The ramblin' rural projectionist
- Source: Global Times
- [22:12 January 13 2010]
- Comments
Villagers help Huang Tianhua, 33-year-old projectionist, to set up the screen at the village of Hudongxincun on January 6.
By Jiang Xueqing
"Welcome to the film screening party tonight!" announced the flier posted on the village notice board of Hudongxincun. Except during the monsoon season, the Yunnan Province villagers enjoy outdoor movies every three months.
At 5 pm Huang Tianhua began setting up the big screen at the center of the village, an open space with room to seat 800 people at most. The 33-year-old projectionist grabbed about 10 bits of steel scaffolding from a canvas sack. Quick with his hands, he slotted one piece into another and assembled a 5.5-meter long, 4.5-meter tall screen within 10 minutes.
He stretched out a long white canvas screen, tied each corner with rope tightly to the frame, and buttoned up all sides of the screen to the frame. With the help of three other villagers, he stood the screen upright on the ground in the middle of the open space so that the audience could watch the movie from both sides.
All his equipment including the screen, the frame, the digital projector, the projector stand and two speakers, weigh about 100 kilograms. As the countryside projectionist of Mengku, a town in the prefecture-level city of Lincang, Huang drives his heavy gear to 75 film screening spots via motorcycle or tractor. He travels three times every year to 75 Mengku spots, serving 33,304 people in 16 villages.
Every year, he drives 50,000 kilometers mostly on dusty mountainous country roads full of S-shaped switchbacks. To drive from one screening spot to another, he has to descend to the valley flats and then ascend another winding trail. It usually takes him two or three hours. Except for the August to October rainy season, Huang spends most of his time on the road and heads home for a one-day stopover every two weeks.
Landslides often block roads after heavy rain. Many are dusty, winding and difficult to drive.
"Traveling is the most strenuous and dangerous part of film screening in the country," he said.
Sometimes the heavy-laden vehicle leans dangerously on the bumpy road. So far he has not been thrown off like some other unlucky colleagues he mentioned.
Lincang government last year bought personal accident insurance for all rural projectionists in the city with a maximum limit of 50,000 yuan.
"My colleagues and I have to retire at 50," Huang said. "By that time, we'll be too old for a long journey away from home on a motorcycle."
Born across the border in Vietnam in 1976, he moved back to Mengku with his parents at the age of 2 and lived on a local overseas Chinese farm. The farm had a projector and a projectionist who rented movies and sold tickets for private screenings.
