Page Title
Reflections on "Mulberry Child," the movie
By Heidi M. Pascual
Heavy. Educational. Inspirational. Touching.
These were the adjectives that came to mind after watching “Mulberry Child” at Gene Siskel
Film Center in Chicago on April 1st.
Based on the book “Mulberry Child: A Memoir of China” written by our very own, Jian Ping,
the documentary has been getting rave reviews from attendees and film enthusiasts at a
number of prestigious international film festivals throughout the United States. I had to see
the movie the first opportunity I had when it hit the Midwest.
China’s Cultural Revolution, anything foreign was discarded, everybody was expected to toe the line, and a mere
suspicion for disobedience was dealt with public ridicule and imprisonment. The documentary did not imply any penalty
worse than these, however. The father was jailed while the mother was required to work long hours, alone inside a cell-
like room, writing repetitive lines of atonement. The family – with three children and a grandmother – was ousted from
their home and sent to live in a mud hut. Nainai, the grandmother , played a big role in the upbringing of the children.
The beautiful scenes of a countryside marred by poverty and oppression were heartbreaking. The few scenes of a
family reuniting either in prison or in the mud hut brought tears to my eyes.
Educational. Mao Zedong’s Cultural Revolution was meant to enforce socialism in the country by removing capitalist,
traditional, religious and cultural elements from Chinese society. It sought to cleanse China of outside influences and
strictly impose the Maoist ideology within the Communist Party. Youth were sent to the countryside as Red Guards,
effectively separating them from their families and brainwashed to worship only Mao’s cult. The film succeeded in
dramatizing the movement’s negative impact on the population via factional and class struggles, disintegration of
families, and wrongful convictions without proper trials. When Mao Zedong died in 1976, the Cultural Revolution
movement died with him.
Inspirational. The incredible endurance and resilience of the heroine’s family are an inspiration. While the parents
silently obeyed the government’s way of punishing them for crimes they did not commit, they held on to the belief that
they would someday be proved innocent and the family would be together again. The love for one another was
expressed so strongly through every scene where a parent was with a child, or where Nainai was with any of her
grandchildren. The heroine’s apparent career success in the United States despite her tough life in China in her youth
was another inspiring moment captured very well in the film.
Touching. The challenge of bringing up a child in America while simultaneously trying to inject a little of her Chinese
heritage into her subconscious resonates very well with other immigrants on the same boat. The conversation of
“Mulberry Child” is a true story, a narrative as seen by a little girl who witnessed the transformation of China after the
takeover of the Communists led by Mao Zedong; the cruelty and oppression of Mao’s Cultural Revolution; and the saga
of her family that struggled to survive it all. The documentary followed the life of that little girl who grew up to become an
Jian Ping talks to attendees and signs "Mulberry Child" book; Jian Ping answers questions after the movie showing.
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educated woman in China and who
later sought further intellectual pursuit in
the United States, the land of the free.
Now a mother of a young woman
named Lisa -- who grew up an all-
American girl -- our heroine wanted her
child to understand her roots, to have a
feel of how it was, and to appreciate her
connection to a family and a country rich
in cultural and political history.
Heavy. It was hard to witness Jian’s
parents being wrongfully accused of
anti-government actions for simply
expressing grievances on behalf of
others, or teaching quality education
based on truth and history. During
mother and her child who is
every bit an American is too
common, yet something that
our heroine refused to ignore.
She wrote a book about her
family and their struggle during
the Cultural Revolution, hoping
that if Lisa reads it, she would
open up her heart and be
more understanding of why
her mother wants to be part of
her life more rather than less.
Mother and child travelled back
in time while the filming of
“Mulberry Child” was ongoing.
Lisa saw and felt her family’s
past and in the process, that of
her own.