Abstract:

In 1970s, during the Cultural Revolution, Joris Ivens was officially invited to shoot documentaries in China, which was extraordinary, because, at that time, China' s door is closed on the Western countries. In view that the cause of this invitation has not given officially so far, and that the speculation on this issue at home and abroad as well as Ivens' own explanation are so different, it seems to be an undecidable case in research for China' s documentaries. But, judging from Iven's specific situation of coming to China as well as China's international and domestic situation at that time, the reason why Chou Enlai invited Ivens to China for shooting a documentary, not as what Ivens and other experts suggest, just concerns about China' s Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, but involves in a more profound consideration of culture, politics and economy. The fact is that China at that time, forced by the Soviet soldiers' arrival, is eager to fix relations with the United States. Of course, besides the political reason, it is also possible for economic factors. Actually, China' s economy at that time was in such a situation of collapse that Chou Enlai hoped to use a documentary to warn Mao Zedong.