The Road = Lu

Description: The Chinese word “lu” (which directly translates to “road”) means finding a way. The narrative involves a group of working class men and women in their twenties, who are each trying to find their way in life. Everyday activities and living conditions make up a great part of the narrative; we see people lining up for goods, their daily struggles of working long hours for minimal wages and the lack of control they have over their predicament. Qui-Hu is given the chance to run the wool factory that she works for. She recruits her group of friends to assist her. It proves to be a difficult endeavour, due to government policies and the scale of their operation (they are unable to compete with bigger, state-run companies). They describe their factory to a “broken bowl”, whereas state-run plants are “iron bowls”, but these individuals now wish to aim for a “golden bowl”. A successful business will be golden because it would be created by them (independent group effort).