Are We Still Connected? Contemporary Chinese Minority-Centred Films and the Depiction of Interdependent Relations between Dwellers, Settlements, and Living Circumstances

Chinese ethnic minority-themed cinema reflects and portrays the diverse living situations of modern non-Han Chinese. The indigenousness of ethnic minorities gives primitiveness to gazing at a complex triangle of interconnections among the inhabitants, the exotic environment, and the nowness, the representation of relationships is more variable, affected by the vicissitudes of society. The chapter interprets different emotional connections between minority locals and the settlements/ground with exemplary works. It attributes these relations to cultural geographical concepts, the topophilia and other forms of topobased affection, and ir includes four patterns: First, the settlement of ethnic minorities as a destination for escapism and change; second, the settlement of the minority as a territory where various disputes of oldness and newness are encountered; third, the settlement of ethnic minorities as a traumatized land creates anxiety; fourth, ethnic minority settlements serve as a platform for folkloric and ethnic cultural performances.