Sinews (2008)

This documentary looks at sport in modern China. By referring primarily to Chinese sport movies produced since the foundation of the People's Republic in 1949, it explores why China embarked on a course that would expend such human and material resources on the development of sport. Was it to build national pride and patriotism and to dispel once and for all the hated image of China as "the sick man of East Asia"? Was it to prove the superiority of the socialist system? Was it to show foreigners that Chinese athletes could beat them at their own game? Or was it to strengthen the bodies of the millions of people that would be needed to construct and defend the motherland? Whatever the motivation, the results clearly go beyond the bulging trophy cabinets of late. This topic is particularly relevant in the immediate aftermath of the Beijing Olympics in 2008. The film utilizes footage from about 20 Chinese feature films that depict one sport or another or that center around the life of athletes. It also contains interviews with persons associated with such movies, as well as with some of the real-life athletes that their stories were based on, including the first Chinese to break a world record in 1958 and the first Chinese woman to win a world championship in 1961.