Xiu Xiu and Children of Other Places

Xiu-Xiu

Xiu Xiu The Sent Down Girl reminded me of some cultural practices studied in my last MALS course. We took an in depth look at the sex trade in Thailand where young females left or were taken from happy homes and sent across borders for the purpose of providing sexual favors to tourists. Often these females were as young as 12 years of age, but like Xiu Xiu in the film, these young females to felt that they were doing something that would better benefit their families. As with the young females in Thailand, Xiu Xiu was only misled, exploited, and had extreme difficulties getting back to her home place.
Also, we looked at the Tamil Tigers which exploited young children by turning them into child soldiers. The children were basically brainwashed into thinking this was best for the political government and its rule. This was somewhat the intention also during the Cultural Revolution in the film. Xiu Xiu like other young children sent down were wearing military jackets, this is symbolic of their acceptance for the cause. As with the exploited young females in Thailand sex trade and the child soldiers, Xiu Xiu and the other children sent down is an illustration of a political system victimizing its own people for the sake of government idealism.
In my opinion the film only highlights an extraordinary social event in Chinese history, The Cultural Revolution Program, in which many lives were changed ultimately impacting the culture. The film is a little too much of a love story focusing only on Xiu Xiu and Lao Jin.