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APDcolumnist|WU Xiaohui
Tracing back the history, what did the mostfamous andinfluential peopledoat theirage of 21?
Cuban Revolution leader Che Guevara was planning a motorcycle ridetouracross South America; NBA star Kobe Bryant had already played three playoffsat age 21; Bill Gates dropped out from Harvard and found his first pot of gold at the same year, while greatscientistEinsteinlived a bleak life when he was 21and even could not find a job.
Whattoday’s globalyouth are doing at the same age?
Yang Fan, a Chinese young documentary director, decided to find the answer when he turned 21. He rodea motorcycle with sidecar across Asia and Europe through 13000miles and 8 countries, met17youths who were born on the exactly same day withhimand produced a documentary based on his travel stories named Another Me in ThisWorld. It was broadcastedin CCTVDocumentary Channelduring 2015 Chinese Spring Festival after two and half years’traveling, videoshooting and editing.
Poster of Documentary Another Me in ThisWorld/ Photo provided by Yang Fan studio
Born on Oct 5, 1990
Imet Yang Fan in January 17 this year in his own studio located in Yizhuang Culture Park, a newly developed area outside Beijing’sfive rings.
With Yang Fan studio team, Yizhuang, Beijing, January 17, 2016.
Born in 1990, been called thepost-90sgeneration, but he looks more maturethan the peers. You can’t say it’s becauseof his moustache, the tattooson arms, or hidden stories from hisdeep eyes. When you met him, you know it.
His life track goes on in an unimaginableunusualway.
He dropped out of school at the age of 13 and finished the bicycle tour from Chengdu to Lhasaon Sichuan-Tibet line inthesame year. When he was 16, he started shootinghis first videowork and won Nomination Award of Milan InternationalSports Film and Television Festival held in Italy. One year later, his personalcollectionof travel notes, poems and essays named Running in the Dark was published. At 18, he swam across Qiongzhou Strait as his coming-of-age ceremony. At 19, as a young director he shota documentary about Yao Ming and Shanghai basketball team. It was broadcasted on CCTV in 2011 and graded 9.2 (10 as full mark) on Douban, China’s most popular film rating platform.
Poster with photo of him and Yao Ming was hangingon the wall of studio. Photo/Wu Xiaohui
Theselegendary life storiesdon't come easy.To successfullyswim across Qiongzhou Strait at age 18, he dip in theswimming pool for over 3 months; when he edit Yao Ming team’s documentary, he locked himself in studio for over one year; when he had to worklate night to 3 am or 4 am, he stayed and hada little sleep at studio.
People met on the road
3 weeks before departing day of his first tour, on June 25, 2012, Yang releasedone trailerof his shooting plan of documentary Another Me in This World.
“Iwill set off from Beijing and ride my beloved homemade motorcycle.”He explainedhis shooting plan in the trailer:”The first destination country will be Mongolia. In each country Igo through, one female and one male will be chosen as this documentary’s main characters.”
“Among them, there may be athletes, dancers, poets, rock musicians, boxers, gap year travelers, surfers, people on horseback, people seeking for jobs, people in confusion,”Yang pictured a map of people he wanted to record before he startedhis journey.
After two and half years’searchingand shooting, filledhis map withlife tracks of a post-90sMongolian mother, a Russian rap singer, an orphanwho was abandonedat age 13, a college student from Moscow state university, a Finnishgirl who just broke up with boyfriend, a student fromUniversity of Iceland, a Estonianman who has a strong passion for cooking, a Belgian patient suffered from Tourette's syndromeand a Polish sales boy in a shoe storewho is fond of art.
Poster of Documentary Another Me in ThisWorld/ Photo provided by Yang Fan studio
Their lives may be different but they have one thing in common: they were all born on Oct, 5, 1990 and get connected through Yang Fan.
Ba Songhu is the first characterYang plannedto record. When Yang met this 21 year old girl in Mongolia, she had been pregnant for 7 months. Compared with many youths at the same age, Ba had stepped an advanced pace of life.
But Ba told Yang thatit’s very common for Mongolian girls at thisage to deliver a baby. Life is not easy for her. When Yang paid a second visit to Ba two years later, Ba had been a mother of two children. Ba’s husband had to find a job far way his family to make a living.
Yang saidhe felt it’s so important to record whatit is like of today’s global youth’s lives, “the most unique part is that through presenting completely different life experiences, Iwish it would give a glance of lives of 21-year-olds all around the world.”
Yang Fan(left) and Marx Photo/Sina Weibo@杨帆Film
Yang, Young, Younger
When Yang took oral English course, histeacherasked Yang what his English name is, he insisted that he didn’t like an English name with no connections with him.
“You canjust call me Yang. It sounds like ‘Young’and Ilike both its pronunciationand the meaningit referredto,”Yang repliedthe teacher.
In Yang Fan’s profile on his Douban homepage, he tagged three key words: young, alcoholand rock music.
On his Weibo homepage, he posted a list of items he likes andanother list of items he dislikes.
“Things I like: Coca-Cola, Friday, mustard, young, heavy rain, Drum Tower, extreme sports, love poems, immature, surfing, South America culture, kiss, rebellion, and fireworks; ThingsIdislike: secular, porridge, subwayline 1, sunlight, freshness, happiness, affectation, poor-behaved, KTV, smoking, mediocre, and mature,”quotedfrom his posts.
“Yang”and “Young”seem to be two key words in his life. During his two and half a year’s travel and video shooting, he did many thingsthat “soundcrazy”.
Streakingin Iceland’ssnowfield, jumping into ice lake in winter with Finnish girl born on same day with him, selling Beijing Baozi in Helsinki’s street, Yang’s world smells like filled with teen spirit.
Yang Fan with the Finnish girl Hanna who jumpinto ice lake with him /Photo provided by Yang
Set off again
Almost one year has passed since Yang Fan’s documentary broadcastedin CCTV during last Spring Festival. Now a new season of this documentary has been on its way.
“With previous experience and lessons, this time Iwant to do better,”said Yang.
Anew trailer had been releasedrecently. This time Yang wants his map of characters’searching can cover almostevery country in Europe.
Vicky is in charge of Yang Fan’s searchingplan now. Currently she has contacted 20 volunteers to search people in Europe who were born on Oct 5, 1990, explore into stories behind them and choose the character that is suitablefor camerashooting and stories sharing.
“It’s not an easy job. To search, to contact, and to negotiateall need efforts and sometimes luck. But I’m so happy there are so many peoplewho volunteeredto get involved in this program and offer help,”Vicky said as she typed fast to communicate with one of candidates of the secondseason of this documentary.
Early communicationwith part of candidates was going on in Europe by this documentary’s producer team. The night before they set off, Yang worked late night to 3 am with his team for preparing work. For him, stayingup latehas been a frequentstate.
On Yang’s Weibo, he ever wrotedown such poem lines:
I love you tomorrow
Iwalk through scaldingsnow
Why I’m always on the road?
When I’m thirsty, gasolinecan comfort me.
WU Xiaohui is a former intern at People's Daily Online and Sohu News Center, currently pursuing MA degree at Beijing Foreign Studies University. Areas of interest: photography, films, non-fiction, history, language, folk, etc.
