Tie Xi Qu: West of the Tracks (Tie Xi Qu)

This documentary opic portrays the industrial district Tie Xi in northeastern China. The film is made up of three parts: Rust, Remnants and Rails. Once the heart of statism, with an enormous, labor-intensive heavy industry around steelworks and foundries, the district is now the scene of disconsolate decay. Economic reforms, bankruptcies, demolition and company moves have left many old factories empty and many workers unemployed. Wang Bing takes this time to allow the changes to get to him and to listen to the people talking about the situation. He follows the old railway line that bisects the industrial area. Along the route, he often stops for local observations and to follow a series of different protagonists.