The World

The World is a 2004 Chinese drama written and directed by Jia Zhangke about the work and the life of several young people moving from the countryside to a world park. Starring Jia's muse, Zhao Tao, as well as Cheng Taishen, The World was filmed on and around an actual theme park located in Beijing, Beijing World Park, which recreates world landmarks at reduced scales for Chinese tourists. The World introduces new technologies like binoculars, coin-operated telescopes, digital cameras, mobile phones and digital services in the theme park as touristic tools to virtually travel around the world, emphasizing the globalization and convenience. It is a metaphor for Chinese society to experience the sense of mobility, but the knowledge is still limited domestically and the environment of simulation is seen as a sense of escaping from the real world. The World was Jia's first film to gain official approval from the Chinese government. Additionally, it was the first of his films to take place outside of his home province of Shanxi. The film premiered in competition at the 2004 Venice Film Festival on September 4, 2004, but failed to win the coveted Golden Lion, the festival's top award, which ultimately went to Mike Leigh's drama Vera Drake, but which Jia would win two years later with Still Life. The World also premiered in 2004 at the New York Film Festival and would go on to receive a limited release in New York City the following year on July 1, 2005. Plot At Beijing World Park, performer Tao (Zhao Tao) is visited by her ex-boyfriend en route to Ulaanbaatar. Her boyfriend Taisheng, a security guard, meets them and insists on driving him to the Beijing railway station. Taisheng, frustrated that Tao refuses to have sex with him, is also busy with fellow migrants from his home province of Shanxi. Chen Zhijun is an introverted childhood friend of Taisheng's who has just arrived at the park; he eventually becomes a construction worker. Tao, meanwhile, meets Anna, one of the World Park's Russian performers. Though Anna speaks no Chinese, and Tao no Russian, the two become unlikely friends. Anna confesses to Tao that she will quit her job and implies that she must prostitute herself in order to make enough money to see her sister, also in Ulaanbaatar. Later, Tao runs into Anna and it is clear that she has indeed become a prostitute. Anna runs away and Tao cries.