Institute History
Description
High Tech, Low Life follows the journey of two of China’s most well-known citizen reporters as they travel throughout China chronicling under-reported news and delicate social issues stories. Armed with laptop, cellphone, and digital camera, they both develop skills as independent one-man news stations, making use of the internet in ways unlike most of the estimated 400 million users in China – to share their observations and late-breaking news with others.
Inspired by a search for truth and the potential for fame, the film’s central character, 27-year-old Zhou Shuguang a.k.a. “Zola,” challenges the boundaries of free speech with his comedic and at times provocative reporting style. In April 2007, Zola was working as a vegetable seller and just starting to blog about personal events when he heard about a family in a neighboring province locked in an unrelenting battle with city developers bent on leveling the neighborhood. Moved and curious, he decided to close his vegetable stand and see things for himself, marking the beginning of his life as a roving citizen reporter. Three thousand kilometers away in Beijing, 57-year-old Zhang Shihe a.k.a “Tiger Temple” closed his struggling bookstore and was riding his bicycle throughout mainland China diligently documenting stories of the everyday people he met along the way. Using a more subtle voice, Tiger Temple records both the joys and struggles he observes and experiences, at one point even writing from the objective perspective of his cat.
China’s rapid economic and technological developments have created a vast new social space for a restless youth generation and burgeoning blogosphere, one where citizen reporters like Zola and Tiger Temple can be regarded as online heroes and celebrities. Zola’s technical prowess allows him to collect and upload information by circumventing China’s strict censorship barrier, aptly called the “Great Firewall.” His ambition and media-savvy instincts enable him to balance the risky line between social commentary and perceived political dissidence. For Tiger Temple, a purely factual approach and cautious observational reporting style allows him to disseminate unfavorable news, largely unblocked. Publicly preferring the title of citizen “recorder,” Tiger Temple’s selfless and lowkey style seems to enable him quiet acclaim, while Zola eventually discovers he must respond to not just his newfound celebrity, but newfound criticisms.
High Tech, Low Life documents the inspired work of these two unique roving reporters and the achievements of a fearless new digital generation in China. Separated by generations, Zola and Tiger Temple must both reconcile an evolving sense of patriotism, social responsibility, and the growing risk of political persecution. The juxtaposition of Zola’s coming-of-age journey from produce vendor to internet celebrity and Tiger Temple’s understated and life-long commitment to social issues in China provides an alternate portrait of China and of news-gathering in the 21st century. And at a time when many of our own most trusted news sources are succumbing to financial crisis, their work may allow us in the West to reconsider the value and meaning of journalism.