance tales
and has spawned movies and web series.
In Zhang’s film, the 28-year-old protagonist, Liang Xia,
played by Ni Ni, is unhappy in love and eats a magical
chocolate that wipes her memory and turns her back into a
17-year-old. Zhang says she seized on the short novel’s
premise and characters, but rather than keeping Liang at
17, her heroine flips back and forth in age every five hours,
creating conflict and drama.
After moving to the U.S. at age 15, Zhang studied
architecture at university but felt stifled by an internship
at a New York firm. “Everyone was in a box ... because
they don’t want to steal each other’s ideas,” she said. “For
me, I still want to connect with people, I still want to
express emotions, so I decided maybe architecture wasn’t
the best choice for me.”
After studying filmmaking at New York University’s
Tisch School of the Arts, she returned to China to work as
an editor on four of her father’s films, including The
Flowers of War starring Christian Bale.
“It’s really a privilege, because editing’s really the best
way to learn how to become a director,” Zhang said.
“Whatever he shot I saw, and I made that into a story, and
so through that process you really learn how to cut the
movie, how to tell the story, or even how to shoot the film
to make it great.”
Emerging as part of the Chinese post-Cultural
Revolution
avant-garde,
Zhang
Yimou
gained
international acclaim in the 1980s for art films such as
B
Red Sorghum before turning to more commercial fare. His
first English-language movie, The Great Wall starring
Matt Damon, comes out next year.
Being the offspring of a famous director isn’t always an
advantage, Zhang Mo says.
“People immediately (think) you must have way more
resources, and you can have way more shortcuts, but
actually it’s not true. If anything it’s the opposite because
the family aspect casts such a big shadow, you have to be
extra creative, or working extra hard, to gain the
audience’s approval.”
Despite basing her directorial debut on an internet
novel, Zhang says that movie genre may have already
peaked, with audiences now looking for fresher and more
personal stories rather than something that has amassed
a huge online fan base.
“I think original content right now is the key for the
future of Chinese filmmaking, to tout original stories, not
something (remade), not some internet novel,” she said.
Suddenly Seventeen, whose Chinese title translates as
“28-year-old Minor,” was widely released in China last
month and given a limited release in cinemas in the U.S.,
U.K., Canada, Australia, and New Zealand on December
2. In addition, it was also released in South Korea,
Thailand, and other Asian countries.
Vietnam seizes smuggled ivory hidden with wax, wood nails
HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — Viet-
namese authorities have seized 1,362
pounds of ivory smuggled from Africa
after finding 4 tons at the same port
over the past two months, according
to state media and an official.
The ivory seized had been hidden in
two containers arriving at Cat Lai
port in the southern commercial hub
of Ho Chi Minh City, the Customs
newspaper said.
Le Dinh Loi, the city’s deputy
customs chief confirmed the report,
but did not give details.
The smugglers used more sophisti-
cated tactics than previous ship-
ments by packing wax around the
ivory when it was sealed inside
emptied-out timber and using wood
nails to evade x-ray checks, according
to the newspaper, published by the
General Department of Customs.
The seizure came just a week after
leaders and senior officials from more
than 40 countries met at an interna-
tional conference on illegal wildlife
trade in Hanoi, which was attended
by Britain’s Prince William.
The conference called for stepped-
up efforts to combat illegal wildlife
trade. At the conference, Prince
William, who is president of United
for Wildlife, praised Vietnam, China,
and other Asian countries for taking
steps to battle wildlife trafficking, but
said rhinos, elephants, pangolins,
and tigers are still being killed in
horrifying numbers.
He said the international commu-
nity is not moving fast enough to keep
up with the crisis.
Vietnam is one of the world’s major
transit points and consumers of ivory
and rhino horn.
Elephant ivory is used as jewelry
and home decorations in Vietnam,
which bans hunting of its own
dwindling population of elephants.
Advertise your business, service, or recruitment advertisement in The AR!
For more information, call (503) 283-4440 or e-mail <ads@asianreporter.com>.
®
®
HOLI DAY FOOD & GI FT GUI DE
Dec ember 7- 20, 2016
Visit www.uwajimaya.com to see all of our Holiday Food and Gift Guide Items
$10
.50
$7
$7
seat t l e | b el l ev u e | r en t o n | b eav er t o n | w w w .u w aj i may a.co m
$10