Oct. 23, 2013               Wednesday            Cloudy

Nowadays people especially the young like to watch soap operas on TV, notebook computers or tablet PCs. When I was young I like to see film very much. I was born and grew up in the countryside. So it was not easy to see a film. It usually took a few months for a production team to get the chance for a film show. In the afternoon, the film projectionist from the commune arrived at the courtyard of the team with a villager carrying the equipment for him. I think at that time the film projectionist was the best known person around the commune.

With the help of the villagers, he began to set up the screen ,install the projector, lay the cable from the dynamo to the projection table. Then he would rewind the film.

After supper, when it was getting dark, villagers i took their small stools and came to sit in front of the screen. The children had been there in the afternoon. The projectionist usually had lunch in the team leader’s house. When he finished supper, with the company of the team leader and the expectation of the audience, he came. But At that time there is no electricity, so he must start the dynamo. It was no easy job to get it started especially on cold days. The projectionist put a rope round the wheel and caused it to spin. When they heard the pong pong sound of the dynamo and saw the light bulbs gradually give off light, the children shouted a joyful cry.

Before projecting the feature film, usually a documentary was shown or slides were shown. The feature film lasted more than one hour. It included two sections. It took a few minutes to finish the transition. Some old people or women began to leave for their homes，but children usually waited till it was over.

In those days the films were black and white， and the topic was often about war . The positive roles were handsome and beautiful, the negative roles are ugly. I liked those films because they brought me knowledge and happiness.