This is a debut feature based on the novel which the director himself wrote. Dagang is over forty, unmarried(not by choice), and unemployed. He takes on an orphan in order to receive 200 yuan as child welfare benefit. The film looks at the lives of other lower class characters such as the orphan′s prostitute mother, his father dying of leukemia, and a ringleader. Through long shots and long takes the director observes the characters almost contemplatively and the sparse narrative gives the film a dry tone. Through these techniques the audience is able to feel the characters′ severance from tradition, and their effort to make a real go of their lives despite the hardship posed by the influx of capitalism. The director gives back the orphan to Dagang implying that a biological father is a figure to be rejected, only passing death down to his child. This film seems to bring forth in a painful way a new order and also a new auteur of Chinese cinema. (Michelle Sohn)