beipiao, beijing drifter, migrant, spring festival, documentary, short film, home, chinese new year, 就地过年
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Short Film: Away From Home

A documentary explores the changing definition of home among Beijing migrants during Spring Festival

With the Covid-19 epidemic still raging in many parts of the world, and cluster outbreaks in China, officials and many employers encouraged citizens to stay put rather than travel back to their hometowns for the Spring Festival celebrations of 2021.

Away From Home (《就地过年》) is a short documentary by Zhong Ming and Zhou Liang, featuring six beipiao (北漂, “Beijing drifters,” who’ve moved to the capital for work) who were unable to go home for the Chinese New Year. They took this opportunity to talk what home means to migrants like themselves, the changes they experienced in their lives in 2020, and how they celebrated the holidays in this far-from-typical year.

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Cover image by Zhong Ming

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