Documentary Screening & Post screening panel discussion
Reception 5:30pm
Screening 6:00pm
Discussion 7:15pm
Close 8:15pm

Jia Yi is a playful seven year old girl who has just started school in rural China. Along with her younger brother, she is one of 60 million left-behind children - a lost generation in modern China whose parents are forced to leave their rural homes for cities in search of jobs. Jia Yi and her younger brother travel thousands of miles with their grandfather for the rare opportunity to visit their migrant worker parents in the city. Though loved and cherished by her parents, Jia Yi struggles with separation anxiety whilst being an older sister and caregiver to her brother. As they learn to overcome loneliness and separation, they become more resilient yet still display a child-like innocence. The post-screening discussion with director Jiang Nengjie and other experts will explore the complex issues of left-behind children in Mainland China. 

Jiang Nengjie is an independent documentary director and producer in China. Born in 1985 in Shaoyang, Hunan province, his mother left home to work in a factory when he was in 4th grade, and was soon followed by his father to pay his school fees. Mr. Jiang is passionate about left-behind children and has made four documentaries on the subject. Several of his films, including Groom in High Mountain and Road have been shortlisted at competitions and festivals in China. He lives in his hometown and splits his time between making films and taking care of three village libraries he established for left-behind children. He graduated from Hunan Agricultural University in Industrial Design and Business Administration.

Wang Dan is Associate Professor at the Faculty of Education in the University of Hong Kong, and is trained in the discipline of Sociology of Education. Her research focuses on educational inequality and social justice issues in China with special interests on the rural-urban divide, class reproduction, and teachers’ work and professional development. Dr. Wang is the author of the book The Demoralization of Teachers: Crisis in a Rural School in China. Her current work explores the role of rural education in local community reconstruction and sustainable development. She received her Ph.D from Syracuse University.

Yinni Peng is an Associate Professor at the Department of Sociology at Hong Kong Baptist University. Her research interests include family and gender, migration, parenting, labor politics, and new media research. She is currently working on parenting and family relations in post-reform China. Dr. Peng is co-author of Masculine Compromise: Migration, Family, and Gender in China. She received her B.A. and M.A. in Sociology from Peking University and her Ph.D. in Sociology from The Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Diane Geng is an Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at NYU Shanghai. She was an Echoing Green fellow and Reynolds Fellow for Social Entrepreneurship at Harvard University focused on supporting rural education in China. (Moderator)

The Jack Tang Memorial Lecture Series pays tribute to Dr. Jack Tang, a founder of the Asia Society Hong Kong Center, and honors his legacy as a prominent business leader, educator and philanthropist. Dr. Tang believed strongly in providing opportunities for the next generation and was an ardent supporter of numerous education initiatives in the US and China.