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Wang Bing’s moving documentary follows young workers as they laugh, fight and question their bosses while undertaking a season of brutally hard work
Charlie Chaplin’s frantic production-line factory worker in Modern Times is a ghostly presence in this giant, immersive documentary from Chinese director Wang Bing, the movie equivalent of a wall-sized tapestry; it is about the sweatshop capital of China, the in Huzhou, Zhejiang province, known as the “city of children’s clothing”. Thousands of workshops turn out mountains of cheap garments and every year vast numbers of young people from about 16 to 22 come from outlying cities to do a season of brutally hard work in return for cash in hand.
This is China’s hop picking or kibbutzim, the young workers often staying in the grim dorms the bosses offer rent free to justify low pay. There are bricks of cash to be seen in this film, no question of internet bank transfers and perhaps the whole thing happens without the involvement of the tax collector.Wang has already made a similar film about migrant factory workers called Bitter Money, and there are some spectacularly grim vistas in Youth: the main street of Zhili is a brutalist concrete avenue which eerily extends to the far horizon like something from a sci-fi movie (or perhaps something by Roy Andersson). The dorms themselves are squalid and cramped. But the first thing that strikes you about the workers is their energy, verve, humour and their hopefulness. Their “youth”, as in the film’s title, is not ironic: they are not, as I suspected they might be, prematurely aged by work (although the incessant wrangling about piecemeal rates of pay is clearly taking its toll by the end).

Asian American women have been directing award-winning and popular films and TV shows for decades. Stacker compiled a list of 25 of them working today.

Advanced money-laundering techniques and clandestine precursor imports combine to stoke the opioid crisis – can the US stem the flow?
For a few days in April, news sites across Latin America were running Instagram photos of a glamorous blond woman enjoying trips around the world.
There were pictures of Ana Gabriela Rubio Zea, 32, posing in a blue dress and Yves Saint Laurent handbag outside San Miguel de Allende, ice skating in a miniskirt in Central Park and laughing in the Forbidden City.

Arena Stage presents the new play “Exclusion,” which is a Hollywood satire about a shocking moment in Asian American history, near The Wharf in Southwest D.C. now through June 25.

The US and China have a complex relationship, yet the movie business is one area where the two nations have enjoyed collaboration. But in the last few years, even this partnership has become more competitive. However, as the two countries' political relationship grows more rancorous, China is opening the door to US blockbusters once again. The whole thing is starting to resemble a romance straight out of the movies. So why is China's film industry so dependent on Hollywood?

With May being Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month, it’s an important reminder to support Asian and Pacific Islander-owned brands not just this month, but year-round. Sugimoto ...

MìLà The story of how restaurant-quality Chinese-American dumplings have become a nationwide sensation is about pandemic pivoting, changes in dining habits and resourceful chefs and ...

Republican-led group expected to lobby Ben Wallace at informal lunch meeting during Westminster visit
A Republican-led group of China hawks from the US Congress will visit Westminster on Friday where they are expected to meet the defence secretary, Ben Wallace, for lunch and press for the UK to take a tougher line on Beijing.
The 11-strong delegation is led by the Republican congressman Mike Gallagher, who chairs a high-profile, newly created China committee. Some fear a strident anti-Beijing tone will alienate centrist and left-leaning politicians in the UK.

Celebrate Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, take your dog to a 3K or 5K run, catch a street fair and more with this local events guide.

Ukraine and China’s Taiwan ambitions are expected to dominate summit discussions, but Fumio Kishida will have a powerful backdrop
The war in Ukraine and Chinese aggression towards Taiwan will dominate G7 discussions this week, but host Fumio Kishida is expected to carve out time to push for a pledge on nuclear weapons when leaders meet in Hiroshima, the first place on Earth targeted by an atomic bomb.
The leaders began to arrive on Thursday, ahead of an expected visit on Saturday to the city’s Peace Memorial Museum, which contains exhibits showing the scale of the tragedy that unfolded after the US dropped a nuclear bomb on the morning of 6 August 1945, killing 140,000 people by the end of the year.

Xiao Qian suggests improvement in Australian relationship with Beijing possible but would take ‘mutual respect’
China’s ambassador to Australia, Xiao Qian, has denounced the Aukus nuclear-powered submarine plan as an “unnecessary consumption of the hardworking Australian taxpayers’ money”.
Xiao said the multi-decade defence plan would consume “tremendous” amounts of money “which could be used for other purposes like infrastructure, like reducing the cost of living, and giving the Australian people a better future”.