King of the Children and The New Chinese Cinema (Chen Kaige, Tony Rayns)

This screenplay concerns a young man labouring in the countryside with other exiles from China's cities, who is suddenly assigned to teach in a nearby village school. The script is accompanied by an essay discussing the emergence of the "new wave" of Chinese cinema, placing the films in their social and cultural context and focusing on the directors, writers and cameramen, who have been responsible for this breakthrough in Chinese cinema.
 
King of the Children is a 1987 drama film directed by Chen Kaige and starring Chen Shaohua. The film was based on a novella of the same name by Ah Cheng. The film was entered into the 1988 Cannes Film Festival.
 
Chen Kaige (陳凱歌, 1952-) is a Chinese filmmaker. A leading figure of the fifth generation of Chinese directors, Chen is known for his visual flair and epic storytelling. For Farewell My Concubine (1993), Chen became the first Chinese director to win the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival.
 
Tony Rayns (1948-) is a London-based critic with a special interest in the film cultures of East Asia. He has been awarded the Kawakita Prize (2004) and the Foreign Ministry of Japan’s Commendation (2008) for services to Japanese cinema. His books include Just Like Starting Over: A Personal View of the Reinvention of Korean Cinema.