Always remain cool, keep your feelings under wraps and be as independent as possible, this is a motto shared by many women in Shanghai. Photographer He Zhaoya has published portraits of more than 700 such women in her latest work. Her coffee-table book was a bestseller in China. Some of these women are featured in our film, in which they show us how very different their everyday lives are from their expectations. Gu Wenying belongs to the "modern generation"; at the tender age of 22, looking beautiful is what's important to her. Expensive perfumes, clothes and other material things make her happy. Shi Yadi used to work in a textiles factory. However, after the economic reforms, the company went bankrupt. Now, she drives a taxi from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. in order to finance her son's pilot training. Zhou Yinglei studies English at the Shanda University - the first private college in Shanghai. It is a tough course because if you do not pass the national examinations, you're out. The 21-year-old's average university day is more like boot camp. Zou Shi is 95 years old and lives in the city centre. When she was born, China's last emperor was in power. Her feet were bound, in keeping with the ideal of beauty at the time. Now she finds it difficult to walk. One city, very different women. Out and about in China's huge port metropolis, the film presents very personal impressions of the lives of women in Shanghai.
Clever And Beautifully Cool - Women Of Shanghai
People / Society
- Title: Clever And Beautifully Cool
- Original title: Clever und ganz schön cool - Frauen in Shanghai
- Film by: Jochen Graebert
- Format: 30', Series
- Long running series: Human Encounters
- Co-Production: NDR / ARTE
- Year of production: 2005
- Language / subtitle version: German, French
