Along the River Reli

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Description: Rural life in China showing traditional ploughing and harvesting methods, also suggesting the coming of progress with the arrival of tractors.
Duration: 17 mins 20 secs
Year: 1960
Subjects: Animal husbandry, Agriculture, Modernization, Building operations, Rural areas, China, Cultivation, Markets, Traditional dance, Traditional technology
Segment 1: ETV leader. Credits. Views of the mountains and river valley of the Reli. Oarsmen ferrying people on the river. Fishermen with small nets. Women taking water from the river and carrying it back to their plots of land. Children help with the watering of plots. Children walking down village street and reaching school playground. Children of all ages play together. In the fields cattle are taken out to graze. Fields of ripe rice, bananas ripening, coconuts and other fruits are picked and brought in from the fields. People gather under a tree. Villagers exchange views. Young girl sings - laughter. People going out to the fields with wooden plough; girls being taught to plough using oxen. Two tractors seen arriving, one of which is driven by a girl. The other women runs up to welcome her. She shows them how it works. Men are seen collecting greens/ weeds from the water. Girls load it into baskets and carry it to a pit where is buried. [Not clear what is happening]. People seen in the fields cutting rice crop. Men and women work together. Tied into sheaves and carried to be stacked. Among the workers in the fields soldiers are seen. Shots of harvesters sharing food with soldiers. Shots of women washing clothes and hair in the river.
Segment 2: House or barn being built. Building materials clearly shown. Scenes in the village. Man working on a bicycle. A child eating, women preparing food - making bread. Men getting baskets of grain/rice and bringing them into the village on cart pulled by oxen. Sacks of rice being delivered to houses. Long procession of people carrying baskets on yolks across their shoulders. Procession headed by bullock carts with flags and picture of Mao Tse Tung. People leave their houses to go to market. Busy market scenes. Goods on sale include flowers as well as cloth and food stuffs. Women looking at flowered material. Group of men arrive singing and dancing. Man beating gong and girls dancing in temple complex. People playing drums and dancing. Girl dances as man drums. Girls dancing using parasols. Men hold the parasols over them as they dance. Back to the village. Fruit on the trees. Using oxen men plough the field that has just been harvested. Shot of the River with villagers being ferried past. High view of the river valley. End title.
Persistent URL: http://edina.ac.uk/purl/isan/0002-0000-0045-0000-0-0000-0000-0
Written and compiled by the British Universities Film & Video Council © BUFVC 2005
Subject classification by University of Edinburgh Library © 2006