province Henan: Last News

Guy Lodge Film Critic There’s a patient, plainspoken poetry, neither overly earthy nor flowery, to “Living the Land,” a rolling rural drama that may be a work of pure fiction — but often feels wholly, organically observed, as if its storytelling were dictated by the rigors and challenges of seasons and soil. An unassuming but impressive second feature from Chinese writer-director Huo Meng, the film deftly captures the pace of life in a modest farming village on the brink of industrialization in 1991: a steady meander, at once languid and arduous, that is felt differently across four generations of the hard-up Li family.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Shanghai was the venue for the launch of Chinese streaming firm iQiyi’s latest venture into Virtual Reality. Its ‘Luoyang VR Project’ is a studio-based experience in which users are invited to experience up to 12 different entertainment zones in the ancient city of Luoyang in Henan province. Requiring headsets and using a physical space of some 300 square metres, the set-up stimulates the physical experience of high winds, waterfalls and explosions. IQiyi described the project as “the first attempt in the VR industry to integrate different elements from immersive theatre, VR, and original IP,” and said that it leverages “inside-out tracking” technology and other industry-leading, sensory-simulation techniques to build in cars, boats, carriages, and other props. “The upshot is a highly realistic environment that fully immerses the audience in the story,” the company said.