Li Wen at East Lake

Li’s fascinating documentary/fiction hybrid tours the disappearing shoreline and dwindling waters of the rapidly changing landscape around East Lake in China’s Hubei province. Once famous as the location of Chairman Mao’s summer home, the lake and its surrounding area are rapidly being developed to make room for theme parks, condominiums, and, potentially, an airport. Li combines research on the area, featuring interviews with its inhabitants, and the story of Li Wen, a real artist playing a fictional detective. His investigation and the encounters that ensue provide a smart, subtle, and often comic look at contemporary China and its complex relationship to the past.