Martin Li

    “I want to use my eyes as a bridge to show people in Shenzhen the rich and diverse cultural heritage and growing cultural vitality.”

— Li Yawei, a Shenzhen-based director who was awarded honorary citizenship of Chuxiong Yi Autonomous Prefecture

    Martin.mouse@163.com

    OVER the past 13 years, Li Yawei has spent much time in mountainous villages in remote Chuxiong Yi Autonomous Prefecture in Yunnan Province, making films, TV programs and documentaries to promote traditional Yi culture, which is on the verge of vanishing.

    She has worked tirelessly to try and improve life in the area’s remote and underdeveloped villages, raising donations and supporting the education of local youth with artistic potential. Earlier this year, Li — a Liaoning native who earned recognition as a director in Shenzhen — became an honorary citizen of Chuxiong.

    “I want to use my eyes as a bridge to show people in Shenzhen the rich and diverse cultural heritage and growing cultural vitality,” she said.

    Reaching career

    highpoint in SZ

    After graduating from Shenyang Conservatory of Music in Liaoning Province in northeastern China, Li wrote many scripts and directed films, TV programs and documentaries at Changchun Film Studio in Jilin Province. In the spring of 1994, Li moved to Shenzhen and made a series of TV films in the city, receiving provincial and national awards, which helped seal her reputation as a leading figure in Shenzhen’s TV and film circles.

    Visit to Chuxiong

    In May 2000, Li was a director of the literary and artistic creation department of Shenzhen Federation of Literary and Art Circles, and Shenzhen’s publicity department sent her to Yongren County in Chuxiong to research and write a script about a deceased official from Shenzhen who contributed to the area’s development.

    During her stay in Chuxiong, Li learnt that the local intangible cultural heritage is in danger of vanishing because many of the traditions are only passed by word of mouth. Many elderly people who mastered certain skills have died, leaving few successors. In addition, it could take just one earthquake or landslide to destroy almost all the local cultural relics.

    With the support of Shenzhen’s publicity department and literary federation, Li took on the cause of promoting Yi culture.

    Strenuous efforts

    At the beginning, Li led a team composed of top professionals to make a TV series titled “Fire Dance” about the local Torch Festival and other customs. The Torch Festival — also called Fire Festival — is one of the main holidays of the Yi people, who celebrate it on the 24th or 25th day of the sixth month of the lunar calendar. It commemorates the legendary wrestler Atilaba, who drove away a plague of locusts using torches made from pine trees.

    Struggling to overcome local living conditions, Li and her co-workers climbed mountains and covered more than 20,000 kilometers, mainly on foot, in 50 villages and townships, which are home to 24 ethnic minorities.

    The average elevation of the villages is more than 1,200 meters and the highest is over 4,000 meters, according to Jilu Gere, a Yi culture expert.

    To acquire a bird’s eye view of Yi villages, Li’s team drove to Ailao Mountain, which has an elevation of over 3,000 meters. Li was ill with a high fever, but she refused to take any medication as she was afraid of becoming drowsy.

    Her team members managed to change her mind, after she asked them to wake her up when they reached the peak, which would be a perfect position for their shoot.

    However, they did not wake Li up, and she was very upset to learn that they had passed the peak. But, impressed by her dedication, the team returned to the peak to complete the film.

    Li was also struggling to make the series with a small budget — only 800,000 yuan (US$126,000) for a 41-part series. She later managed to get another 300,000-yuan subsidy from Shenzhen and, together with her own savings of 80,000 yuan, she managed to complete the TV series.

    “Li can’t tolerate any flaws in her artistic creation. She even spent a whole day on a single shot without eating, drinking or sleeping,” said Meng Fu, vice director of Chuxiong’s press office.

    “Fire Dance” includes voiceovers, original dialogue and shots that had not previously been seen by the general public and, after watching the series, many Yi people said that they had not realized the beauty of their own culture.

    On July 20, 2002, “Fire Dance” was shown at a symposium in Beijing, and experts said the series marked the highpoint of Li’s career. It earned seven awards in TV circles and helped raise Chuxiong’s profile — with some viewers even investing in the prefecture.

    Dedication for

    one decade

    Following the success of “Fire Dance,” Li spent 10 years making a documentary named “China has a Shulili” that details the changes in a small Yi village called Shulili.

    Located in a mountainous region, Shulili was economically underdeveloped. Many men couldn’t afford to pay for a wedding ceremony, which turned the village into a “bachelor village.” However, one day the village head brought back a basketball from the city and built a basketball court. The men in the village started playing basketball, and this helped them become more united and they also gained a vision to change their economic situation.

    During a period spanning one decade, Li and her team visited the village whenever they had time and Li always ate local food, slept in the home of a villager and talked to the local people.

    The documentary won a total of 10 awards at home and abroad.

    Responsibility and duty

    Li Yawei considers it her responsibility and duty to help the Yi people build a sort of team to inherit and pass on its culture heritage.

    She met a 16-year-old girl from Chuxiong Yi Autonomous Prefecture, Majia Jiaduo, in 2009. The girl’s gift for singing caught Li’s attention and she brought Majia to Shenzhen, taught her Mandarin and asked people to write songs for her. Li used her savings to make an album of 14 original songs performed by Majia, and the teen said that Li treats her as well as her own mother.

    Li is known for being happy to encourage talented young people in Chuxiong, including singers, dancers and other artists.