hai shang chuan qi

The Mystery of History in Jia Zhangke’s ‘I Wish I Knew’

The Mystery of History in Jia Zhangke’s ‘I Wish I Knew’

In Jia Zhangke’s documentary I Wish I Knew, many discuss the pivotal year of 1949, when the Chinese Communist Party officially took over China, reaching Shanghai. It was also the year my mother, putting a finger in the wind, left China with my sister.