Li Qiang 李枪

A documentary film about me: God and the Fields.
In the north of Suzhou, almost every village has a church. But the so-called church just looks like any other normal local house from the outside. The only distinctive sign is a cross on the top of the building. Normally, people just gather in their own house and are singing holly song. On Sunday, they will go to a big church in the village. Some people who live far away from the church have to wake up very early and gather together from all directions. Most of them are elders, children and people who got ill. Some are even transported by car. Most of their children are working in cities which are far away from the village.
Most of the people who go to the church were born in the 30s or 40s, they used to believe in communist party and chairman Mao, but now they believe in the God that comes from the West. They make their living from the fields, the foods produced from their fields are their physical needs and the God supplies spiritual needs. So their life is all about God and the fields. They are farming on the fields and spending the rest of their life praying.
Most of the elder people in my documentary film died. Just like the village where they used to live is disappearing day by day. I don’t know if the young people who are working in the cities far away from home can be a “seed” as the Bible said: if they die, they would bear lots of seeds.
Donghai, Fangshan, Jiangsu, 2002