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Book Cover
Streaming video

Title Treasure of the Lisu / directed by Yan Chun Su ; produced by Yan Chun Su and Waterdrop Films
Published Watertown, MA : Documentary Educational Resources (DER), 2010

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Description 1 online resource (30 min.)
Series Ethnographic video online, volume 2
Summary Treasure of the Lisu takes us into the world of Ah-Cheng, a master musician and tradition bearer of the Lisu minority people in southwest China. Originating in eastern Tibet, the Lisu people now live among the mountainous Nu (Salween) River canyon, an area caught between the ancient and the modern world. As a skilled craftsman, Ah-Cheng is the only person in his village who can still make the Chiben, an emblematic four-string lute, which alongside the knife and the crossbow, are the three most important objects to the Lisu People. The British Protestants brought Christianity to the Lisu at the beginning of the 1900s. The Chiben, used widely in traditional religious gatherings, was considered a threat to the newly introduced religion and as a result, was banned from the church system. The Communist revolution from 1967 brought an end to the missionary work. When China exited the repressive cultural revolution era in 1980, Christianity, which had always been practiced by many Lisu people in secrecy, returned to the public and spread even further. As China develops further into the modern world, TV, cell phones, and new ideologies gradually penetrate into the idyllic lives of these mountain people. Being one of the last remaining tradition bearers of the Lisu people in his village, Ah-Cheng holds a vital role in the survival of his ethnic culture. Even though he is illiterate, he is able to keep a clear mind regarding what is important to Lisu cultural identity. Practicing all the essential traditions of the Lisus while still accepting Christianity, Ah-Cheng embodies the human capacity to embrace differences in the face of changes. Through intimate access to the daily life of three generations of Lisu people in Ah-Cheng's family, this documentary shows, with heart-felt compassion and humor, the effect of modernization and its implication on ethnic traditions. Treasure of the Lisu, observational in style with no scripted narration, paints an intimate portrait of one family of an ethnic minority living in modern day China. It presents a world rarely seen by Westerners, a world that seems so faraway yet we will find the unexpected similarities striking. Inspiring a deeper observation, the film provokes viewers to contemplate the value of simple living and traditions that are worth preserving
Notes Title from resource description page (viewed Feb. 6, 2014)
Event Recorded in 2010 in Nu (Salween) River Canyon, Yunnan Province, China
Notes This edition in Lisu with English subtitles
Subject Lisu (Southeast Asian people)
Lisu (Southeast Asian people) -- Social life and customs
Lisu (Southeast Asian people) -- Music
Folk musicians.
Folk musicians -- China -- Yunnan Sheng
Folk music.
Folk music -- China -- Yunnan Sheng
Folk music.
Folk musicians.
Lisu (Southeast Asian people)
Lisu (Southeast Asian people) -- Social life and customs.
SUBJECT China. http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n79091151
Subject China.
China -- Yunnan Sheng.
Genre/Form Documentary films.
Music.
Nonfiction films.
Documentary films.
Nonfiction films.
Documentaires.
Films autres que de fiction.
Form Streaming video
Author Heng, Ah-Cheng, instrumentalist, contributor.
Su, Yan Chun, film director, film producer.
Waterdrop Films, production company.
Documentary Educational Resources (Firm), publisher.