Movable movie magic

Father and son carry on rural tradition with their portable cinema 

Xu Zuxiang has been conjuring up movie magic for residents of Huaying county since the 1960s, when there was hardly any entertainment in the mountainous region of Sichuan province.

For decades Xu, 75, has carried a film projector and dynamo with a shoulder pole to create a mobile open-air cinema for his fellow townspeople.

Luckily Xu Qiang, Xu Zuxiang's son, is also a movie lover. In 1997 he decided to quit his job and become a projectionist to help his father as he got older.

Times may have changed but father and son are still delivering cinema entertainment the old-fashioned way.

Xinhua

Xu zuxiang (left) and Xu Qiang rest on their way to present a movie to fellow townspeople. Photos by You Qing

Xu Zuxiang tells the story of his open-air mobile cinema in the old days.

Xu Qiang and his father Xu Zuxiang prepare a film for screening.

(China Daily European Weekly 03/24/2017 page4)