1954 Dalian, China

Yufang Liu

Born in 1941

Dalian, China

Interviewed on January 26, 2024

by Jerry Tan

The first movie I remember watching was《小兵张嘎》(Zhang Ga the Soldier Boy). I was in Malan village in Dalian, around 1953 or 1954. Many films at the time were about the Anti-Japanese war effort. I also recall watching spy films. This movie was about the war effort during the Second Sino-Japanese War in the 40s. In the movie, Zhang Ga is a young boy who wishes to join the Eighth Route Army [formed by the Chinese Communists and Nationalists in the joint resistance against Japan]. He finds a camp of Japanese soldiers and leads them into an ambush by the Eighth Route Army.

Zhang Ga’s courage and intelligence was inspiring to my friends and I. I looked up to him as a hero. The movie had 5 or 6 child actors in total. I felt a greater connection to the young characters than with adult ones, which made this movie more memorable than others. In my memory, Zhang Ga is honest, sincere, and shrewd, but his physical appearance is unattractive — his composure is not particularly elegant. Still, his cleverness and boldness stood out to me. At the time, Zhang Ga’s actor was only twelve or thirteen years old, and he became famous after featuring in this movie. He went on to become a director.

After eating dinner, I would run out to the public square. Someone would hang up a cloth and bring a projector. There were no movie theaters around when I was a kid. At the time, I didn’t even know what a movie theater was. Moviegoing was free; there were no tickets. The government would cover the cost, and the movies also served educational purposes. The government would also use movies to spread propaganda.

Watching a movie felt like a New Year’s celebration. Regardless of whether it rained or snowed, I would always go watch. The movie would start after sunset, and I would make sure to arrive thirty minutes or even an hour early to get a good seat. If you went late, there wouldn’t be any space left in front of the projector, and you would have to watch from behind the screen, and the projection would be backwards. Sometimes I didn’t show up early enough and would have to watch it backwards. It still works, but I would much rather watch from the front. I would bring a small wooden stool and wait in front of the projector screen.

There were no concessions. A concession stand would not have any business, as we did not have spare change at the time. One cent could buy many pieces of candy.

I would go with my brothers, sisters, and friends. At the square, we would have fun and mess around with each other. However, once the movie started, we would immediately sit down and be quiet. Our parents did not go with us. Both the elderly and young children would come out to watch movies together. It was an experience that was enjoyed regardless of age.

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Yufang Liu is my maternal grandmother. I have reordered some of her responses by topic.