Jiang Nengjie was born in the countryside of China. It had been his hopes to use video to reflect and record the times. Therefore, he established MianHuaSha Film Studio in 2009, which he named after his birthplace.
Jiang is a left-behind child himself, and he understands this group very well. As a result, his representative work is a trilogy of documentaries on left-behind children. The trilogy successfully aroused the attention of the public to improve the material conditions of the village. However, he thinks the core issue has never been touched.
In 2016, Jiang Nengjie opened his first MianHuaSha Library on the second floor of his home, building a free reading platform for children. In addition to reading, the library also holds regular reading parties, film screenings, and free calligraphy and photography classes. At present, he has built four rural public library houses in Xining county. In particular, the fourth library has more than 600 library card registrations, an average of more than 100 book rentals a day.
In 2019, the Phoenix New Media Action Alliance selected Jiang as one of the Top Ten Public Welfare Figures. Besides left-behind children, his documentary also focuses on different groups such as war veterans, empty-nesters and autistic syndrome patients.
In early 2020, Jiang’s documentary film Miners, the Horsekeeper and Pneumoconiosis became a hit shortly after the COVID-19 outbreak. He was then interviewed by media including The Economist and Le Monde. Since then he has become an internet celebrity director in China.
More Info
1. The Economist: China stifles documentary-makers, but their art still shines
2. Le Monde: Le cinéaste chinois, la pneumoconiose et la censure
3. South China Morning Post: Jiang Nengjie was member of first generation left behind by parents looking for work in cities
4. Related blog posts
Watch Jiang Nengjie documentaries online:
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- Documentary
We Will Have Everything – Jiang Nengjie
- $2.99 – $199.00
- Mentally disabled group is large in China, but they rarely appear in ordinary people's vision. With extraordinary patience and love from the charity, can these special people enjoy basic human rights and strive to live independently?
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- Documentary
Why Not Coming Back – Hui Dapeng
- $2.99 – $139.00
- Most of the remains of the Chinese expeditionary soldiers who fought in Myanmar have not been properly preserved even until today. When can they return home and rest in peace?
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- Documentary
Jia Yi – Jiang Nengjie
- $2.99 – $229.00
- Jiayi is a left-behind child who has to endure the bitter taste of separation from parents. However, she still has to forget sadness and grows up in pain and joy with her brother.
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The Sichuan Army Veteran Peng Guochen – Jiang Nengjie
- $2.99 – $199.00
- Hundred-year-old veteran Peng Guochen relies on the care of his grandnephew Peng Songbai. Under the enormous economic pressure, the local government has not been able to implement his old-age pensions.
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The Ninth Grade – Jiang Nengjie
- $2.99 – $199.00
- A group of students are at a crossroads in life preparing for the High School Entrance Exam, and most of them are left-behind children. Can they get good grades to change their own destiny?
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Miners, the Horsekeeper and Pneumoconiosis – Jiang Nengjie
- $2.99 – $299.00
- In southwestern Hunan, many people mine illegally for a living, and many miners develop pneumoconiosis. After the illegal mines are shut down by the government, their road to misery begins.
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Mr. Long Yunsong – Jiang Nengjie
- $2.99 – $229.00
- Kuomintang (KMT) veteran Long Yunsong participated in the Sino-Japanese war by glory, but he is sick and experiences injustice in old age. Can he really be recognized by the state before he dies?
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- Documentary
Children at a Village School – Jiang Nengjie
- $2.99 – $299.00
- This documentary is about a school in the mountainous area of Hunan and focuses on left-behind children in three families. Due to contradiction between backward rural appearance and urban development, the fate of the three generations interwoven together.
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