1958 Jinan, China

Runhe Li

1947

Jinan, China

Interviewed on February 7th, 2022

by George Wang

(Translated from Mandarin)

When I was about 11 years old in 1958, I saw my first movie at the local movie theater in Jinan, China. I don’t exactly remember the name of the movie theater, but I believe it was named after one of the richest people of a distant town, Guo Feng Zhou. It’s taking me some time to remember this because everyone was more interested in the new movie that came out rather than the movie venue. The movie everyone wanted to see was called Woman Basketball Player No. 5. This was a big deal because this was the first time me and my 3 brothers and 1 sister were all going to watch a movie together. My oldest brother was the first person among us to see a movie, which was over 5 years before, while for the rest of us, it was the first time we were watching a movie. 

All I could think about was the walk to the movie theater. Oh, it was treacherous and long! One of my shoes broke along the way so I had to drag it through the mud and dirt. My brothers offered to carry me to the theater so my feet wouldn’t get dirty, but I refused. I did not want to seem weak or seem like someone who needed help. The total walk was about 6 kilometers.

When we got to the venue, They were selling small baozi (steamed dumpling) snacks outside. The smell of roasted park was amazing! On a megaphone, a young boy about my age was screaming for everyone to buy some baozi. He was carrying platters of steamed dumplings and had a large crowd of hungry kids surrounding him. I asked my eldest brother if we could have some baozi, but he said we would need to save some money because our parents were struggling to upkeep the farm.  We all reasoned that it would be good to save some money by not eating. After all, our parents were doing us a favor by letting us go see a movie, which is something I never would have thought they would let us do. We normally were only able to work on the farm and go to school––those were our main duties and responsibilities. Overall, we were in an appreciative mood to have this opportunity. Food and snacks could wait until we got back home. I don’t believe they were selling candy, but my favorite candy was a small chocolate treat we would store in a jar at home, but that’s beside the point.

Getting into the movie theater was so chaotic. One usher, probably the manager of the movie venue, was responsible for collecting everyone’s tickets. Everyone was swarming the doors, fighting to get in. The usher screamed at everyone to get in an orderly line but nobody listened. Eventually,  he just gave up and succumbed to the mob and took the tickets in a disorderly way.

I don’t really remember much of the movie because it was so difficult to see the screen and pay attention. People were talking too loudly and the seating arrangement was not staggered. I do remember how this movie was about basketball-––a young lady trying to figure out a career in basketball in a sport that was dominated by males. Ah yes, this was also a love story plot as well, where Lin Jie and Tian Zhenhua fall in love. I thought it was very cheesy but it seemed like people in the movie theater were enjoying it. You could tell who was going to win and what was going to happen, which is why I thought it was cheesy, but overall I thought it was amazing because it was one of the first times I saw basketball. To see how someone dribbles the ball down the court and then puts it into the basket was very cool. It is especially cool if a huge crowd was watching you, just like what happened in the movies. The characters were very enthusiastic in the play and I thought they did a good job acting. I don’t recall the names of any of the actors but I believe they were somewhat well known. The film was written by Xie Jin, a famous film director, which made the movie a big deal.

The rise of Xiao Jie was amazing. I could see the inspiration from my sister––her eyes were glued to the screen as Xiao Jie dribbled the basketball and progressed through her sports career. This particular character brought light to me and my sister––the latter in particular.  Every time she scored a point, she would cheer as if she were in the movie herself. My sister was on the edge of her seat, unlike my other two brothers, who seemed to get bored later in the movie. I was very interested in watching the fast-moving basketball sports scenes, while my sister was invested in the character Xiao Jie. When the movie ended, my sister did not want to get up and leave the theater. She was having too much fun!

The walk back home from the movie theater still hurt my feet, but it was good to see how my sister was excited. She would not stop talking about Xiao Jie and now she wanted to try to play basketball. My other two brothers were more concerned about the farm work they had to do later that night. Regardless, it was a very good experience for all of us!