Interesting Times: Xiao’s Long March

Directed by Kang Jianning (under the pseudonym Wu Gong), and part of the ‘Interesting Times’ series with Duan Jinchuan’s The Secret of My Success and Jiang Yue’s This Happy Life. The film chronicles the progress of a lazy Chinese teenager who has a rude awakening when he joins the People’s Liberation Army. The original film was finished in 2001, was titled 当兵 (Soldier), and is 88 minutes. It has never been broadcasted. There are two other, widely available versions: An English dub cut for BBC, which is 40 min, and a three-episode CCTV version that adds footage shot in 2003.