The first film of Yang Jin takes us into a remote Chinese province, quite forgotten by current economic development. Due to his fathers death Jinsheng has to quit university to take care of his grandmother. He returns to his village to substitute the teacher at the request of his uncle, who is the head of the village. Yangjiagou is a poor region, and the officials have nothing better to offer as salary than a milk cow and a school in ruins. But Jinsheng does not get discouraged. The subject brings to mind Chen Kaiges famous film King of the Children in which a young teacher uses his imagination to instil some knowledge in peasant children. But time has run its course, and in this film it is less a question of dealing with education itself, than with the survival of an educational system in utter disintegration in such remote areas. The directors view is one of simplicity austere still shots and an almost monastic script that serves to emphasize the impression of poverty even more. (Martial Knaebel)